YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson, widely known as MrBeast, has unveiled a nearly $10 million village in Ghana aimed at helping children stay in school instead of working in illegal cocoa-farm labour.
Called Abna Dakwa Village, the project is located in Ghana’s Eastern Region and was designed to provide families with housing, education, healthcare, clean water and economic opportunities. The development took about one year of planning and eight months of construction.
The village includes a school capable of serving more than 300 students, 10 homes for teachers, a medical clinic, marketplace, community centre and recreational facilities. It also has solar power, water towers, agricultural facilities and fish tanks intended to support the community’s long-term needs.
To encourage children to attend school, students will receive free meals every school day for five years, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation. The initiative is designed to reduce some of the economic pressures that can push children into agricultural work.
MrBeast has also used the project to highlight child labour concerns in Ghana’s cocoa industry, where poverty and limited access to services can contribute to children working instead of attending school. The project was developed with several international partners, including the Varkey Foundation and Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiatives.
The creator described the development as his largest humanitarian project so far. The initiative combines education, healthcare, food, clean water, energy and livelihood support in one community, with the broader goal of giving children safer alternatives to hazardous labour.
