YPWC MDG Clubs, which are operated in junior high schools in Ghana, serve as communication hubs, resource centres and inspiration for engaged youth and their communities. These clubs provide youth with the facts, the advisory support and financial resources to make their action plans a reality rather than just a dream. This programme seeks to equip youth with the right tools to gauge what their communities need and to motivate others to take on responsibilities and roles that are necessary to achieve the MDGs and to eradicate poverty in Ghana.
This year one of the functional YPWC MDGs Clubs in Ghana joined the rest of the world to mark the Global Youth Service Day (GYSD). The event was hosted at Bunkpurugu in the Northern Region from the 24th to 25th of April, 2009. The theme for the event was “Empowering youth to plant trees for environmental sustainability”.
The GYSD is an annual event that recognizes and celebrates the contributions of youth towards sustainable community development through voluntary service and the contributions made by the community (public, private, and nonprofit sectors) to empower young people. The day also provides a platform for young people in the world to take practical action that benefit their communities.
The two-day programme included a capacity building session and a tree planting session. There were a total of 25 participants at the event. Godwin Yidana and Gayle Pescud, both of YPWC, facilitated the event with the help of Matthew Nyannube Yosah, the YPWC MDG coordinator for the area. The programme was funded by Youth Service America.
The objectives of the event were:
1. To inspire participants to take action locally and to empower them for effective community development by equipping them with communication, leadership, time management and report writing skills.
2. To construct a tree nursery in the community that provides young people with seedlings to encourage tree planting, which is in line with the MDG 7 to ensure environmental sustainability.
ACTIVITIES:
The first day of the event, 24th April, marked the first day of the GYSD celebration which featured a capacity building seminar facilitated by Godwin Yidana and Gayle Pescud, both of YPWC.
The capacity building workshops were focused on four important topics:
• Leadership and time-management skills
• Report writing
• Communication skills
• Goal setting
The second day of the event, 25th April, started with a reflection exercise that provided participants with an opportunity to share with the group what they had learned on the previous day. They also had the opportunity to present to the group assignments that they had been given the previous day. This was a very practical exercise in presentation and communication skills.
After the reflection exercise, participants worked together to create a tree nursery to care for the seedlings that were bought. The tree nursery was successfully constructed and 65 seedlings (five Tig seedlings and 60 Mango seedlings) were cared for there. These seedlings have since been transplanted around the school compound in town.
IMPACT OF THE PROGRAMME
Though the programme was only two days long, it did make a lasting impact in the lives of the youth who participated.
The programme provided the participants with a platform to learn effective communication skills and how to apply those skills in their work. They learned about effective communication and group dynamics and then applied the lessons the following day during the construction of the nursery.
The programme also empowered members with leadership and time management skills. During the capacity building seminar, members were taken through a series of important leadership, time management and effective communication exercises.Some of them had the chance to stand before other people to do a presentation for the first time in their lives.
OTHER NEWS
In a related development, our Global Sister School partners-, Step by Step, a community education nonprofit in the USA, hosted an “Earth Day Block Party” at the Big Ugly Community Center on Saturday, 18th April, 2009 as part of their activities to mark GYSD. Over 80 young people took part in discussions, presentations and community service activities relating to water sanitation. Community members and youth worked on service activities, including a stream clean-up and planting trees on stream banks.
Youth and volunteers waded through a creek for a half mile and picked up 236 lbs of garbage and 75 lbs of recyclables. Volunteers planted over 150 riparian trees, including silky dogwood and tulip poplar. Volunteers also interviewed 10 people and recorded their thoughts about local water issues.
The programme was coordinated by Mathew Walker, YPWC’s Global Sister School Programme Coordinator and funded by a Learn and Serve Project FLOW grant through the West Virginia Commission for National and Community Service and a West Virginia DEP Stream Partners Grant. Project FLOW is a water education program that uses hands-on service learning to introduce environmental concepts, stewardship, and leadership development. Project FLOW teens will use the information collected from the interviews about weather issues to create videos that highlight community concerns.
The Global Sister School/Youth Groups programme of YPWC has its basis on Goal 8 of the MDG-Developing Global Partnership for Development. The main objective of the programme is to connect and network with youth groups around the world in order to build relationships and work towards social and economic development and the realization of the Millennium Development Goals. Schools and groups in African countries connect with, communicate and tackle issues with groups and schools from other continents, sharing best practices and implementing action projects related to the MDGs. The main activities of the organization include classroom and youth programming, internet based communication, and project development and management.
