Individuals and organisations making a difference in communities across Ghana will tonight be honoured at the 2026 JoyNews Impact Makers Awards at the Labadi Beach Hotel.

The event, scheduled for 7 PM, celebrates personalities whose work continues to transform lives and inspire change in society.

Ahead of the ceremony, some past honourees have shared how the recognition has boosted their impact and opened new opportunities.

Founder of the OKV Hope Foundation, Osei Boateng, says the award helped expand the reach of his humanitarian work and strengthened support for his initiatives.

Another previous recipient, Portia Dumba, also revealed that the recognition enabled her to secure key partnerships that have significantly enhanced her work in the communities she serves.

The JoyNews Impact Makers Awards will be broadcast live across all JoyNews platforms from 7 PM, giving audiences the chance to witness and celebrate stories of compassion, resilience and service.

Viewers are encouraged to tune in and be inspired by the remarkable individuals and groups changing lives across the country.

1. Valeria Adzo Adzatia – Disability & Social Inclusion

Valeria Adzo Adzatia is an amputee advocate who has turned her personal experience into a national support system for amputees in Ghana. She founded Smiles of Hope, an organisation focused on peer counselling, emotional rehabilitation, and reintegration for people living with limb loss.

Through her leadership, she has run over 100 peer-support programmes and directly reached more than 500 amputees and caregivers in Accra and Nsawam, while over 2,000 people have benefited from her broader outreach. Her trained team of 11 peer counsellors works across major hospitals, including Korle Bu, 37 Military Hospital, Ridge, and Tema General Hospital, offering emotional and psychosocial support before and after amputation.

Valeria has also led six major symposia that brought together over 1,000 participants to discuss prosthetics, mental health, physiotherapy, and disability rights. Her work is grounded in lived experience, making her a consistent source of hope for amputees navigating trauma, stigma, and recovery. She continues to show that life after amputation can be rebuilt with dignity, purpose, and community support.

2. Rev. Christian K. Vorleto – Health & Social Welfare

Rev. Christian K. Vorleto is a Physician Assistant in Ghana’s Volta Region who has become a lifeline for people living with severe mental illness on the streets. Working in Anloga and South Tongu, he identifies neglected individuals, provides basic care, begins treatment, and supports their reintegration into families and society.

He created an Integrated Community Care Model, now used in nine communities. Between 2023 and early 2026, he personally managed 69 cases, spending over GHC 52,000 of his own funds. Out of these, 55 individuals have been successfully reintegrated, with many now engaged in farming, trading, or other livelihoods.

His work also involves rescuing people from chains and confinement in shrines and prayer camps, a difficult and sensitive intervention. His model has achieved a 72.5% reintegration rate and has been endorsed by Ghana’s Mental Health Authority and regional health leadership. Through the Bubume Mental Health Foundation, he is working to scale this approach nationwide, driven by a belief that mental health care should be accessible, humane, and community-based.

3. Bless Lantam – Health

Bless Lantam is a nurse serving at the Keri CHPS Compound in the Nkwanta South Municipality, a hard-to-reach and conflict-affected area in Ghana’s Volta Region. Even before the conflict, access to healthcare was difficult, requiring long journeys through forests and rivers.

Since the outbreak of conflict in 2023, services were further disrupted, yet Bless continued to provide care through monthly outreach missions, with limited support and security escorts. He delivers antenatal care, child immunisations, family planning services, nutrition support, and treatment for common illnesses. He also tracks defaulters and ensures children return to vaccination schedules.

Bless works closely with communities to identify malnourished children and refer serious cases for treatment. He also supports school attendance by linking out-of-school children to education initiatives. His consistent presence has helped rebuild trust in healthcare and reduce risks of disease outbreaks and maternal complications. He remains one of the few reliable health workers in the area, committed to ensuring that conflict or distance does not deny people basic care.

4. Anthony Osei – Disability & Social Inclusion

Anthony Osei is a prosthetics and orthotics specialist living with post-polio paralysis, which has shaped both his personal and professional journey. He holds qualifications in mechanical engineering and prosthetics and orthotics, and currently serves as Assistant Technical Director and Workshop Manager at the Orthopaedic Training Centre in Nsawam.

He designs, fabricates, and repairs prosthetic and orthotic devices, supervises clinical services, and screens children with physical deformities for early intervention. He also contributes to professional development in Ghana as an examiner for the Allied Health Professions Council and as a tutor and guest examiner at a training college.

Beyond his clinical work, Anthony leads outreach programmes across Ghana, delivering assistive devices and care to underserved communities. He collaborates with international and local surgeons to support corrective surgeries for children with limb deformities. His work focuses on improving mobility, independence, and inclusion for persons with disabilities, while strengthening professional standards in the field.

Faith Aku Senyo – Education

Faith Aku Senyo is an educator with nearly 13 years of experience, shaped by her upbringing in conflict-affected Bimbilla. Her disrupted education inspired a lifelong commitment to improving access to education for others.

She uses innovative teaching methods that combine research-based strategies with digital tools like ChatGPT, Canva, and 3D modelling to make learning more engaging. She has created inclusive learning spaces for students with disabilities and developed flexible teaching approaches for diverse learners.

Faith founded several initiatives, including the READ Project to improve literacy, the Street School Project for out-of-school children, and the Creative Aid Agenda, which has trained over 4,200 people in practical skills. She also addresses menstrual poverty through the School Girl Rebranded Project and supports incarcerated women through rehabilitation training programmes.

Her work extends into environmental education, where she promotes recycling, tree planting, and sustainability awareness. She has improved academic outcomes for students and received major recognition, including Ghana’s Most Outstanding Teacher Award in 2023 and global recognition as a finalist for the 2025 Global Teacher Prize.

