Introducing our 2012 Team of IYIPs!

Our CIDA International Youth Interns (IYIPs) have recently deployed to their field placements. These 8 young Canadians will be working with YCI’s field partners for the next 7 months. We would like to take this opportunity to introduce the first four!

Devin Woods

This will be the photo on the dust cover of Devin's first published book.

My name is Devin Woods. I completed my undergraduate education at the University of Guelph in Political Science and a post-graduate program from Humber College in International Development Program Management (IPMP). Having volunteered and worked with a number of development organizations over the years I am very passionate about facilitating opportunities for people to learn and build skills. I will be working in Accra, Ghana as the Communications and Mobilization Officer with Youth Challenge International (YCI). My position will entail supporting YCI’s partner Youth Empowerment Synergy Ghana (YES Ghana). Specifically, this will be an opportunity for YES Ghana and I to share our different skills and build the success of their new programs surrounding Ghana’s 2012 election. Creating new media to communicate and engage with youth, this will be an exciting time for YES Ghana. As my first time travelling to Ghana I am thrilled that I will be able to take part in YES Ghana’s efforts and I am excited to take on all of the new challenges that I will face.

Clare Esler

Clare, though born in Oakville, is a Torontonian with a deep love of the city.

Hi! My name is Clare Esler and I am currently working as an Environment Project Officer at ANIDES (The Nicaraguan Association for Sustainable Development) in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, where I will be for the next seven months. Inherent in the design of all of ANIDES’ projects is sustainability; community members participate in hands on workshops and are shown step by step how to maintain the project themselves. I will be developing and implementing a variety of environmental projects including an organic agriculture scheme for families living in rural Matagalpa, a hygiene strategy, a dry toilet scheme and an environmental protection and awareness project. I grew up in Oakville, Ontario but currently reside permanently in Toronto, Ontario.  I have a Bachelors double major in French and International Development from Dalhousie University.  Two years following graduation, I completed a one-year post-graduate program in International Project Management from Humber College. Last year, I worked to develop an organic agriculture scheme as part of a six month internship in La Concepcion, Nicaragua for La Mariposa Eco-Hotel.  My passion is the environment and education, specifically in organic agriculture and promoting environmental awareness.  Outside of work I dance salsa, bachata, cook delicious vegan food and practice yoga!

Camaro West

Camaro was named after the classic car. That is why she is so cool.

My name is Camaro West and I am spending my IYIP working with the YMCA of Ghana as a Gender Advisor for the next seven months.  My role includes working with branches of the YMCA to implement a Gender Equality policy, designing specific gender equality programming targeted at men and women; and increasing the number of women and girls who benefit from YMCA programming.  I am so excited that my job will give me the opportunity to travel to different parts of Ghana and work with regional YMCAs, while experiencing the country’s diversity.  I am originally from the Island of St. Kitts, but have grown up in and around Toronto.  I recently completed my Master’s degree in International Development Studies and am particularly interested in development issues pertaining to women and girls.  I had the opportunity to visit The Gambia in 2009, so this is my second time in West Africa, but my first extended stay.  Ghana has been on my list of places to visit for a long time, and I’m excited to finally be here!  I’m looking forward to catching some football (soccer) games in the stadium and playing a little myself.

Ben Verboom

Ben: a contemplative fellow.

I am a graduate of the Physical Education and Health program at the University of Toronto, and will be working as a Health Policy Officer with the Zanzibar NGO Cluster for HIV/AIDS and Prevention (ZANGOC) in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Having lost my father to suicide when I was a teenager, I have worked for years in mental health stigma reduction, including founding the Cycle To Help awareness campaign and cycling over 8000km across Canada in 2009.  My passion for stigma reduction, combined with a long-held interest in public health and community development, took me to Namibia in 2010 to intern with local youth NGO Physically Active Youth, addressing youth development issues and HIV/AIDS using education and sport.   As Health Policy Officer, my primary role will be helping ZANGOC to craft an organizational HIV/AIDS policy, formally outlining the role that the ZANGOC, and its 45 member organizations across the archipelago, play in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Zanzibar. Drawing on input from ZANGOC’s staff and administration, and ZANGOC’s member organizations, the policy will serve as the guiding document for ZANGOC’s HIV/AIDS projects and will inform the development of a long-term action plan for ZANGOC and its members. In addition to HIV/AIDS policy project, I will also be assisting with capacity-building for ZANGOC’s members and community partners in the areas of HIV stigma reduction and gender equality.  I look forward to a meaningful and challenging intercultural, professional, and personal experience!

