Cheerful Hearts Foundation Shares Experience

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Panel_session_for_the_corruption_in_Africa_and_how_to_overcome_or_reduce[1]
Panel_session_for_the_corruption_in_Africa_and_how_to_overcome_or_reduce[1]

Teach a man how to fish and they can always fish to feed themselves. One of the commendable efforts of the Danish Youth Council (DUF) is creating opportunities and platforms for the youth in developing countries and the MENA to build their capacity to enable them make the difference in their own lives, their organisations, their communities and their nation. Cheerful Hearts Foundation has been fortunate to benefit from such opportunities for the past 2 years through their partnership with Child Rights Ambassadors, Denmark (also known in Danish as Red Barnet Ungdom).

Panel_session_for_the_corruption_in_Africa_and_how_to_overcome_or_reduce[1]
Panel_session_for_the_corruption_in_Africa_and_how_to_overcome_or_reduce[1]
This year, the Danish Youth Council through Child Rights Ambassadors provided a total grant of Fourty Nine Thousand three hundred and nineteen Danish Kroner (49.319 Kr) to enable 2 staff of the Cheerful Hearts Foundation to attend the International Civil Society Week 2014 organised by CIVICUS in Johannesburg from the 18th ? 26th November, 2014. The theme of the network activity organised by CIVICUS was ?Citizen Action, People Action??. In summary the seminar dealt with different aspects of empowering civil society in areas such as volunteerism, avoiding corruption, advocacy and many other aspects. The conference which had numerous educative and interactive sections, brought together over 700 participants with diversity of skills from all over the world.

The two staff Mr. Eric Opoku Agyemang and Mr. Bright Fiatsi who found this conference to be extremely rewarding is happy to share a few recommendations which can be of great support to the development of the youth of Ghana, our various communities and Ghana as a nation.
The development of our nation today and tomorrow is highly dependent on the genuine and passionate development services of our leaders today and the capacity development and involvement of youth in decision making processes. The youth is the backbone of the nation and therefore must practically be developed and prepared for passionate leadership today and tomorrow. While we congratulate the incumbent government for the involvement of some young ministers such as Haruna Iddrisu, Dr. Edward Omane-Boamah, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Samuel Okudzeto Abrakwa, Murtala Muhammed Ibrahim, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, John Jinapor, Rachael Nana Adjoa Appoh, Baba Jamal Mohammed Ahmed, Ms. Barbara Serwaa Asamoah and a few others, we appeal that the Ghanaian Youth Participation in Governance should not be a mere act of Symbolism.

Our local adage which goes ?No one drinks medicine for the sick? makes it very necessary to involve the youth in a more practical decision making processes not only at the National level but also the grassroots level who are mostly the affected ones. It has been proven that the involvement of the youth in volunteering makes them not only concerned about the problem of their own communities, but also makes them committed and feel part of the development process. Unfortunately, Ghana does not have a formalised volunteer structure to involve the youth in volunteering, acknowledge the efforts of volunteers or makes volunteering well acknowledged and respected by all including business, organisations, communities and many others.
In the first steps, this is the time that through the National Youth Authority in collaboration with civil society organisations, Churches, Universities, Social welfare, National Commission on Civic Education and all major stakeholders across Ghana, a more formalised volunteering structure can be established from our villages (grassroots) to the National Level. Today, there are several youth who have shown interest to volunteer yet do not have the opportunity due to the lack of formalised structure for volunteering and/or lack of information. Volunteering is also a way of making the youth have a deeper understanding of the problems faced by their various communities, finding solutions to them with resources available while developing their thinking ability. Many thanks to volunteer organisations such as Ghana Think Foundation, Patriots Ghana, Young At Heart and many others who are working towards the involvement of the Ghanaian youth in community development through volunteering and youth initiatives. It is also very important that all youth organisations, have a bigger national umbrella similar to the Danish Youth Council which can stand exclusively and genuinely to support and promote the efforts of the Ghanaian youth in development processes. This would also be a platform where the government can hear the voice of the youth and input the needs of the youth in National planning. Ghana growing towards a more transparent and accountable governance system would be a great means of reducing corruption and growing national development.

Recommendation for Youth Organisations:

Limited access or struggle of youth organisations in finding grants/funds to pursue the positive change that they wish to make in their various communities is another challenge to be addressed. It is important for the numerous civil society organisations to understand and truly stay committed to their missions and have a clearer goals for their organisations with regards to the needs they want to address. Secondly, must identify themselves or join a more organised and trustworthy umbrella organisation or Coalitions which would can give some sort of check or trust for their work and efforts. Additionally, youth organisations should make time and carefully study funding requirements of donor organisations before submitting proposals. Organisations who already have access to grants/funding should respect donor?s financial policies and go strictly by the requirements of the donors to build trust and reputation and for continuous support. Organisations should also take advantage of the numerous virtual volunteers on UN Volunteering website who would like to use their skills to support the efforts of other organisations across the globe. Last but not the least, youth organisations should take advantage of online fundraising platforms such as Global Giving, Indiegogo Campaigns, Gofundme, etc.
One thing that civil society organisations cannot miss is joining membership of CIVICUS. CIVICUS is a world Alliance for Citizen Participation. You can find more information about CIVICUS on www.civicus.org.

Cheerful Hearts Foundation uses this opportunity to say a big thank you to the Danish Youth Council for such a great learning and networking activity and also to Child Rights Ambassadors for their wonderful partnership and support in growing the capacity of the foundation.
Organisations or individuals interested in learning more about our experiences at the International Civil Society Week 2014, or interested in working together to achieve the recommendations of this article can contact Cheerful Hearts Foundation by email at [email protected] or telephone +233243626182, +233246207926.
Many thanks for making time to read this article.

Source:

By Eric Opoku Agyemang
Cheerful Hearts Foundation
www.cheerfulheartsfoundation.org

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