About Ramah

Ramah, meaning “a place of rest,” is a locally-led Ghanaian organisation born in the district Ghana forgot. We are not outsiders flying in. We speak the language. We know every village by name. We deliver evidence-based programmes and advocate for the systemic changes that created Nabdam's poverty. When you partner with us, your gift funds both service and justice.

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress.”— James 1:27 (NLT)

Patrick Attankurugu, founder of Ramah Upliftment Foundation

How It All Began

In 2016, Patrick Attankurugu left the Upper East Region for Accra through an employment agency. After a year of faithful service, his benefactors recognised his WASSCE results and enrolled him at the University of Ghana to study Computer Science. Living in their home, he witnessed what it looks like when people invest in someone's potential without demanding anything in return. That distinction, between aid that creates dependence and investment that creates independence, became the seed of everything Ramah would later stand for. It is also why Ramah's programmes are built around a graduation pathway: not handouts, but savings, skills, and market linkages designed to make themselves unnecessary.

In June 2021, Patrick's laptop broke. Rather than lose the weeks ahead, he gave them to God: 40 days of prayer, asking one question. By the end, the answer had become a burden he could not put down. God was calling him to advance the cause of the widow and the orphan in Nabdam District, the poorest in Ghana, where no major NGO operates. In 2023, he called five friends and asked them to start. On September 16, 2024, the organisation was registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee (Reg No: CG064480924). Co-founders Lawrencia Owusu and Gregory Amoah serve alongside Patrick.

Today, Patrick leads an engineering team at a regulatory technology company while serving as Ramah's Executive Director. He funds his own involvement and works with a locally-recruited team of twelve preparing to launch Ramah's first programmes in 2026. He does not see the dual role as a conflict. The tech career funds the mission, the mission gives the career purpose, and both will converge as Ramah grows. When you partner with Ramah, you fund a team already on the ground, speaking the language, and building the systems that will move families from survival to economic independence.

Read the full origin story →

Three Integrated Programme Areas

Your donation addresses the whole person: body, livelihood, and community. And it funds the advocacy needed to change the systems that created the crisis.

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Community Wellbeing & Health

Community Health Volunteer training, quarterly health outreach with referral pathways, lean-season food security through kitchen gardens and grain banks, and psychosocial support. The foundation every other programme depends on.

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Education & Protection

Education access for vulnerable children (supplies, menstrual hygiene, mentorship, attendance tracking), child protection, and women's rights awareness. Funded through a community-based pooled model, not individual sponsorship.

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Livelihoods & Advocacy

VSLAs and vocational skills with market linkages, starting with our shea-to-soap value chain. But also: policy advocacy for equitable resource allocation, coalition-building with government and civil society, and open publication of outcome data.

Our Core Values

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Faith-Rooted Justice

Rooted in Christian faith, we serve all people regardless of background. But our faith does not just comfort the afflicted; it calls us to challenge the systems that create affliction.

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Empowerment Over Dependency

We equip people with skills, capital, and market linkages to build sustainable livelihoods. The goal of every programme is to make itself unnecessary.

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Community Ownership

Communities lead decision-making through village-level advisory committees, participatory needs assessments, and co-designed programme criteria. We do not fly in with solutions. We listen first, then build together.

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