Alumni Update: Danika King

Danika meeting with Youth Housing Cooperative groups in Nakuru, Kenya.

After spending 5 weeks working in and discovering Ghana as an YCI Innovator, I am back to work in Nairobi, Kenya, completing a CIDA Internship position through Rooftops Canada. I have been here for over 6 months, developing communications material for an organization called the National Cooperative Housing Union (NACHU). This Kenyan NGO uses the cooperative model to provide decent and affordable housing for low and middle income groups throughout the country.

While in Ghana, I helped strengthen an YCI and YMCA partnership program to develop a clear strategy for building the capacity of the local youth and community. When consulting the Ghanaian youth to create a sustainable livelihood program, I became more aware of the various challenges that young Africans face. In Koforidua, meeting the YCI Mentors showed me that youth can be the leaders to initiate change in their community.

Danika working with the Mentors in Koforidua, Ghana.

From my experiences across the continent, I have learned that youth from both East and West Africa are met with similar obstacles when trying to strengthen their livelihoods and establish decent standards of living. In Nairobi, for example, rapid urbanization has left over a million Kenyans living in the city’s slums. These insecure and unsanitary living conditions have adverse effects on physical and mental health, and are particularly harmful to the development and life opportunities of youth.

With a better understanding of the African youth perspective, I am helping NACHU develop a strategy specifically for Kenyan youth so that they can access affordable and safe housing solutions. The youth programs at NACHU work to mobilize and empower youth, providing training in areas such as entrepreneurial skills and the promotion of HIV/AIDS awareness and gender equality. This package will help young people access NACHU’s financial and technical services so that they can buy land and build their own homes. With this program, youth will be able to help themselves leave the slums and live in safe and secure environments.

The youth in Ghana and Kenya have humbled me with their perseverance through struggles and their commitment to spearhead significant and sustainable change in their communities. I hope to continue having the opportunity to work with such inspiring individuals.

-Danika King, Youth Innovator, Ghana 2012

Our Ghana Alumni rave about their experience volunteering on project. We are currently recruiting for a 12-week project starting in May. Clink HERE for details on the project activities. 

Alumni Update: Heather Lewis

Heather with one of the students at the YMCA Vocational School in Takoradi.

I have been living and working in Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake) for just over two months now. This community is a fly-in reserve about 600km north of Thunder Bay, Ontario. While here I have had the pleasure of experiencing temperatures as low as -50°C, driving on ice-roads, and witnessing some breathtaking Aurora Borealis displays. Having worked with youth both here and in Ghana (where I worked with YCI), I have found that kids are kids no matter where they live, or their cultural background.

I am working up north with Right To Play to implement their P.L.A.Y. (Promoting Life-skills in Aboriginal Youth) program. This program has several facets but here we have run the Hockey for Development program and the Youth Leadership Program. Our aim is to enhance the leadership skills of the youth in this community, bring community members of all ages together, and have our youth group plan and run community events. Since arriving, my co-worker and I have taken part in the hiring of local staff, recruited youth to join our youth group, and run the first of three activity modules for this program.

This coming week our youth will be hosting their first round of youth-led events. The young men have planned a ball hockey tournament to raise funds for the local youth centre. This community is fortunate to have a space for youth to go, however at present the youth centre is an empty building lacking furniture and plumbing. The youth here envision a space with couches, computers, internet access, and some video games. The hockey tournament is to be the first of many fundraising events aimed at making the youth centre a great place to be.

The young ladies have planned a dance to be held in memorial of a young girl who passed away last year. They are aiming to raise enough funds to purchase a headstone for their friend, and are very dedicated to their cause. The girls have put up posters all around the community and even worked up the courage to make an announcement on the radio. The youth have been working very hard on their events and I am so proud and excited to see them happen.

