Eric Opoku Agyemang

Profile

I am Eric, and I was born and raised in Ghana in a big family, where I am the eldest of six siblings. In 2015, I served as a fellow of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) in recognition of my active community engagement, passion for ending human trafficking, and commitment to building leaders of change. I have a Masters in Social Work — Policy and Administration from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management from the Methodist University College in Ghana. I have my Ph.D. in social welfare from the School of Social Work at the University of Washington and an International Development certificate from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance.

I really enjoy meeting new people, experiencing different cultures, and creating a community of supportive people. As a generally free-spirited and a positive-minded individual, I love to see every human successful and happy in life.

As a young child at the age of 9, I lost my dad, the breadwinner of the family.

In addition to that, I was also at the edge of losing my vision and educational aspirations until I received support from extended family and friends. And it is from my experiences as a former child laborer in the cocoa industry that pushes me to do the work I do today. I would love to see all children gain a better education to be able to control their destiny.

Today, I serve as co-founder and executive director of the Cheerful Hearts Foundation and the founder and national coordinator of Patriots Ghana.

The Cheerful Hearts Foundation is a nonprofit that uses community-based interventions to address child trafficking in the Ghanaian fishing industry through Education, Public Health, and Human Rights initiatives. The foundation has rescued over 700 children from trafficking, provided hundreds of educational scholarships to trafficking victims, and educated over 50,000 residents about child rights, the danger of trafficking, and the long-term benefits of education.

Patriots Ghana is a national organization that prides itself in uniting all passionate and patriotic Ghanaian citizens and organizations to raise selfless and incorruptible leaders who are committed to building stronger economies and communities by funneling national resources in service and upliftment of the most marginalized in society, especially women and children.

With both these organizations, I am primarily responsible for the oversight and management of all projects and strategic direction. In my role, I am also responsible for volunteer recruitment, local and international. I’m proud to say that our efforts have involved more than 600 volunteers all over the world who have worked or are working on various community-based interventions, research projects, and study abroad programs in Ghana.

Children and youth are the backbone of every nation. The future largely depends on them and how we prepare them is reflective of our future from today.

Through the work of my organizations, we’ve increased school enrollment and reduced child trafficking by 8%, an equivalent of 706 students in Senya fishing community within 18 months of house-to-house child rights educational campaign in 2015 and 2016 only.

We have also provided hundreds of educational scholarships to many child laborers, some of whom have completed their undergraduate university education and are currently serving as mentors and teachers for other children in the community.

I am so proud that we have built a multi-purpose youth and community development center in one of the fishing villages, Nyanyano. Here, over 70 young women get trained on various entrepreneurial skills, afterschool programs help improve the academic performance of hundreds of children each year, and young footballers train in the soccer training facilities. Also, we host numerous community health educational events throughout the year.

My motivation in life is that all people deserve to be happy and live meaningful lives.

Through my years on earth, I have learned that regardless of the material resources that humans strive to obtain, I have never seen the richest people die and be buried with even a car or an airplane. Therefore, I have concluded that we will leave everything behind one day, but joy and fulfillment is to see fellow humans happy and feel uplifted or supported. There is so much joy in my heart when I see others happy and successful, especially those with less privilege.

Academic Partners

University of Washington

What reciprocity looks like for me

The first few words or phrases that come to mind when I think about reciprocity include: the same treatment, equal opportunities, and balanced power and respect. Reciprocity within nonprofit management and study abroad programs means that both leaders and students from the Global North and Global South begin to understand the fundamental truth that we are equal humans and deserve equal dignity and respect for our knowledge and ideas irrespective of the differences in resources.

Since joining the Global Reciprocity Network, I have witnessed an intentional effort of power balance and mutual respect between partners and members of this network. Through this network, partners from the global south have gained access to teach and share their work with students at the University of Washington. This further deepens the relationship and the respect that exists among us. I believe this is the fruit and operationalization of intentional and genuine respect for all.

I feel more like part of a family, more than just partners. Through our monthly meetings, we make efforts to check in with each other, what is happening in various countries while exploring deeper collaborations.

Fun Facts

Advice I’d give …

Understand that we all come to the table with various privileges, differences in knowledge and skills, and sometimes unclear agendas. However, continuous awareness, commitment, and engagement bring more learning and clarity as you move forward.

Second, normalize and accept mistakes and grow. Take time to do free writings without overthinking. Until you offer people the opportunity to try or do something, never judge their ability to do it. There is always a first time doing something, and our talents and skills shine through the process.

If I was an animal, I would be …

I would be a cat for two reasons. First, a cat can sense both good and bad from afar and prepare a mitigation plan — always thinking ahead or futuristic. Secondly, the sights that would make a dog bark, the cat will just blink an eye. This makes the cat more grounded, confident, loyal, healthy, and wise in its ways.