Otumfuo Educational Fund is a non-governmental organization established by the King of Ashanti at the time, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II.
The organization is based in Kumasi, the administrative and traditional capital of the Ashanti Region and Ashanti Kingdom respectively. It is a thematic area of the mother foundation; Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation. As the first to be established, the Educational Fund had undertaken several initiatives in improving education in the Ashanti Kingdom and in Ghana as a whole. The organization had projects like Information, Communication and Technology (I.C.T) Mobile Learning for Rural Basic School, Mass Distribution of Textbooks, Otumfuo Community Reading Challenge, Teachers Awards, and Tertiary Scholarship Awards.[1]
The Otumfuo Educational Fund was established few months after his enthronement.[2] Otumfuo, wanting to counter poverty, illiteracy, injustice and underdevelopment in his Kingdom and in Ghana, decided to invest in education. Having realized that financing education was a major challenge in his domain, the Asantehene instituted the scheme to complement government's efforts to address the problem.[3]
The Educational Fund was launched on May 21, 2000, in London, United Kingdom with the aim of providing financial assistance to needy students in the Ashanti. It was to also provide incentive packages to teachers posted to the rural areas, re-equipping schools through the provision of furniture and rehabilitating school buildings in poor conditions.[4]
Rev. Dr Osei Bonsu, the Catholic Bishop of Mampong, Ashanti who served as the first of the organization stated beneficiaries of the fund was not to be only children with Ashanti parentage but also non-Ashantis whose parents live and work in the Ashanti region and those whose parents could traced their ancestry to Ashanti.
A 10-member board of trustees were appointed to oversee the activities of the Education Fund. During the launch in London about 80 million Ghana Cedis was raised to support the fund.
Years later, Otumfuo expanded the organization to cover other thematic areas like Health, Water and Sanitation, Culture and Heritage and Entrepreneurship. It led the way for the creation of the Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation.[5]
The Fund is by the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and his wife Lady Julia. The fund also receive support from external and internal organizations.[6] [7] Donations from individuals help support the fund as well.