I am nearing the end of my time up north and I will be sad to leave. I have really enjoyed working with the children and youth here, and I have been impressed by the level of enthusiasm for our program. The Youth Leadership Program will continue to run in KI until August, and will be facilitated by two local staff. I will move on to another internship (or job), and hopefully I will be able to find another position where my days consist of playing games, having snowball fights, and planning events with youth.

Heather and her co-worker enjoying the Northern Lights.

-Heather Lewis, YCI Alumni, Ghana 2011.

To find our more about the P.L.A.Y. Program Heather is currently working on, check out the project profile on the Right To Play website by clicking HERE.

Gender Equality Policy Development and Workshop With YES Ghana

As YCI Gender Innovators, Jenilee and I developed a Gender Equality Policy and Implementation Strategy for YES-Ghana over the past six weeks. As Jenilee described in her earlier blog post, we had an incredible experience meeting with youth advocates who are participants in YES-Ghana’s program on Youth and Good Oil Governance. In our discussions with them, we learned about various gender-related issues that arose during past program activities as well as the challenges they face addressing gender issues in their work as youth advocates.

Meredith with the Youth Advocates in Axim.

The feedback from our consultations with the youth advocates and YES-Ghana staff provided us with insight important to the development of the Gender Equality Policy. We used the input from the youth to shape the priorities of the policy and the strategies for the policy’s implementation.

During the last week of our placement at YES-Ghana, Jenilee and I developed a Gender Equality Policy Launch and Training Workshop for YES-Ghana staff that we facilitated on March 8th, coinciding with International Women’s Day and also our last day of work at YES-Ghana. The goal of the workshop was to equip staff with the tools they need to apply gender analysis and mainstreaming at YES-Ghana for the realization of their new Gender Equality Policy. 

Rhoda, Henrik, Fred, and Jenilee at the YES-Ghana Staff Gender Training

After reviewing some gender-related concepts and terms, Jenilee and I discussed how to apply gender analysis to the programmes at YES as well as how to mainstream gender in all of YES-Ghana’s work. At the end of the workshop, participants broke up into two groups and applied a gender perspective to components of YES-Ghana’s new “Voices of Youth” project. This current year-long project is centered around increasing youth participation in policy-making. One group discussed the project’s activity of creating a Youth Manifesto, a collection of youth policy proposals, and the other group discussed the project’s activity of training youth on community radio production, so that youth can reach out to their peers to collect input for the Youth Manifesto. Workshop participants quickly ran a gender analysis of each activity and discussed various gendered aspects, such as barriers and obstacles that could discourage young women’s participation in both activities.

Emelia, Katharina, and Enock at the YES-Ghana Staff Gender Training.

Discussing ways to incorporate gender into YES-Ghana’s future activities at the workshop was such a positive end to our work at YES-Ghana, as Jenilee and myself could see how the policy we developed will fit not only institutionally at YES-Ghana but also with the practical work they carry out on a day-to-day basis.

Jenilee and Meredith in front of the YES Ghana office in East Legon.

– Meredith Evans, Youth Innovator, Ghana 2012

YCI is currently recruiting for an Innovator to work with YES Ghana starting in May. The deadline to apply is March 23rd. Click HERE for the complete posting. 

The Harmattan

The hills in Koforidua are usually quite green, but have been washed away by the Harmattan sands in the air.

Characteristic of the Ghanaian dry season is the “harmattan”, which is when huge clouds of dust and sand blow down from the Sahara—and we were lucky enough to get to experience a mini-harmattan at the beginning of our stay in Koforidua.

The dust and sand sucks all the humidity out of the air, leaving your lips chapped and your throat constantly parched (similar to that feeling you get at the back of your throat when you have a cold).  The lack of humidity also has the interesting effect of allowing the air temperature to cool down quite significantly overnight—a phenomenon that left me quite perplexed the first morning that I woke up cold… in Ghana… at the height of the dry (hot) season.

