Tilda Acorlor
Beneficiaries of the Young and Safe Project have lauded the initiative for greatly boosting their confidence and empowering them to actively participate in community governance.
They are therefore calling for its continuation, citing the life-changing impact after a successful completion of a three-year youth development initiative in the Ho Municipality.
One of the beneficiaries, David Zomayi, noted that his confidence has improved tremendously through one of the project’s initiatives, Youth Leadership and Advocacy Training by extension Youth Participation in Governance.
According to him, the training equipped him with the skills and courage to formally write to the Volta Regional Director of Education, Mrs. Miriam Adzroe, sought support for three underprivileged children in Ho-Tsikpota to enroll in school, which was successful.
“Through the Young and Safe Project, I became open-minded and confident enough to approach authorities and seek assistance to help change the narrative in my community,”
“because of this I was able to get the director of education to assist 3 children who are not attending school to gain admission, and next academic year they will start school” he stated.
He added that the programme has provided him with a platform to be heard by decision-makers, inspiring him to strive for greater impact.
Another beneficiary, Tony Ahamey, who is now a podcaster, also credited the project for enhancing his public speaking skills and self-confidence.
He revealed that he has created a podcast to give young people a platform to express their concerns and share their experiences.
“One of the greatest impacts of the project is the confidence it has instilled in me. I can now speak boldly in public, and I have created a podcast to amplify the voices of young people like me,” he said.
However, he expressed concern about the possible end of the project, noting that it has created opportunities that many young people would otherwise not have.
The Executive Director of Node Eight, Brain Dzansi, described the initiative as a catalyst for meaningful community development, with its broad impact on young people.
He cited the creation of a skate club, Wheels Ghana, and the development of a mental health response platform, Fafa App, as just a few of the many impactful initiatives that emerged from the project.
Mr. Dzansi disclosed that a formal request has been submitted to the project’s funders, seeking a six-month extension to enable stakeholders to develop and implement sustainable strategies to maintain and expand the project’s gains.
“The initiative has been highly impactful. We have written to the funders to grant us a six-month extension to think through sustainability again and plan the way forward,” he said.
He explained that during the implementation phase, the focus was largely on execution and implementation rather than long-term sustainability.
“This extension will allow us to evaluate which initiatives have been most effective and determine how best to sustain them,” he added.
The Young and Safe Project, implemented over a three-year period, has empowered adolescents and young people in Ho through a range of interventions aimed at promoting participation, wellbeing, and community engagement.
These interventions include the Young and Loud Festival, Ho Wellbeing Index, Policy Hackathon, Youth Leadership and Advocacy Training, Virtual Reality and Robotics Training Bootcamp, Young and Safe Club, Y-Radio Show, Youth Park, Node X, and Jesi Code2Job
Young and safe is a project designed to make Ho a youth friendly city. It’s part of Healthy Cities for Adolescents-II program funded by Fondation Botnar, managed by Ecorys UK and implemented in Ho by a consortium made up of Node Eight, LoveAid Foundation, Ho Municipal Assembly and Ghana Education Service, Ho.
