To Be Worldwide

TO BE WORLDWIDE is a Foundation that helps children in developing countries realise their full potential, so that later they can help build their communities.

To Be Worldwide has made a meaningful contribution towards access to facilities for quality education. Founded in 2002 To Be Worldwide builds educational facilities that complement the existing school structure.

Each facility offers a children's library, a computer Centre and an activities program.

All programs are designed to stimulate the development of children's creative & ICT skills. The facilities operate in partnership with the local school for basic education (primary- and junior secondary schools).

To Be Worldwide is member of the American Fund for Charities, a 501(c)(3) Tax-exempt organisation.

See the movie, click image to play

To Be Worldwide's Career Advise Tool Shortlisted for Interaction Design Award 2012

30 October 2011

To Be Worldwide has been working in partnership with Cnote consultants and Logica to develop a wonderful Tool for children in Ghana, to open their minds to future career opportunities in their own communities.

Now the design of our Tool has been shortlisted for the Interaction Design Award 2012.

We are very proud of the recognition for our project partner Cnote 's work in developing this Tool. We are keeping our fingers crossed. We will know if we have won on the 13th of November.

Thank you all for making this possible!!

Visit the Cnote website to see a short movie about our Career Advise Tool www.cnote.nl

Focusspecs at Takoradi Centre

20 November 2010

We had the privilege of testing The Focusspecs, developed by the Dutch organization Focus on Vision, at our Centre in Takoradi. The spectacle can be adjusted by the individual user to correct his or her personal refractive error. Children were invited from the surrounding schools to come in and have their eyes tested. Those who needed spectacles received them from the team. We wish to continue these screenings in 2011 and provide children with spectacles who need them.

Too many children are sitting in the back of a classroom not seeing and not realising something can be done about it. With the experience of the screening and a network of eye specialists and producer of the spectacles, we were able to enter in to a partnership with Tullow Oil (one of the leading oil companies instrumental in finding oil in Ghana). We facilitated the 'Eye Care Team' that participated in the Tullow 'Health Screening Initiative' in the communities were they extract oil. responsibility. We hope our cooperation with Tullow Oil will yield further local support in the future.

Basic ICT skill for children of the "Save Our Lives" orphanage

30 October 2010

On the 16th of August To Be Worldwide organised an ICT Summer Camp. Participants of the Camp were children, young adults of the Save Our Lives orphanage near Kumasi. The children stayed in the dormitories of the Montessori School with whom we share the grounds.www.saveourlivesghana.nl.

The youngsters spent around 4 hours a day learning the basic computers skills. They also enjoyed reading at the library. At the end of their training they all wrote a report on their experiences. We have selected two for you to read. The ICT Summer Camp was a success and we hope to repeat it for different groups in the holiday periods. Save Our Lives orphanage is supported by the Dutch NGO Kinderen in Ontwikkeling. www.kindereninontwikkeling.nl

Read a report1 Read a report2

To Be Worldwide Adult Literacy Course

15 September 2010

To Be Worldwide in cooperation with the Ghanaian Department for Non- Formal Education and with support from the SK Foundation has been running an Adult Literacy class for nearly a year now. It is so fulfilling to see how it is making a difference in the lives of the participants.

Mrs. Margaret Wojeo of the Non-Formal Education department runs regular evaluations of the program and supplies us with the much needed support to fine tune our efforts. We are very grateful for her input.

Cape Coast Educational Resource Centre opens its doors

27 March 2010

After just over a year of construction work, the Cape Coast Educational Resource Centre opens its doors.

We are very proud of this great achievement and would like to thank all our sponsors, Turing Foundation, Fondation Les Paquerettes, InterimIC, Wilde Ganzen/St. Willibrord Gymnasium and the Western Union Foundation for making this possible.

On the 27th of March 2010 the official opening ceremony was held in the presence of local dignitaries, chiefs of the region, representatives of the Ghana Education Services, Mr. and Mrs. Kumi Bruce (owners of the land) and Board members and staff of To Be Worldwide Ghana/NL. But most important many children were present to witness the opening. The children also participated in the ceremony by performing music in a marching band and cultural dances. Bishop Augustine Wellbourne, who is a board member of To Be Worldwide, performed the official ribbon cutting.

View photo impression of opening

Improving the reading skills of children at the Takoradi Centre

4 January 2010

My name is Sanne van Gessel and I am a master student in Linguistics at the University VU in Amsterdam. For my internship I travelled to Ghana, where I help children with their reading skills at a primary school in Takoradi and I read with the children in the library of the To Be Worldwide Educational Resource Centre.

I can clearly see the difference between the children at the school and the children in the Centre. The children at the school can barely read, the school doesn’t have any books and they don’t spend much time on reading during class time. When I came to the library and heard how well the children here can read, I experienced how important it is for the development of the reading skills to have the books and to use your time after school for reading. These children are fabulous readers!!

To Be Worldwide wins 1st Prize in Global Junior Challenge

9 October 2009

The Global Junior Challenge is an international competition rewarding the most innovative projects employing cutting-edge ICT technologies in the field of youth education and training.The competition, promoted by the City of Rome, is an initiative designed

and organized by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale to promote an inclusive knowledge society. The competition is supported by Microsoft and is open to everyone: associations, public and private institutions, cooperatives, schools, universities,individuals and companies of any age from all around the world. 

This year the competition received 456 applications out of which 12 winners were selected.

To Be Worldwide is supported by Head Matters

1 October 2009

Head Matters is an organisation that offers companies the possibility of purchasing CO2 neutral products to use as give-aways and presents for staff and clients. They feel that companies, through the purchase of such products, show their commitment to a better world and have an instrument to communicate their corporate social responsibility.

To Be Worldwide will receive 10% percent of the sale of the products (bags) from Ghana's Trashy Bags.

These bags are produced by an organisation in Ghana whose concern about the environment has lead to the concept of the Trashy Bag. Their bags are made from reclaimed plastic drinking water and ice-cream sachets, which they do not re-process in anyway apart from washing and disinfecting. By incorporating the original and complete sachets in their products, they demonstrate in a very visible way that it is possible to increase the lifespan of plastic packaging and so help tackle the very serious problem of environmental pollution in Africa and elsewhere.

Would you like to purchase such a bag? Go to www.hm-ok.nl

Develop Your World Conference

17 March 2009

Frits Bolkestein – former Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and of Defense, former member of the European Commission Speaks at the “Develop Your World” Conference.

Mr. Bolkestein spoke at the Develop Your World Conference in March in Groningen. Develop Your World (DWY) is the largest congress in the North of the Netherlands that deals with the topic of development aid and development cooperation.

In his speech "Look Back in Anger" Mr.Bolkestein argued that a large amount of official Aid is not sufficient a condition for development, other factors such as peace keeping, good governance and economic growth are crucial. He selected our work at the Takoradi Educational Resource Centre as an example.

His full speech can be read on the following website:

www.fritsbolkestein.com/site/references Then select Development Aid and the article "Look Back in Anger"

To Be Worldwide builds her 2nd Educational Resource Centre

28 November 2008

To Be Worldwide has commenced building the Cape Coast Educational Resource Centre (CCERC). The location is Pedu, a suburb of Cape Coast, in the Central Region of Ghana. The location is within a 10-minute walk from a cluster of public schools.

We will be servicing 12 schools with 5500 students. The Cape Coast Educational Resource Centre will be based on the successful concept of the Takoradi Educational Resource Centre.

The ground breaking ceremony and the laying of the foundation took place in October/November 2008. We expect the building to be completed in the autumn of 2009.