Also, for you contact wearers out there, the harmattan is brutal because you’re walking through a cloud of fine, fine dust that is constantly itching at your eyes.  And on the topic of visibility, there are so many particles in the air that it gives the impression of a brown “fog” that, even in our mini-harmattan, was so thick that you couldn’t see much farther than a block away.

The sun behind a brown fog.

Fortunately, our mini-harmattan dissipated in a couple of days and Ghanaians assured us that what we experienced was nothing compared to the harmattan at the height of the dry season.  This harmattan had actually been only the latest event in a climatically confusing month, wherein it had also rained way earlier than usual.  This messed everything up because the first rain of the year usually marks the end of the harmattan—so when the country then got hit by a harmattan after it had already rained, it left a lot of locals shaking their heads and wondering just what the heck was going on.

I’ve been able to draw a couple of similarities to the Canadian snowstorm and the harmattan.  Both have a significant impact on things like visibiliy and peoples’ willingness to go outside during them.  Likewise I’m sure the novelty factor of the harmattan wears off as quickly as the novelty factor of seeing your first snowstorm.

However, all that said, I would still pick the Canadian snowstorm over the harmattan for two reasons: 1) the harmattan will often go on for days, whereas a snowstorm rarely lasts more than 24 hours and 2) you can actually have fun and play in the snow, whereas dust and sand…. well let’s be honest, it’s not like there’s any shortage of either of those here.  (On that topic though, you’re never going to have to shovel your way out of 3 feet of sand and dust, so that’s one point for the harmattan).

-David Caughey, Youth Ambassador, Ghana 2012

We are currently recruiting for Youth Ambassador positions in Ghana departing in May. Check out the Project Description.

Dancing in the Street

Ghana celebrated their 55th Independence Day on March 6th and, of course, there was dancing!

When travelling to a new place you inevitably assess how this world is different from your own. The sounds, the smells, the sights, the temperatures, the tastes- the barrage on your senses is a constant reminder that you’re very far from home. However, eventually this foreign place becomes home, the streets become familiar, the smells lead you to your favourite tea stall, the morning heat wakes you up for an early start to the day – and if that doesn’t work, there will certainly be a loud rooster to do the job. For me, it is at this point that the lines between North America and Africa begin to blur and I no longer see what makes us different but how we are the same. One great example of this is music.

Wherever I’ve travelled in the world, I’ve always felt welcomed by music. Even with the use of different rhythms, languages and instruments, each place on Earth has it’s own love ballads, songs of triumph, hymns of praise, and music to just dance to. Ghana, of course, is no different. What I have particularly loved about my time in Accra, the nation’s capital, and the smaller town of Koforidua, is that there is always music in the air, like a continuous soundtrack to my daily life. And it’s pretty awesome.

I feel that the daily Ghanaian soundtrack could be classified into four distinct and wonderful genres:

a) Classic African music that is always upbeat and makes you smile;

b) Reggae- Bob Marley and Jamaica paraphernalia are abundant;

c) Radio tunes that you remember from the 90’s;

d) And of course, the sweat-inducing, bass-thumping beats that bring both young and old to the dance floor.

I feel the most interesting are the latter two categories. Firstly, there isn’t a place in town you can go without hearing the powerful pipes of our favourite Canuck, Celine Dion. There is nothing like wandering a rural town in Ghana’s Eastern region when the melody of It’s All Coming Back To Me Now comes blaring from a car repair shop. Also in the songs-I-used-to-know-every-word-to category comes the smoothest 90’s R&B group – Boyz2Men. It’s a wonderful moment when your 4 hour trip, on a pothole-filled road, in a trotro (minibus) overcrowded with 14 people, 3 babies and a chicken, is interrupted by a bus-wide sing-a-long to the Boyz’s End of the Road.

Lastly, I must have a shout out to the African dance jams that have made this country such a fun place to be. Currently, a popular tune is Azonto, a song about a new dance craze (Locomotion anyone?). Dance moves have been created to go along with the song and almost everyone we’ve met has been able to show us a few. From the beach, to the general store, to even the streets of Koforidua, you can see young school children and adults dancing along when Azonto comes on the radio. We’ve made it our mission to find the perfect teacher to show us obrunis (white people) how to properly Azonto. And so, I leave you with the song that has been playing in my head for the past 3 weeks in hopes that you too, can join in, and Azonto, Azonto, Azonto!

