Executive Summary
The Deaf community in Ghana lack access to varied forms of information that is shared within their environment, leading to a number of inequalities between Deaf and non-deaf people. ITG thus aims to provide equal information access opportunities to the Deaf community. This aim complements that of the Ghana National Association of the Deaf- GNAD and the National Association of Sign Language Interpreters, Ghana- NASLIG. ITG provides the platform for interpreters to learn integrated approaches to interpreting in a variety of settings that include community, healthcare, academic, conference and in other emerging settings. Our core objective therefore is to train and provide professional, culturally and linguistically competent Sign Language Interpreters for service providers who work with the Deaf community. We again desire to equip the Deaf community and service providers with knowledge regarding how interpreters perform their work. Through professional development trainings, capacity building workshops and seminars, we seek to ensure that interpreters who work with the Deaf community work to solve access disparities thereby bridging the communication gap between the Deaf and non-deaf communities in Ghana.
ITG has a dedicated team that seeks to foster the organizations objectives
Dzeani Okai Phinehas
Dzeani Okai Phinehas shares his love for the Deaf community and language by leading workshops and capacity building workshops for interpreters across the country. By combining trainings received from TerpAcdemy, St. Catherine University (Catie Center), Northeastern University, Alabama Department of Mental Health: Office of Deaf Services and Western Oregon University, Dzeani, affectionately called ‘Beautiful-D’ by the Deaf and interpreting community provides interpreters with a wide range of tools they can use during the work. Dzeani has also been an individual member of the World Federation of the Deaf- WFD and the World Association of Sign Language Interpreters- WASLI since 2017 and 2018 respectively. He is currently the Executive Secretary of NASLIG and the Managing Director of ITG. His focus is to leverage on interpreter theory to support the interpreting profession in Ghana to be at par with acceptable global practice.
Fobi Joyce
Joyce Fobi has worked as a teacher of the Deaf and a SLI at the basic and tertiary levels of education in Ghana over the years. Joyce has also worked as a clinical assistant at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Ghana where she had the opportunity to work with a lot of Deaf individuals thereby learning so much about the causes of deafness and how that relates to the culture of the Deaf people in Ghana. Joyce has been part of the British Academy Global Challenges Research Funded Project as a research assistant. Her focus on the project was to examine early education for young deaf children and their caregivers in Ghana. Joyce intends to extend her research experience with Deaf individuals, children and their families as well as issues of early development, language, and communication. Joyce is a founding member and currently the Administrative Secretary of ITG.
Abakah Isaac
Isaac Abakah is a certified Ghanaian Sign Language Interpreter, a professional web developer and an account personnel. Isaac has been working with the Deaf community as a language teacher, Deaf advocate and an interpreter for over 19 years. He has passion for the Deaf community in Ghana and therefore seeks to utilize every opportunity to ensure that Deaf people have access to communication and community services. Isaac attained his Diploma in Ghanaian Sign Language interpreting from the University of Cape Coast and has used knowledge and skills acquired from that training to mentor a number of upcoming interpreters. He is currently the Coordinating Chair of the National Association of Sign Language Interpreters, Ghana; Western Region Committee, a co-founder and current Director of Finance of ITG.
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