The National Philanthropy Forum has awarded Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation (NADeF) as the Corporate Foundation Philanthropist for the year 2016.

The foundation beat competition from 17 other organizations to annex the top award at this year’s the 2017 Ghana Philanthropy Excellence Awards in Accra.

The award recognized the longstanding contribution of NADeF towards improving lives and supporting sustainable socio-economic development in the communities neighboring the Ahafo mine.

For 9 years, communities around Newmont Ghana’s Ahafo mine have initiated a number sustainable development projects to improve the lives of their people.

Following consultations between various interest groups in the communities and the Ahafo mine, the Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation was established in 2008 to drive the company’s social responsibility commitments to the communities.

So far over 8,000 educational scholarships have been awarded at the senior high, tertiary and apprenticeship levels, in addition to over 7000 infrastructural projects completed and handed over to the communities by NAkDeF.

“We are honoured to be recognized for our efforts in improving lives and driving socio-economic progress in Ahafo. NADeF will continue to expand its programmes to help even more women and children thrive in the communities,” said Elizabeth Opoku, .

Currently, NADeF has accrued $24.5 million to fund various development initiatives through the Ahafo Mine’s contributions of $1 per ounce of gold produced and 1% annual net profit.

“What makes NADeF unique from other Corporate Foundations is the local ownership and participation in the selection, execution and management of all projects in the host communities. In effect, the locals decide what their needs are and work through NADeF to achieve them,” Elizabeth Opoku Darko added.

In 2014, NADeF was awarded the best social impact investment vehicle in Africa by the European Union’s African Chamber of Commerce at the EU-Africa Chamber of Commerce’s first annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Africa awards ceremony in Brussels, Belgium. The award highlighted the foundation’s promotion of community development, inclusiveness and sustainability in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

Through NADeF’s initiatives, about 41 public schools are benefiting from the Quality Improvement in Basic Schools (QUIBS) project set up to support the quality of education at the basic level in Ahafo. NADeF has provided start-up capital to emerging entrepreneurs and businesses, micro-credit and loan facilities to 1,500 community members and completed over a 100 community infrastructural and social amenity projects in Ahafo.