 

-Danika King, Youth Innovator, Ghana 2012

YCI is currently recruiting a volunteer team to work in Ghana for 12 weeks starting May 7th. For details on the project click here to see the project description.

East vs. West

Lisa in the office of our partner in Zanzibar (ZANGOC). Lisa was an Ambassador in Ghana before becoming an IYIP in Tanzania. She is currently in Ghana as an Innovator.

In 2010, I travel to West Africa for the first time to work with YCI in Ghana. Last year, I was fortunate enough to be chosen by YCI to work for 7 months in Zanzibar, Tanzania and spent some time in Kenya. Having spent time on both sides of the continent I feel it is time for a comparison list; East vs. West.

1.     YCI East vs. West:

In Ghana YCI works with the YMCA in Takoradi and Koforidua where YCI Volunteers facilitate capacity building workshops to the students of the YMCA Vocational school in Takoradi and YCI/YMCA Mentors in Koforidua. YCI programming looks different in Tanzania as we work with different partners in all three cities (Zanzibar, Morogoro and Arusha). While the partners are different, the main goal of YCI programming remains the same; to improve youth livelihoods.

2.     Food East vs. West:

Food in Ghana is very different than in Kenya and Tanzania; East Africans tend to not like spicy food whereas in Ghana shito (hot sauce) is everywhere, in everything and is very delicious! I found food in East Africa to be dull.  For instance, rice and beans in Tanzania is simply plain rice with a small side of beans, whereas in Ghana rice and beans is called “waakye” and is a spicy mix of rice, beans, sauce and hot sauce.

3.     Migration East vs. West:

In West Africa people tend to move around a lot from country to country. I think this is due to the fact countries are smaller and closer together andECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), which allows West Africans to work in a surrounding country for up to 3 months at a time. I feel Kenyan’s and Tanzanian’s have a very rich sense of pride for their countries because even the wealthy East African’s I have met do not enjoy traveling.

4.     Swahili vs. Twi:

In Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania the official government language is English. However, in East Africa, especially in Tanzania, most people speak Swahili over English. In Tanzania, children are taught in Swahili until they reach secondary school and taught English as a second language (comparable to how Canadian are taught French as a second language). Whereas in Ghana and Kenya, all levels of schooling are taught in English.

5.     Muzungu vs. Obruni:

Everywhere you go on the African continent there is a local word for “foreigner”, or quite literally, “white person.” In Tanzania this word was “Muzungu” and in Ghana this word is “Obruni.” I think I heard muzugnu more frequently in Zanzibar because it was a very touristy place and there was a constant stream of foreigners coming and going.

6.     Handshakes vs. Greetings:

In both West and East African culture, greetings are a huge part of cultural norms; you would never walk into your office in Africa without personally greeting everyone who is there. With Swahili greetings in Tanzania, there are so many different phrases you can say to greet someone and in Ghana you never greet someone without an accompanying handshake with a snap at the end!

7.     Public Transportation East vs. West:

My last comparison is an easy one; in East and Southern Africa, people drive on the left side of the road (like the UK) and in Ghana people drive on the right side of the road (like North America). Everywhere I have been in Africa mini buses are used as public transportation and in every country there is a different word to describe these buses. In Kenya they are called “matatu’s” in Tanzania they are called “daladala’s” and in Ghana they are called “trotro’s”

-Lisa D’Alimonte, Youth Innovator, Ghana 2012

The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating: Employability, Skills and Empowerment at the Ghana YMCA

Current students at the YMCA Vocational Training Institute

Greetings from the Ghana YMCA, where I’ve happily been working for the past three weeks as Marketing and Communications Innovator with Youth Challenge International. The core business of the Ghana YMCA is empowerment; its core aim to develop the potential of young Ghanaians by helping them become productive citizens in their communities, their country and more largely, their continent.

