Povo... aí vão algumas das minhas reportagens escritas em ingrrrrês. Meus escritos n'outra língua parecem sempre que foram feitos por outra pessoa. É estranho como a idéia de "pertencimento" está tão associada a nossa língua e nossa cultura.
Enfim, fica aqui um pouquinho do que tenho feito como repórter para a Village Exchange Ghana e o que tenho desenvolvido como staff (educadora) no Lady Volta Resource Centre.
Até breve!
LVRC Trained To Start A Peer-Education Programme
Julia Dietrich
Lady Volta Resource Center (LVRC) partnered with Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) to train youth leaders from Ho, Volta Region (Ghana) in peer education techniques. In an intensive, four-day program that started on the 6th of October, thirteen youth leaders currently working with teenagers and young adults from Volta Region were trained in how to inspire young people to become leaders in their communities. Among the trainees, was the LVRC own staff that will soon be training a group of young educators.
For LVRC Program Officer, Amanda Clarke, the peer educator system enables a sustainable model of improvement in health care, “It is a continuous process. We were trained to train other peer educators who will continue working in their communities and so forth.”
Since 1967, PPAG has worked in providing healthcare and development services for the nation of Ghana. Among many other activities, PPAG trains non-governmental organizations (NGOs) using materials and techniques built on a deep understanding of local health issues and abundant field experience.
“It is amazing for us to take part in this enterprise. This is what peer education is all about: passing on knowledge”, explains the PPAG trainer, Selassie Sianu. “It is our commitment and interest to observe how the LVRC is going to make use of this training. We want to see how the concept will be explored by the centre”
According to Emily Adevor, the LVRC Project Officer, this training event has been a strategic goal as an Implementing Partner of the United Nations Fund for Populations (UNFPA). “For us it was an honor to learn from PPAG and better achieve our goals. We will certainly make good use of this knowledge,” she explains. Clarke agrees, stating that the training from PPAG will allow the beneficial transfer of knowledge from a big and general organization to the local scale.
From the caretaker to the office manager, all the members of the LVRC staff are taking part in the programme. “It is very important that we were trained as an unit to work in a cohesive and joint way”, states Adevor.
The trainees responded really well to the programme. “Among other things, it is a nice programme because it will help us to develop our skills in what we have already been doing. We now have a formal structure for what we were doing instinctively”, states the LVRC male counselor, Courage Afashime.
“I found out that I myself am a peer educator. I started as a youth leader based on what I saw in my community. So I’m building myself as a counselor to the centre, as a counselor in general and as a leader in my community”, complements (check meaning of complements) Afashime, who was hired by LVRC because of his significant role as an engaged citizen of Ho.
To enhance the training process, also known as Training of Trainers (TOT), PPAG provided an exclusive line of materials that included an extensive programme on how to tackle the high HIV-Aids rates in Ghana.
LVRC Kicks Off The Life Skills Programme
Julia Dietrich
“One of our corner stones here at Village Exchange Ghana (VEG) is to offer comprehensive services through a holistic approach. We want to integrate different components to better equip women and help them create change”.
The premises stated by Lady Volta Resource Centre (LVRC) Programme Officer, Amanda Clarke, is the motto for the Life Skills Programme, a VEG integrated programme. Developed by two volunteers under the coordination of Clarke, the project aims to equip workingwomen of the VEG staff in reproductive and sexual health (RSH), literacy, numeracy and personal finance.
According to the United Nations Fund for Childhood (Unicef), ultimately, the interplay between the skills is what produces powerful behavioral outcomes. “This programme actually will reach more than just the initial group. Every woman will go back to their own family and community and spread the knowledge they are acquiring. Since most of them are young mothers, their growth through the provided life skills will also benefit their children”, agrees Clarke.
The group of employees, all from Lady Volta Beads and Batik, are mostly young mothers, working as seemstresses and jewelry makers. “The best part of this programme is the fact that it is not a normal school classroom. Here we work with what they want to learn and when you have students that want to learn the teacher has a good time explaining things to them,” explains the facilitator of the classes, Cecilia Aglobitse.
To understand and plan the classes, the team of volunteers went to the two groups and developed a base line assessment, looking for information to create a curriculum that would respond to their needs.
However, according to Aglobitse, teaching in a Life Skills programme is not easy and it requires more of the individual. “You have to make them enjoy the classes. Since they have no obligation to attend the project, do homework or have good grades, the facilitator really needs to be joyful and caring. They will only be eager to learn and participate if the teacher makes the subjects interesting.”
It is for that reason that the Unicef is advertising similar programmes throughout different countries. For the fund, the development of life skills-based education comes as a response to the need to reform traditional education systems, which appear to be out of touch with the needs of the contemporary societies.
The Unicef states that many countries are now considering the development of life skills-based education in response to the need to reform traditional education systems, which appear to be out of touch with the needs of the contemporary societies.
One of the reasons for hiring Aglobitse was the fact that she is a native ghananian and a ewe speaker. “I think I can relate well to the girls. My culture is the same as theirs and that helps them a lot. I also used the local language for the RSH module because it was our goal for them to fully understand the topics”, explains the teacher.
As for the future of the programme, both Aglobitse and Clarke want to see it grow and expand to other segments and groups of society. “We are looking to launch a Life Skills in RSH with women who are clients at our Microfinance Institute”, predicts Clarke.
For Aglobitse, the next step is to tackle young men. “Like the girls, they can also profit from getting to know more about themselves and learning important skills that will help them in the work environment.”
Whether with young men or microfinance clients, the project will continue as a constant activity on the years to come.
Lady Volta Beads Hits The One And Half Year Mark
Julia Dietrich
Different beads of various colors spread on a centered table. In the corner a bookshelf filled with children’s books. Necklaces on the wall. Two years olds playing and giggling on the floor. Smiles and eight eager working hands. Four women. This is Lady Volta Beads...
Created in May 2007 by Village Exchange Ghana (VEG), the project gathered four young women of the village of Takla Gbogame, near Ho, and trained them in jewelry making with the help of a 
famous artist in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Since then, the young women, three of them already mothers, have been creating their own line of necklaces and selling them online and at social events in Ghana.
“The girls are doing a very good job and are definitely experts at the craft. The challenge now is to improve our sales,” explains the Programme Officer for the Lady Volta Beads, Julianna Pawiah. Therefore, shortly after one year of existence, the small business is looking to the future and hoping to increase its sales and opening its own store.
“Our dream is to have a place to sell our makings. Then we will gain more pay for our children’s school fees,” explains the young mother and jewelry maker, Mispah, 21. Like her three colleagues, she earns a minimum of $40 a month, plus a commission for every piece sold – which is twice the usual wage for similar jobs in Ghana. “We embrace fair trade ideas”, adds Pawiah, explaining how the project focuses on a market-based approach to help develop the local community.
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Julianna Pawiah Lady Volta Beads Project Officer |
According to the manager, by supporting even a small business the whole community gains. “And also the next generations will gain. With more family support the children will grow in better conditions.”
To improve their skills as active women in the society, they are being trained by the Lady Volta Resource Centre, another branch of VEG, in different topics including numeracy, literacy and reproductive and sexual health. “Before we only had our children to take care and nothing to help us. Now we have work and we can take care of them. I feel that all was hard but now I’m proud and learning with life,” concludes Believe, 22.
