Rebecca Akufo-Addo

Rebecca Akufo-Addo was born on the 12th of March 1951 as the daughter of the judge, Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph who served as the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana in Third Republic and Frances Phillipina Griffiths-Randolph (née Mann).[2] She attended Achimota Primary School and Wesley Grammar School, both in Accra.[5]

Rebecca Akufo-Addo furthered her education at the Government Secretarial School where she qualified as a secretary. She worked at the Merchant Bank in Ghana and later relocated to United Kingdom. She then worked as a legal secretary for Clifford Chance/Ashurst Morris Crisp, multinational law firms in the United Kingdom.[6]

In November 2016, she made a donation of bags of rice, cartons of milo, gallons of cooking oil, bag of sugar, boxes of noodles, toiletries, detergents, boxes of tooth paste and cartons of drinks to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital. This was to help with personal hygiene of the inmates.[7]

In 2017 and 2020, she donated food items to Ga Mashie and Tema Traditional Councils respectively to support in the celbration of their annual Homowo festival.[8][9]

In 2017, she founded the Rebecca Akufo-Addo foundation, a non-governmental organization to enhance efforts of government amongst Ghanaian women and children. In November 2017, the Rebecca foundation signed a deal with Licang District Experimental School in Qingdao, China. This was for an exchange program that would each year enable ten students from both countries to visit the other. This was a move would enhance academic, sports and cultural harmony between students of both countries.[10]

In October 2018, The Rebecca Foundation rolled out the ''Learning to read, reading to learn'' project. This was to instill a culture of learning in children to enhance literacy. Some of the goals of the project were to build libraries across the country and introduce school and child friendly programs to enable children learn to read.[11]

In November 2018, the Foundation launched the 'Because I want to be' project. It provides a cushion for underprivileged girls in society and guarantees continuous education and skills training for female school dropouts.[12]

The foundation built and commissioned a new Pediatric and Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in 2019.[13] In January 2019, she launched the Free to Shine campaign. This was to stop mother-to-child transmission of AIDS and was in line with the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV and AIDS (OAFLA) drive.[14]

In June 2019, the foundation presented six ambulances to some healthcare organizations to enhance the delivery of their services.[15] The ''Save the Child, Save the Mother'' project established both a Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) and a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. It was sponsored by the foundation together with the Multimedia Group and The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hopital and supported by the Manhyia Palace and the Government of Japan. The project was geared towards reducing maternal and infant mortality.[16]

In September 2019, she made an appeal for the empowerment of women, at the United Nations General Assembly. This would make it possible for them to impact more on the welfare of their families and communities. It was at a side event put together by the Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) and themed “Renewing commitment towards enhancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa”.[17]

In January 2020, the foundation's women empowerment program, the Terema Women's Empowerment Initiative, in conjunction with the National Board for Small Scale Industries, trained women in soap making.[18] In February 2020, the Rebecca Foundation,through the ‘Enhancing the Youth through Education and Health (EYEH) Soup Kitchen’ project, made a donation of assorted food items worth about GH¢15,000 to some street children in Accra.[19] In April 2020, the foundation made a donation of assorted items through its 'Relief Boxes Challenge' to the SOS children's Village. This initiative was in partnership with the government to help groups manage through the partial lockdown better.[20]

In August 2020, Rebecca Akufo-Addo made a donation of $20,000 to help Emmanuel Apraku,a pencil artist treat a liver disease he was battling.[21] [22][23]

In the same month of August 2020 she donated temperature guns to the Ghana Library Board, to be shared to the libraries across the country. This was to help curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic by checking the temperatures of people who came to use the libraries.[24]

In September 2020, she donated some items to the University of Ghana Hospital. The items included five (5) beds sets, powdered soap, baby diapers, blankets, bedsheets, patient monitors, thermometer guns, 20 gallons of hand sanitizer, nose masks and delivery bowls.[25]

Rebecca and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo have been married for 22 years and in 2017 they celebrated their 20th Anniversary.[26] They have five daughters and five grandchildren.[27]

Rebecca Akufo-Addo was installed as the Development Queen mother of Ada Traditional Area at the 82nd anniversary celebration of Ada Asafotufiami festival in August 2019 and is known by the stool name Naana Ode Opeor Kabukie I.[28]

Akufo-Addo is a member of the Accra Ridge Church and the patron of the Infanta Malaria, a charity organization dedicated to the prevention of Malaria in children.[6]

• Rebecca "Becky" Akufo-Addo Revealed
• The Rebecca Foundation