USPG commits £250,000 to reparatory justice initiative in Ghana

USPG has announced that it will be providing a £250,000 grant towards supporting the Anglican Church in Ghana’s Heritage Anglican Culture Village and Resorts initiative.

The long-term project is being established to support spiritual pilgrimage, healing and reconciliation programmes, and community development initiatives. In particular, the project seeks to serve those from the African diaspora visiting Ghana and the slave sites for cultural rediscovery and healing to understand the experiences their ancestors underwent during the transatlantic slave trade.

The grant follows a pledge USPG made in 2023 to commit to investing £7m, over a period of 10-15 years, to a wide-ranging programme of reparatory justice in relation to SPG’s (USPG’s predecessor organisation) ownership of the Codrington estates in Barbados, where enslaved persons of African descent were subject to brutal treatment within the regime of plantation chattel slavery. In September 2024 they formally launched The Codrington Renewal and Reconciliation Project, a launch attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury, then Bishop of London.

USPG’s General Secretary, the Revd Canon Dr Duncan Dormor, said:

Reparatory justice involves sincere apologies, the acknowledgement of past atrocities and the structures that enabled them, and a commitment to providing redress for the damage inflicted on individuals, groups and nations. This initiative recognises the legacies of the slave trade, especially those that affect the deepest aspects of human identity, and seeks the renewal and reconciliation of relationships wounded by this history.

SPG was also implicated in the transatlantic slave trade through the provision of chaplaincy to Cape Coast Castle in Ghana from 1751 through to the end of the trade in 1807, and beyond. From 1766 until his death in 1816, the Revd Philip Quaque, the first African to be ordained in the Church of England, was the Chaplain at Cape Coast Castle and was employed by SPG to minister to both the company that organised and supported the slave trade and to the local African community.

At the Anglican Consultative Council held in Ghana in 2023, the world-wide Anglican Communion committed itself to such reparatory programmes seeking to address ‘past damage’. The movement for reparatory justice has since accelerated with the UN adopting a landmark resolution declaring the trafficking of enslaved Africans as the ‘gravest crime against humanity’ (March 26, 2026). This has been followed by statements from Pope Leo XIV and the publication of the revised plan for reparatory justice approved at the 51st Regular Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government (5-8 July 2026) – The CARICOM Ten Point Plan for Reparatory Justice. USPG strongly supports the Church of England’s Project Spire initiative and its £100m Fund for Healing, Repair and Justice.

The Heritage Anglican Culture Village and Resorts initiative forms part of the Anglican Church in Ghana’s long-term strategy to create sustainable infrastructure that preserves cultural heritage, and also aligns closely with government-led tourism initiatives such as the Year of Return and subsequent heritage awareness programmes. These have significantly increased global interest in Ghana as a destination for cultural rediscovery, pilgrimage, and healing, particularly among the African diaspora and faith-based travellers.

The Most Revd Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, Primate and Metropolitan Archbishop of the Church of the Province of West Africa, said:

This initiative marks a historical step by USPG as an agent of change and a champion of reparative Justice. USPG is the forerunner in ensuring that the voice of justice and reconciliation echoes once again through this opportunity for healing from the trauma experienced by enslaved persons in the castles in Ghana.

The first phase of the project is a 20-room apartment-style hostel in Kaneshie, Accra. This location is well-suited to provide dedicated accommodation for pilgrims, heritage tourists, and participants in Church-sponsored programmes. This will be funded through USPG’s £250,000 grant. The Mission Real Estate Development Initiative of Trinity Church in New York City is also collaborating with USPG and the Anglican Church in Ghana to assess supporting the expansion of the apartment-style project in Accra with additional rooms.

The Rt Revd Dr David Walker, Bishop of Manchester and USPG Chair of Trustees added:

I am delighted that we at USPG are able to support this significant project. The day in 2023 when, alongside members of the Anglican Consultative Council, I stood in the dungeons of Cape Coast Castle, where enslaved women and men were held pending being trafficked across the Atlantic, remains seared into my memory as one of the most emotionally difficult of my life. This work will allow visitors to Ghana’s enslavement related sites to combine heritage seeking with faith pilgrimage, doing so in a context where, as they seek to process strong thoughts and feelings, pastoral care can be more readily made available.

As part of her visit to Ghana, the Archbishop of Canterbury will lay a foundation stone inaugurating the first stage of the project after a service at St Joseph’s Kaneshie on Sunday 26th July in Accra, Ghana.