SOS Children's Villages Ghana Wins Millennium Excellence Award

On 19 August 2005 the Millennium Excellence Awards were handed over at the Accra conference center, under the patronage of Otumfo Osei Tutu II, King of Ashanti, the biggest tribe in Ghana. Other national and international dignitaries that were present at the ceremony included the President and Vice President of Ghana, the laureate in the field of International Achievements, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the President of Benin and the Prime Minister of Togo. SOS Children's Villages Ghana was represented by the national director, Mr. Kojo Mattah, the village director of SOS Children's Village Tema, a co-worker and two children from the SOS Children's Village Tema.

SOS Children's Villages Ghana received the Millennium Excellence Award 2005 in recognition of their outstanding contribution towards improving the quality of education in Ghana.

In his speech, Kojo Mattah thanked the organizers for the award and acknowledged that education is the key that unlocks development in individuals and that SOS Children's Village Ghana was happy to be able to contribute to education in Ghana. He dedicated the award to all past and present pupils/students who have attended and are attending SOS Hermann Gmeiner Schools and Colleges as well as to all co-workers. He emphasized that the award was not only a great recognition of the work of SOS Children's Villages in the field of education, but that it also reinforced the general perception of SOS Children's Villages as an educational institution as well as a humanitarian organization.


The Millennium Excellence Awards are bestowed upon outstanding individuals and corporate bodies in various categories. They were created by Ghana's Excellence Awards Foundation, a private institution established in 1999. The first award ceremony took place in 2000, the next Millennium Excellence Awards will be presented in 2010.