With branches across eight of Ghana’s ten administrative regions, the Ghana YMCA serves approximately one million people in 75+ communities across the country, with its presence particarly strong in the greater Accra region, as well as the Eastern and Western regions. Its facilities range from early childhood development and care centres and community clinics to vocational training institutes — one of which I was lucky to visit this past week.

What I find most interesting about the YMCA Vocational Training Centre in Sekondi-Takoradi is the fact that management, operation and student enrolment is almost 100% female. What this means is that despite Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) branding it is very nearly an all-girls place of empowerment — speaking volumes, I think, about the reach and breadth of diversity of the Ghana YMCA’s programs and services.

A dress making student, hard at work on her latest design

Established in 1989, and set to celebrate its 22nd anniversay next month, Takoradi’s YMCA Vocational Training Institute aims to improve the quality of life for young Ghanaian girls by helping them become self-sufficient through the development of employeable skills. It predominantly serves girls aged 16-24 from the Shama Metropolitan Assembly with the opportunity to gain employable skills such as catering and dressmaking.

According to Kwabena Nketia Addae, Ghana YMCA National General Secretary, the Ghana YMCA established vocational and technical training centres like the one in Takoradi in response to a high number of young people who were unable to further their education after completing basic education. This was either because of financial constraints — their parents’ inability to pay for their education at a higher level — or their inability to meet the academic grades for the next level. The large number of unemployed young girls was of particular concern, he says; hence, through the support of CVJM, one of Ghana YMCA’s international partners, the Takoradi YMCA Vocational Training Institute.

A first year catering team explains how they've prepared their practical to Vocational Training Institute Principal Emelia Boafo

Principal of the institute is the formidable Emelia Boafo, an alumnus of Canada’s Coady International Institute, as well as the Institute of Education, Winneba (Kumasi campus). Under her tutelage, demand for places is high; student enrolment is double what it was 20 years ago, largely due to reputation. 85% of graduates are currently employed, with many others self-employed in and around the Sekondi-Takoradi area. After tasting the practicals of the first year catering class this past Friday, a menu which consisted of French rolls, “Russian” salad, beef stew, butter braised cabbage and fruit salad, I can personally vouch that the proof in the pudding is in the eating.

As Marketing and Communications Innovator my role during my six weeks in Ghana is to promote all the good work being done by the Ghana YMCA. In an effort to grow its profile, I’ll be visiting various YMCA branches and highlighting the diversity of their services — including perhaps surprisingly to some, women empowerment programs. Next up: a visit to the Koforidua and Kumasi branches, to interview some of the YMCA staff and supporters involved in early childcare and youth development.

I’m also hightlighting the strength of the YMCA Ghana’s international partnerships, one of which is Youth Challenge International. I’m doing this partly through the use of social media — so don’t forget to “like” us on our new Facebook page!

-Veronica Lasanowski, Marketing and Communications Innovator, Ghana 2012 

The YMCA Mentors

YCI Youth Ambassadors and the YMCA Mentors

My name is Anne Bouvier and I am a Youth Ambassador placed in Koforidua, Ghana.  Before arriving to Koforidua I thought our project would be straight-forward; plan a workshop, present it to a group of students, hand out a pre-test and a post test, write-up a report and bam, done.  Little did I realize this could not be accomplished without the Mentors from our partner organization, the YMCA. These ladies and gentlemen have been our support line, our co-organizers, co-planners, our co-presenters, our interpreters, our tour guides, our entertainment, our guru’s and most importantly our new found friends.  Today I want to share with you how wonderful they have been to us thus far into our stay at the YMCA.

On my first day here in Koforidua, the five of us volunteers were amazed by the bustling city, I had a perma-stunned look on my face, trying to take in all the information as we were guided to all the different places in the city we needed to know about.  I was walking with one of the mentors while he excitedly explained to me how to say different words in Twi.  I was mixing up the words and I told him I will keep trying.  He stopped in his tracks and said, “No, you will not try, you will do it.”  Now reflecting on that moment I understand why they have such a wonderful outlook on life; they are insightful, reflective and state things as they are.  No fakeness, just the honest truth. Despite how thrown off I was, I loved it, it left me thinking about what I only put “half my heart into”.