6. Alberta Seyram Adjoa Ananga Ayitey – Girl Child Development

Mrs Alberta Ayitey is a dietitian and educator with 25 years of experience dedicated to girl-child empowerment in Ghana. She co-founded the ANEG Foundation, inspired by her grandmother, to address limited opportunities and early school dropout among girls in rural communities.

Through ANEG, she has supported over 1,500 girls in the Shai Osudoku and Lower Manya Krobo districts with mentorship, education support, leadership training, and menstrual hygiene education. The foundation also runs programmes such as the Go Girls Initiative, youth summits, and entrepreneurial training.

Her work has helped improve school retention, academic performance, and transition to higher education, with many beneficiaries now in tertiary institutions serving as peer mentors. She also extends support to boys through complementary programmes, ensuring inclusive development.

Over more than a decade, her efforts have created a strong pipeline of confident, educated young people, particularly girls who now pursue careers and leadership roles previously considered out of reach.

7. Amos Andoh – Health

Amos Andoh is a sickle cell advocate living with the SC genotype, whose personal health journey has shaped his mission to reduce the burden of sickle cell disease in Ghana. Diagnosed at age six, he experienced severe pain crises and early medical warnings about limited life expectancy.

Despite these challenges, he pursued education and journalism before founding the Focus on Sickle Cell Foundation (FoSCel). The organisation focuses on awareness creation, genotype screening, and policy advocacy. His work contributed to the inclusion of sickle cell treatment under Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme.

Amos developed a comic-based education model used in schools to teach young people about genotype awareness and prevention. He has led national campaigns, including World Sickle Cell Awareness Day events, and continues to advocate for curriculum integration and nationwide screening programmes.

His long-term vision is to reduce new cases of sickle cell disease in Ghana through education, early testing, and policy change, with the aim of expanding impact across Africa.

8. Issabella Akwaboah – Health & Women Empowerment

Issabella Akwaboah is a teacher and social entrepreneur with 15 years of experience, focused on menstrual health and girls’ empowerment. Her work is shaped by personal and classroom experiences that revealed how menstrual challenges affect girls’ education and confidence.

She founded the Amazing Girls Foundation, which promotes menstrual equity and ensures that girls have access to affordable, sustainable hygiene products. In 2025 alone, her foundation reached over 6,000 girls and women through education and menstrual product distribution.

She established a production hub in Senya Beraku that produces reusable menstrual kits while creating jobs for women. The foundation also provides reproductive health education and plans to scale its impact to 15,000 girls in 2026.

Her work reduces school absenteeism and promotes dignity, ensuring that menstruation does not become a barrier to education. She continues to combine advocacy, production, and education to support girls’ long-term empowerment.

9. Senyo Success Gbormittah – Education & WASH

Dr Senyo Success Gbormittah is a medical doctor and development leader working through Hope for Ghana to improve health, education, water access, and livelihoods.

During COVID-19, he supported over 40 communities by distributing protective equipment, installing handwashing stations, and providing health education. He has also helped more than 40,000 people enrol or renew their National Health Insurance Scheme membership.

His work in education includes building schools equipped with libraries, ICT labs, solar power, and water systems. He has also supported additional learning facilities and trained young people through apprenticeships to improve employability.

In water and sanitation, he has drilled over 120 boreholes across multiple regions, improving access to clean water for thousands of families. His ongoing mobile medical outreach continues to deliver healthcare to remote communities, especially pregnant women and vulnerable groups.

10. Felix Akonta Akakpo – Education & Sports

Felix Akonta Akakpo is a community developer from Ketu South who has invested heavily in education, infrastructure, and youth development. He built a complete school complex from kindergarten through junior high, which now serves nearly 1,000 children. He also pays teachers' salaries to support operations.

He has sponsored about 50 students to senior high school and continues to provide infrastructure support, including staff housing, cement donations, and renovation materials to schools and religious institutions.

Beyond education, Felix has built key community facilities, including a police station, a public toilet, and a church, thereby improving safety and sanitation in the area. In sports, he supports all five senior high schools in Ketu South with equipment like jerseys, balls, and trophies to encourage youth participation.

His contributions are driven by personal commitment rather than recognition, with a focus on expanding access to education and improving community life.

11. Dr Anthony Akunzule – WASH & Women Empowerment

Dr Anthony Akunzule is a philanthropist whose work spans water access, education, women’s empowerment, and livelihood support in rural Ghana.

He has funded boreholes in schools, improving access to clean water, reducing absenteeism, and supporting school gardens that enhance nutrition and learning.

He empowers women through microfinance support for small businesses such as food processing, basket weaving, and trading. These initiatives have improved household incomes and reduced poverty in rural communities.

He also sponsors students in various professional fields, including nursing, teaching, and medicine, while providing learning materials and uniforms to needy pupils. Additionally, he supports families with livestock to generate income.

His work strengthens both education and economic independence, creating long-term improvements in rural livelihoods and community wellbeing.

12. Cape Coast Youth Development Association (CCYDA) – Youth Development

The Cape Coast Youth Development Association (CCYDA) is a youth-focused organisation committed to empowerment, education, and community development in Cape Coast.

It supports young people through mentorship, counselling, scholarships, and academic competitions. The organisation has distributed thousands of educational materials and supported students in pursuing careers in fields like medicine, law, and technical education.

CCYDA also runs skills training and entrepreneurship programmes in areas such as fashion, photography, and event planning, helping reduce youth unemployment and promote self-reliance.

Its health and community programmes include free screenings, support for NHIS registration, clean-up exercises, and environmental campaigns. It also promotes cultural preservation through partnerships with traditional authorities and events like Edufest, which connects students with mentors and career opportunities.

Through these efforts, CCYDA continues to strengthen youth capacity, improve education, and promote unity and development in Cape Coast.