Why Accra Matters: Funding What Works Below the Radar
Massive shout-out to Toby Eccles and Tegha Kum LITC
We had a thoughtful conversation about scaling what works and the role of outcomes-based finance, including social impact bonds, as we begin shaping programmes in Accra focused on training and employment pathways.
What stood out was the need for greater nuance from the social sector particularly from funders.
In Ghana, informal work dominates the economy: about 80% of the labour force works in the informal sector, yet this accounts for only 27% of GDP, revealing a significant productivity and visibility gap.
- MyJoyOnline
In Greater Accra itself, more than half of jobs are informal, especially among women and youth, forming the backbone of trading, services, and urban supply chains.
- WIEGO
Unemployment and underemployment remain acute challenges, especially for young people. Recent labour statistics show that youth (ages 15–24) face unemployment rates around 32%, with broader youth unemployment (15–35) averaging 22.5%, and seven out of ten unemployed persons are young people.
Many of the most effective social enterprises and community operators sit below the radar creating, skills pathways, stabilising incomes, reducing exposure to harmful economies, and delivering early-stage prevention before formal systems engage. Their impact is real, sustained, and locally trusted yet often under-funded because it doesn’t fit neatly into conventional reporting and commissioning frameworks.
This isn’t an absence of impact; it’s a translation problem.
We’ve seen this before in work like Street Corner Innovation exceptional talent and social value operating in informal spaces but struggling to access capital because their impact is hard to quantify in short cycles or narrow metrics.
For funders, the real question isn’t “Can this be measured?” but “What is the long-term cost of not investing here?”
From a Freakonomics perspective, early informal interventions that prevent later unemployment, exploitation, or costly system involvement often deliver the highest social return even if that return is delayed or indirect.
Accra matters now because it offers a real opportunity to rethink how the social sector funds reality rather than formality blending finance, valuing progression and stability, and using intermediary structures to translate grassroots value into funder-ready insight.
Exciting times for a cross-cutting perspective between Accra and the UK and for funders willing to evolve their tools to meet the world as it is.
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