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Youth On Board

Youth-led accountability campaign on Ghana’s education
response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

BRIEF

The Youth on Board project, an initiative by YOTA in partnership with 100% for Børnene, took off on 11th May 2022, for the purpose of engendering youth voices in Ghana’s education response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thanks to funding from the Civil Society in Development Fund (CISU), we are escalating youth action across the country with a focus on eight municipalities: Bolgatanga, Effia Kwesimintsim, East Mamprusi, Kumbungu, Suame, Sunyani, West Gonja and Wa. Since its inception, the project has held the Municipal Youth Action Workshops, Municipal Youth Action Fora, and Youth-Led Monitoring & Accountability Workshops for its youth representatives in these municipalities. These activities have played a major role in equipping them to successfully carry out their advocacy endeavors.

Get Into

Youth Employment Programme

BRIEF

The Get Into Employment programme is funded by the Prince's Trust International in partnership with YOTA to support the Ghanaian youth build the relevant employability skills required 𝘵o help them secure job placments. Young people are shortlisted for sector-specific opportunities and are taken through soft skills training, after which they are given the opportunity to acquire work experience with prospective employers or organizations for 4-5 weeks. Since its inception, the programme has successfully equipped Ghanaian youths with tailored soft skills training, and practical work experience, and consequently, placed them in secure job roles in the green economy, tourism and hospitality industries.

Adwuma Pa

Providing Essential Life Skills Training for Girls in 3 regions in Ghana

BRIEF

The Adwumapa project implemented by YOTA in partnership with Child Rights International, CARE and Olam with funding from the Department of Labor, U.S.A is an initiative to curb the prevalence of child labour, forced labour, and all forms of labour violations against 5000 women and girls in the cocoa value chain in Ghana. The project has in the last few years, mobilized not less than 1,600 women from 3 regions, 4 districts and 80 communities, and put a large number of them through life skills and vocational training. Notable among the project’s activities in 2022 were the major presentations of vocational startup kits to beneficiaries who have undergone vocational training under the project. These donations, which were made to beneficiaries in Bechem, Goaso, Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa and Bibiani included sewing machines, machine oil, machine needles, tape measures, scissors, grey baft, thread, office pins, hemming needles, tail combs, hair pins, brush rollers, smooth rollers towels, gas cylinders with regulators and tubes, dual purpose commercial ovens, soft flour, hard flour, margarine, vanilla flavor, pineapple flavor, baking soda, milk and cooking oil.

Africa Youth Partnership

For an Equitable Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic

BRIEF

YOTA and Restless Development launched the Africa Youth Partnership for an Equitable Recovery from the COVID-19 Pandemic through which we engage, support and empower young people to put their ideas into action and play a leading role in Africa’s COVID recovery. Thanks to funding from the Ford Foundation, we are escalating youth action for an equitable recovery across Africa, with a focus on ten pilot countries namely; Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. To carry out the project’s advocacy activities, Youth Task Teams were created in each country and since, they have embarked on addressing dire issues affecting the continent. Delegates from the various Youth Task teams were also granted the opportunity to travel abroad and represent the team at major international events including; the 2nd Conference on Public Health in Africa, the 17th UN Climate Change Conference of Youth, the International Conference on Family Planning 2022 and the YouthConnekt Africa Summit. The Youth Innovation Challenge was also birthed from the Africa Youth Partnership, where young innovators from The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria got to showcase their ideas and proposed solutions for addressing the many challenges posed to the continent, by the COVID-19 pandemic. Each winner from the four countries received a hefty cash prize to enable them execute their brilliant innovations.

Vibe Check

Soft Skills and Youth Employability Programme

BRIEF

With the aim of equipping the youth with basic soft skills to make them highly employable, the Vibe Check Programme, an initiative of Prince's Trust International in partnership with YOTA, was launched. Under the programme, a Whatsapp chatbot was developed to serve as a platform for learning these soft skills, after which participants were awarded certificates. The programme also held Youth Employability Forums in All Nations University, University of Ghana, and Wisconsin International University College, to discuss among students how best they can prepare themselves for their journey from education to employment and introduce them to the Whatsapp learning platform. The crowning event was the Vibe Check Job Fair, where hundreds of youths had the opportunity to meet prospective employers, pitch their proposals and ideas and get to know what employers look out for in prospective employees.

PASEWAY

Pathways for Sustainable Employment for Women and Youth

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The Pathways for Sustainable Employment for Women and Youth (PASEWAY) project is a 36-month project focused on creating formal employment in the construction and hospitality sectors. The PASEWAY project, funded by BMZ and managed by Plan International, is being implemented by YOTA and two other local partners, RAINS and VTF, based in the Northern and Ashanti regions, respectively. YOTA is implementing the project in construction and is responsible for mobilising 1,200 youth interested in the project in twelve districts in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. The target includes 200 young women with no prior experience in construction, 250 young women and men who are semi-skilled in construction without a formal education and a certificate, 500 unemployed youth who are skilled and have a certificate, and 250 youth with informal microenterprises in the sector.

YL4SC

Youth Leadership for Social Change

BRIEF

With funding from the Ford Foundation, YOTA piloted the Youth Leadership for Social Change project with the goal of training leaders from universities in Ghana, who would bring about social change in their struggling communities. In liaison with the Dean of Students and Student Leaderships, students from the University of Cape Coast, University of Development Studies and the University of Energy and Natural Resources were given training in Leadership in Social Change, with the use of the International Acclaimed Leadership Curriculum provided by the International Youth Foundation. Applying what was learnt in their training, the leaders were separated into groups and given the mandate of identifying key issues in selected communities and coming up with solutions to these problems, with the participation of the community members. They were also awarded grants to carry out these community projects. Besides accomplishing the great feats of constructing a mechanized borehole, two school blocks, a community event grounds, a bridge and procuring 10 mobile toilets among others for their assigned communities, several of the leaders also went on to take up major leadership roles in their Universities.

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