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.