Golden Star directs $1 per ounce of gold produced to GSOPP with the objectives to reduce poverty through employment generation and promote wealth creation through sustainable agri-business. GSOPPP is a multi-award winning social enterprise project, established in April 2006 as a non-profit subsidiary of Golden Star. GSOPP supports the development of oil palm plantation by host communities, using the smallholder concept, in partnership with the Traditional Authorities, affected farmers, and the agro-forestry industry, and as at the end of 2016, GSOPP involved 317 small-holder farmers and 350 contract workers over 1,053 hectares of plantation. As the palms planted in 2006 have now reached maturity fruit production in 2016 increased by 33% on 2015, providing a good income to the smallholder farmers, many of whom are now able to build homes they may never otherwise have hoped for. To find out more about GSOPP, read this blog post.

Ensuring healthy lives and well-being is essential to sustainable development. As part of our corporate responsibility programs we have built hospital outpatients departments, health centers, clinics and nurses’ quarters. We are also involved in a number of partnerships to promote preventative health. With the guidance of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Ghana Health Service and other partners, we are collaborating to strengthen national systems, provide wellbeing and social programs for employees and communities, and in a land-mark initiative, to pilot the provision of preventative health systems through national health structures. Golden Star is also a supporter of Project CURE (www.projectcure.org), which since 2003, has delivered 29 containers of medical equipment to Ghana, serving over 18 million people.

Society has recognized that to reduce poverty education is critical. Since 2006 we have built six schools, as well as dormitories, teachers quarters and school bus stops. Golden Star supports the education of almost 3,000 registered dependents of our employees through educational subsidies, and through our development foundations we have awarded scholarships to over 750 other children in our host communities. To support families we provide school bus services for 7 communities, helping almost 300 school children to access education. To find out more about how Golden Star supports education, read this blog post.

Every year millions of people, most of them children, die from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene. To aid our host communities Golden Star has funded installation of over 200 water supply systems that feed over 25,000 households. Before Golden Star’s involvement, most of these communities were heavily reliant on streams, often affected by illegal mining, and communities reported walking up to several kilometres a day to get water. To support sanitation improvements we have built toilet blocks, waste disposal facilities and reclaimed refuse sites, and have undertaken campaigns of education on hands washing, hygiene and sanitation. To find out more about how we support access to clean water, read this blog post.

Breast cancer is one of the leading diseases affecting women in Ghana. Approximately 70% of breast cancer cases are not diagnosed until the cancer reaches an advanced stage, which limits treatment options and chances of survival. One of our flagship programs is the breast cancer awareness initiative of the Golden Star Ladies Club. Our 2015 program, conducted in collaboration with GIZ and other key sponsors, including AEL Mining Services, Ghana Health Services and International SOS, was a resounding success. Over 4,000 women and girls participated in clinical breast cancer screening held in workplaces and 23 of our host communities. In an overwhelming act of support and generosity, spouses of some of our employees and Board supported the initiative by producing original artworks that were exhibited and sold in support of the program. To find out more about our breast cancer awareness initiative, read this blog post.