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Spreading the Word on Potentials for Excellence in Ghana

Activity
Program Area

development and growth

Spreading the Word on Potentials for Excellence in Ghana’. GIZ/CIM/FI project in Ghana July 2017 to April 2019

Between July 2017 and April 2019, Farafina Institute with its partner, Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, successfully implemented the project titled ‘Spreading the Word on Potentials for Excellence in Ghana’. With joint funding from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM), this project sought to highlight the successful experiences and ideas of particularly 320 home-based young Ghanaians (and also returnees from Europe back home to Ghana) across Ghana to encourage and motivate each other to explore entrepreneurial potentials. It sought to prove wrong the mainstream lack of livelihood potential narrative that youth face. Through hands-on activities, videos on youth entrepreneurial experiences, and motivational experience sharing from established entrepreneurs in Ghana, the project counteracted the mainstream narrative across the globe, even among some African young people, that claims that there are hardly any potentials in Africa for successful careers, especially for young people. Farafina Institute succeeded in this, as many participants shared their business ideas they had formed, from the project. Farafina Institute was motivated by the belief that compounding the challenge of unearthing potentials, most young Africans are either not aware or not convinced of the large possibilities for successful careers and development that exist in Africa. 

The main goal of the project was to establish and maintain, in partnership with target participants, a process and networking platform that hosts well-documented experiences of youth who have established or intend to establish successful careers in Ghana. Furthermore, the project aimed at the target youth to become aware of and appreciate the incentives in national youth development policies and programs to support youth development in Ghana. Outcomes of the project include a review document on youth development policies in Ghana, video documentaries of experiences of successful youth entrepreneurs, and an online networking platform that Farafina Institute has developed, called, the Action for Change. In this portal, participants in this project as well as their peers in and out of Ghana connect and share ideas on business development and growth.