CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Youth on Board: Engendering Youth Voices in Ghana’s Education Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic
YOTA (Youth Opportunity & Transformation in Africa) has launched the Youth on Board project, a two- year initiative for engendering youth voices in Ghana’s education response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The overall objective of the Youth on Board project is to ensure that critical issues of access to and quality of education that have been escalated by the COVID-19 pandemic receive increased attention and investment. Through this work, we are supporting young people to better connect, collaborate and self-organise towards evidence-based advocacy for equitable access to and improvements in quality education. In doing so, we are empowering youth-led organisations to produce collective reviews and a verdict of the performance of government at local and national levels in addressing the inequalities that hamper young people’s progress in education attainment. By the end of the project, youth voices would have been amplified in policy spaces, thereby influencing local and national policies, programmes and budgets in favour of more equitable and inclusive access to education.
Thanks to funding from the Danish Civil Society for Development fund, we are escalating youth action across the country, with a focus on eight municipalities, namely Bolgatanga, Effia Kwesimintsim, East Mamprusi, Kumbungu, Suame, Sunyani, West Gonja, and Wa. In these municipalities, and at the national level, we are supporting youth representatives to carry out the following activities over the next two years:
- Municipal youth action workshops
- Implementation of youth mobilisation activities
- Digital engagement and coalition building
- Youth-led monitoring and accountability workshops
- Youth monitoring of local governments’ education policy commitments
- National youth barometer on education and the future of youth
- Workshops on youth advocacy and policy influencing
- Local youth advocacy/influencing of education policy commitments
This Call for Applications seeks qualified youth representatives to participate in the Municipal Youth Action Workshops and to lead implementation of the project activities that follow. The Municipal Youth Action Workshops will bring together youth representatives to build new skills for identifying and linking issues of education opportunity to broader municipal development priorities, partnering with others, allocating responsibilities, action planning, promoting youth action, campaigning, and influencing policies. By the end of the workshops, participants will draw up their respective Municipal Action Plans for Youth Mobilisation, which will form the basis of further coalition building across the target municipalities. YOTA will support the youth representatives in the implementation of these action plans across the participating municipalities.
The Municipal Youth Action Workshops have been tentatively scheduled as follows:
Municipal Area | Workshop Location | Tentative Workshop Date |
1. Bolgatanga | Bolgatanga | 20th – 23rd June 2022 |
2. East Mamprusi | Nalerigu | 20th – 23rd June 2022 |
3. Kumbungu | Kumbungu | 20th – 23rd June 2022 |
4. Suame | Kumasi | 20th – 23rd June 2022 |
5. Wa | Wa | 4th – 7th July 2022 |
6. West Gonja | Damongo | 4th – 7th July 2022 |
7. Sunyani | Sunyani | 4th – 7th July 2022 |
8. Effia Kwesimintsim | Takoradi | 4th – 7th July 2022 |
Up to 25 participants will be selected for the workshops in each municipality, with a target of at least 50% female. The workshops will be non-residential, meaning that selected participants will come from home to the venue daily, as we expect to select participants who are already resident in the municipality. The costs of participants’ transportation, meals and workshop materials will be covered by YOTA for the duration of the workshop.
Requirements
Youth representatives who are active in leading their peers in addressing common social issues in their communities and who desire to build new skills for effective advocacy and policy influencing are particularly best fit for this project. In particular, youth applicants must meet the following requirements:
a. Must be between 18 and 29 years old as of 1st June 2022.
b. Must be fluent in the English language. This is necessary for engaging with policy documents, conducting research, and drafting reports.
c. Must be a Ghanaian and be resident in one of the following municipalities/towns/cities – Bolgatanga, Effia Kwesimintsim (including the greater Sekondi-Takoradi area), Nalerigu, Kumbungu (including the greater Tamale area), Suame (including the greater Kumasi area), Sunyani, Damongo, and Wa. Applications are welcome from qualified youth representatives who live within the surrounding communities of the above-named municipalities and towns/cities. For example, if you live in other parts of Takoradi, you can apply to be a participant in the Effia Kwesimintsim activities; and if you live in other suburbs of Kumasi, you can apply to be a participant in the Suame activities. Also, applications are welcome from students who hail from or are normally residents in one of these municipalities or towns/cities but who are currently away in school.
d. Must be a student of a university or other tertiary institution, or represent any one of the following types of youth platforms: youth-led organisations, student group, community-based organisation, national youth networks, women’s groups, professional associations, youth- and women-owned businesses, disability organisations, religious groups, etc.
e. Must demonstrate knowledge of and interest in the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on Ghana’s education sector.
f. Must be able to commit up to 5 hours each week towards participating effectively in the design and implementation of youth action plans and other project activities, including in-person or virtual meetings, training sessions, travels, meeting preparation, background reading, research and campaign activities.
g. In particular, must be available to attend the upcoming Municipal Youth Action Workshops in the respective locations. The schedule for these workshops provided above is tentative; the final schedule will be confirmed among the selected applicants.
h. In line with YOTA’s equal opportunity policy, we encourage more young women to apply.
Participation in the Youth on Board project is purely voluntary. This means that there is no salary or financial benefits for youth representatives. However, all costs associated with implementation of activities, including transportation, meals and materials, will be fully covered by the project.
Youth representatives will be awarded certificates of achievement.
We welcome applications from interested persons who meet the requirements. You will be required to provide information about the organisation/group you represent. Organisations can support multiple applicants, as long as each of the applicants completes a separate form.
DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: Friday 3rd June, 2022.