C/R: YES-Ghana supports UCC students to give back to communities

Youth Empowerment Synergy (YES) Ghana, has awarded grants totalling 50,000 cedis to students of the University of Cape Coast to undertake various social impact programmes in the Central Region. The initiative funded by Ford Foundation had several communities around the university benefiting from it. With between 8,000 and 12,000  cedis each, based on their respective social interventions which had already been vetted and approved by a committee, the participants were expected to carry out various projects. In Brabedzi, a farming community with about 500 residents in the Cape Coast metropolis, the community holds functions and ceremonies along the road which has over the years caused vehicular accidents injuring at least three persons this year. Estimated to cost ten thousand Ghana Cedis, the construction of the new durbar grounds will alleviate the plight of the people. Project participants say although there are several issues confronting the community, the construction of the durbar grounds was imperative. At Efutu-Koforidua, getting a bridge to link two sides of the community especially when it rains, was a challenged. Farm produce usually gets wasted when it rains, so getting residents the bridge came as a huge relief to residents. The elated Assemblyman of the area remarked: “The construction of this bridge will enable farmers transport their farm produce to nearby communities for sale and also allow residents to have access to nearby communities. Residents are grateful to the team.” The Asenadze community also had a challenge with potable water until the construction of a borehole. Residents had to walk several miles to get water for household activities. An opinion leader, Amoako Okatakyie testified that the issue of trekking several miles to fetch water has become a thing of the past. “We had no water, sometimes we have to go to the bush before we can get water to fetch. But through this project, having water to perform household and other activities is no more a pain in the neck.” With a bucket of water costing ten pesewas, revenue generated from the sale of the water would be used to maintain the facility. Another team also provided solar light at Kokoado to enable children in the community study in the evening when there is a power outage. The move is to instill in the pupils the habit of studying after household chores while also protecting residents from reptiles. An elder of the town noted, “the solar light has helped us a lot, our children can learn after school especially in the evenings to improve on their academic works. It has also helped to lights up our area during power outage in order for us to carry out our activities”. Chief Executive Officer of YES Ghana, Emmanuel Adu-gyei expressed satisfaction and hoped to expand the opportunity to other universities. “Community leaders have come to testify that indeed these problems have been addressed with the help of the participants, so young people can be leaders of change in communities. We are boldly going to expand the program with the supports of our donors to more universities for the next phase where we will demonstrate again that young people can be leaders of today and tomorrow shaping, driving, and promoting social change development and innovations at the local level”, he said. Source: 3news.com | Ghana]]>