Youth Empowerment Synergies (YES-GHANA) to support student groups from the University for Development Studies (UDS) with a grant of 100,000 cedis.
The grant will assist the beneficiary groups to implement various social change projects in the northern region.
This was made known at an innovation fair in Tamale where five cohorts presented proposals aimed at addressing a challenge in their localities.
Five cohorts made up of ten members were taken through training in leadership for social change through the Youth Academy for Social Change.
They were made to identify social problems in their localities and designed an innovative way of mitigating such problems. Some of the areas selected by students include Depression among students, Children with special needs and telecommunication Network problems.
As part of the project, students will receive technical support to lead the implementation of the various projects over a period of six months.
In an interview with Citi News, the Project Manager, Eric Saforo explained that the initiative aims at creating opportunities for young people in the universities to identify social injustice and social problems in their communities and address them.
‘We are looking at leaders who solve problems, not just any problem but social justice and social problems that they identify in their communities. We want them to struggle through their implementation so they will learn something from it and gain the experience of identifying a problem and solving them not by themselves but by the community as well.’
He added that this would offer the students practical knowledge.
‘The practical application of skills, knowledge and understanding gained through the Youth Academy for social change is essential to ensuring that the fellows learn to generalise and apply what they have learned in other situations. Through this process, youth leaders will become more involved in their communities and provide real service’.
Mr Saforo noted that: “After assessment of the proposal, the grant will be awarded to the selected students in June to begin implementation.”
The Vice Dean of Students, UDS, Dr Paul Aryee said the initiative is in line with the core mandate of the university.
‘UDS has always blazed the trail as far as combining academic work and work in the community is concerned we ensure that once they are doing this their attention will not be based just on academic work but the community as well’
Other groups from the University of Energy and Natural Resources and the University of Cape Coast will receive similar grants after the assessment of their proposal.
The YES initiative is funded by the Ford Foundation and implemented by Youth Employment Synergy (YES-GHANA).
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By: Diana Ngon | citinewsroom.com | Ghana
