How an American rescued over 300 children from serving as labourers on cocoa farms in Eastern Region of Ghana

It is the Abna Dakwa Village, in the Eastern Region of Ghana, in a cocoa-farming area. An American Youtuber, MrBeast, came to Ghana and reportedly spent nearly $10 million building a village for families affected by child labour. But there is an important detail that should not get lost in the excitement surrounding this project. This village is not in some forgotten corner of the world. It is the Abna Dakwa Village, in the Eastern Region of Ghana, in a cocoa-farming area. Because cocoa is not some insignificant crop in Ghana. For generations, Ghana has exported cocoa to the world. It brings foreign exchange into our economy, supports hundreds of thousands of farming households and remains one of the commodities Ghana is internationally known for. Yet in a community connected to that same industry, children have been vulnerable to child labour. Jimmy Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast, and his partners reportedly spent nearly $10 million creating an entire community around the problem. But it should also make Ghana uncomfortable. Because MrBeast did not come to Ghana to solve a problem we did not know existed. Child labour has been documented in Ghana for years, particularly in agriculture, cocoa-growing communities, fishing and other informal sectors. UNICEF estimates that about 21% of Ghanaian children aged 5–17 are involved in child labour, with the problem more prevalent in rural areas. So when a foreign YouTuber can enter one of our cocoa-growing communities, identify the conditions helping to keep children vulnerable to labour and mobilise millions of dollars to address them, Ghana has every reason to ask itself one simple question: And this question should not be directed only at Jubilee House or a ministry in Accra. There are government agencies responsible for education, health, water, agriculture, social welfare and child protection. The Member of Parliament for Suhum is Frank Asiedu Bekoe. This is why the conversation cannot end with applauding MrBeast. It must also become a conversation about responsibility. What was known about the conditions in this community? What interventions existed before MrBeast arrived? What had been done about the educational and infrastructure gaps? And what role did the state, and its local institutions play before a private philanthropist decided to spend millions addressing them? Government has programmes. But look at the gap. To be fair, the Ghanaian government has not done nothing. It has the Accelerated Action Plan Against Child Labour 2023–2027. It works with organisations such as UNICEF and the International Labour Organization. And in 2026, Ghana became an Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Country, committing itself to accelerate efforts against child labour, forced labour, human trafficking and modern slavery. Government institutions have also been involved around MrBeast's wider intervention. Local government and education authorities have been identified among institutions supporting parts of the broader programme, including the related school-meals initiative. So no, this is not an argument that government has literally done nothing. *Source: 3News*