In our first meeting with the mentors (five twenty year olds from Koforidua) I came to realize that they are genuine people who care about their community.  After asking them why they decided to volunteer two answers stood out to me, “everyone needs someone to survive, which is why I give.”  Another mentioned, “It’s my passion to give, that is why I help my community.”  Not only did this inspire me to be a better person to my own community, but it made me realize how giving Ghanaians are to their own people.  I understand it is one thing to say something, and another is to act upon what you say.  Well their words soon proved to be true.  It has been almost three weeks to that meeting and the mentors have found time despite their work schedules, to attend the meetings, put in countless hours to help us organize, meet with individuals within Koforidua and the Eastern Region, and have presented workshops with finesse.

As YCI volunteers we realized our workshops would not be the same without the mentors.   Devin, a fellow Canadian, mentioned to me, “We are here to facilitate the workshops and we depend on the mentors to present, without them we are almost useless.”   This is quite true, as the volunteers we have been researchers, planners and organizers for the workshops, while the mentors have taken initiative as presenters.   They are able to connect with the youth due to the English-Twi language barrier and also because they have an energy, a passion, an engaging presence and a charisma that inspires the youth.

In addition to their help to us professionally, they also have become great friends. They accompanied us on a hike that began at 7am in the morning, they have attempted at giving us numerous dance lessons, they even organized a movie night on Valentine’s Day equipped with their very own personal speakers and a projector.  I also have learned how to get things done without becoming stressed, how to enjoy doing work, how to be laid back and to not worry about the time.

Finally I want to take this opportunity to thank you to each and every one of them for showing me the importance in enjoying each moment in life, giving to your neighbour without expecting anything in return and for sharing the passion that that burns in each one of them.  The dedication of the mentors makes me eager to reach YCI’s goals through our workshops, and I know they will, as a new friend of mine stated, “get everything they wish for out of life, sometime in the near future.”

-Anne Bouvier, Youth Ambassador, Ghana 2012

Anne is on an 8 week Youth Ambassador placement in Ghana. Check out the upcoming opportunities in Ghana  by clicking on our Program Calendar. 

Consultations with Youth: Gender Innovator in Ghana

Meredith and Jenilee with the Ahanta West youth advocates in Agona.

Akwaaba!

I can’t believe how quickly time flies! 3 weeks have already passed since I first landed in Accra, Ghana to start my placement as a gender innovator with the Youth Empowerment Synergy (YES-Ghana).

The YCI Ghana staff were there to welcome me with open arms upon my arrival and my first two days in Ghana were spent in orientation with the other YCI volunteers, settling into my new home away from home at the Obruni house and sampling the local cuisine. Thanks to the very helpful lesson I received from another restaurant patron, I survived my first fufu eating experience!

 

Fufu and groundnut soup with black snails and crab.

Before I knew it, we were headed to East Legon for our first day of work at YES-Ghana, tasked with the development of a gender equality policy, an implementation strategy and the organization of a workshop on gender equality to be held on International Women’s day.

This last week has been busy with consultations with YES-Ghana staff, program participants in Jamestown and youth advocates and district coordinators in the western districts of Takoradi-Sekondi, Ahanta West and Nzema East. The passion demonstrated by the youth advocates for the work that they are doing in their communities was truly inspiring. Together we were able to identify gender equality challenges and opportunities and discuss ways to address gender equality issues through the work they do as youth advocates. The time spent with them exchanging thoughts and experiences and visiting their districts has been a real highlight of my placement to date.

Armed with a wealth of information from these consultations, we now embark into the policy development process. I can’t wait to see what the next four weeks bring and I am very much looking forward to celebrating the release of YES-Ghana’s new gender equality strategy during the International Women’s Day workshop on March 8th.

A visit to Fort San Antonio in Axim, Nzema East district.

 

– Jenilee Ward, Youth Innovator, Ghana 2012

YCI is currently recruiting for a Gender Youth Innovator in Tanzania this May. Applications are due on March 12th, 2012.