V/R: Nneka Youth Foundation Transforms 11,000 Lives

In Volta Region, especially in Afadjato South District children are dropping out of school at an alarming stageas a result of teenage pregnancy.

As a result of menace, a number of them are engaging in social vices such as drug abuse, prostitution and others.

More so, some of these children work in unconducive environments just to help salvage their situation since most of them have been neglected by their parents/guardians.

However,as part of efforts, to help transform the lives of these children; a non-governmental organization called Nneka Youth Foundation, based in Volta Region has been working assiduously in the country.

This time, Nneka Youth Foundationtook a giant step by partnering with Critical Eye Multimedia Consulting Limited, to organize a workshop for the media practitioners to help clamp-down on the menace in the region.

The workshop which was took place at Ve-Agbome in the Volta Region was themed: “Engagingthe Media in Empowering Children, Youth and Women: The Role of Media Practitioners.”

In an interview with Dailyweb Onlinethe Founder of Nneka Youth Foundation Cecilia Fiaka, she noted that the children are dropping out of school at an alarming stage in the region.

This she said, there was the need to take swift action to break that circle and give them a different mindset to help them harness their potential as young people.

According to her, the Foundation which started with just 500 children from ten (10) communities; has impacted over 11,000 thousand children from 200 communities in two regions. That is in Volta and Greater Accra Region.

 Citing the following programmes which the Foundation has initiated to help transform the youth out there:

·         Summer Camp

·         Vocational Entrepreneurial Pathway (VEP-Ghana)

·         Palm oil Processing

·         Scholarship Scheme & Educational Logistics Support

·         Book Drive

·         Teacher Training Seminar

·         Community Sensitization projects

 

This she said, the VEP- GHANA) is aimed at empowering, equipping and mentoring teenage mothers and out-of-school-girls from rural, deprived communities.

They are being taken through vocational skills training, life skills training, financial literacy, business management support training, Psychosocial Support and Post-enterprise support.

“Over 340 teenage mothers were equipped with various vocational and basic entrepreneurial skills. Nine (9) Teenage mothers from 6 communities were supported and reintegrated into school in 2016.

 We work with partners to provide reading and textbooks to school. Our major aim is to provide access to reading materials, and cultivate a culture of reading among rural children.Over 13,000 books have been donated to 11 mini libraries in the Volta Region

E-Readers donated to 3 schools in the Afadjato South District. 1,700 Basic School English Teachers trained in Pragmatic Reading and Writing and Positive Discipline workshop in 7 districts in Ghana.

36 Teacher Volunteers from 2 Districts in the Volta Region were inculcated with Play Based Methodology Learning,” she explained.

The Founder, however entreated the government and other corporate bodies to come to their aid to help address the plight of the vulnerable children and also consolidate the success being chalked so far.

The Chief Executive Officer Critical Eye Multimedia Consulting Limited, Edith Efua Chidi, noted that Volta Region is endowed with both human and natural resources, which when harnessed will boost development in the region.

“But   take a critical look at the slow progress of development in the Region,” she lamented.

She therefore challenged the media to help champion the cause of the development in the region; especially when it comes to youth development.