Office for World Vision International, Accra

World Vision International is a Christian relief and developmental agency. It is an international partnership of many organizational entities and is dedicated to serving God by helping people, care for those in need. As a Christian humanitarian organization, World Vision ministers to children and families. It provides emergency aid and is concerned with human development. It also furthers evangelism, strengthens Christian leadership and challenges people everywhere to see beyond their own situation and interest and to care about the needs of others “The key objective of World Vision is to glorify God by following Jesus Christ in enabling people to work, pray and give. To find the most appropriate donor and manage the resources released to meet the most need in the best way at the least cost”. World Vision works in over 90 countries. There are two main groups: The Field Offices: mostly managed by national staff who serve poor people in project communities, mainly in 3rd world countries. The Support Offices: that raises the funds and serves the needs of supporters who are linked to overseas projects and sponsored children. These are mainly in industrialized countries. The partnership is co-ordinated globally by World Vision International and its staff in Geneva, Los Angeles and London. Control of World Vision International is vested in an international board of directors. Global accountability is made possible through representative of each national entity, who meets together every three years in the World Vision International council. The role of World Vision in Ghana cannot be overemphasized. In 1991 alone, $5 million (US dollars) was transferred to the Ghana office for developmental work. Developmental work includes the drilling of bore holes and provision of potable water for needy communities. By the end of September 1990, 455 wells fitted with hand pumps had been drilled in nine out of ten regions, providing water for 450,000 people. Each cost about $11,000.00. The child sponsorship programme has linked over 30,000 children to sponsors abroad. Construction work like first cycle schools, primary health care centers and KVIP toilets have been facilitated in almost all the regions. Income generating activities like farming and processing have also been facilitated with technical and monetary help. In 1989, 200,000 farmers were helped. Immunization programmes, health, education and evangelism have also been facilitated by World Vision Ghana. Relief aid to refugees from Liberia, Togo and recently the Konkomba and Nanumba war has also been given to displaced victims. The scope of this thesis is to design a national office for World Vision Ghana. This has become necessary due to an increase in operations and staff leading to organizational and spatial problems, resulting from an ad hoc spatial development. These are mainly rented premises with their inherent unconformity to the operations of World Vision. Added to these are inadequate spaces, poor functional relationships, expansion problems, storage problems and tenancy problems. These have come in the form of arbitrary rent increases and the whims of private landlords. Last but not the least is the growth of the organization which has led to the use of 3 different buildings on 3 different sites for their activities. The clients for the scheme are World Vision International who is also the financiers. The methodology used for the research is interviews sketches, recordings, materials like journals, magazines and brochures. This also included a firsthand working experience after a 3 week stay with the organization.

Source: KNUST