Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Youth Leadership for Social Change (YL4SC) project contributed to expanding opportunities for youth leadership and active citizenship toward a more inclusive Ghanaian society.

Through this project, YOTA provided 400 youth, mainly undergraduate level students, with improved skills to effectively lead social change. Located in three public universities – University for Development Studies in Tamale, University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani, and the University of Cape Coast – the project helped in providing opportunities for youth to apply leadership skills through the development and implementation of youth-led community projects.

We did this by running Youth Leadership Academies in the target locations, offering learning trips to successful leadership projects and institutions, supporting participants with technical and financial assistance to develop and implement their own social change leadership innovations, and matching participating young leaders with mentors who served as role models, coaches and guides for participants’ leadership experience.

We honoured successful young leaders who completed the programme with a Certificate of Achievement and inducted them into the Young Changemaker Community where they have continued their leadership journey beyond the project.