Advocacy and Leadership Training Workshop for 35 Youth and PWDs Ends at Sogakope
A two-day capacity building intensive advocacy and leadership training workshop for thirty-five (35) young people including women and some Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), has ended at Sogakope in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region.
The workshop was organized by Gray Network, a Gender and Reproductive Health Advocacy Youth Network based at Ho and Hohoe with funding from the High Commission of Canada to Ghana, Togo and Sierra Leone.
It brought together representatives of youth groups from Sogakope and Dabala as well as students from Sogakope Senior High School (SOGASCO), Comboni Technical and Vocational Institute (COMBOTECH), Sogakope Technical Institute (SOTECH), all at Sogakope and the Dabala Senior High Technical School (DASTECH) at Dabala. Also present were four (4) visually impaired students from the Adidome Senior High School (ADISEC) where inclusive education is fully in operation.
According to the Programme Manager of Gray Network, Mr. Godsway Mensah, the initiative formed part of efforts to strengthen inclusive governance in Ghana through youth and women leadership development and advocacy campaigns that would inform, build confidence and also empower the youth leaders for the future tasks ahead of them.
The Resource Persons, Mr. Godsway Mensah, Dr. Enyonam Mansah Gasu, Misses Favour Okorie, Philomena Elloh and Angela Ahadjie, all of the Gray Network as well as Mr. Seth Afiagorme, South Tongu District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), took the participants through the various topics including Stakeholder Engagenment and Policy, Youth Civic Engagement Platforms, Advocacy and Social Mobilization, Gender and Disability Inclusion, Effective Communication for Leadership as well as Civic Rights and Democratic Participation.
The Project Lead, Dr. Enyonam Mansah Gasu noted that even though the youth form the majority of the population in Ghana, they are not well represented when it comes to decision-making or issues that affect them, adding that the situation is even worse with issues with Persons With Disabilities (PWDs). This paradign, she emphasized must change, with a call on stakeholders and duty bearers to create the opportunity for the youth and PWDs including visually and hearing impaired persons to be involved in all the governance processes thereby promoting inclusive governance in their communities.
Dr. Gasu reminded Ghanaians that the role of PWDs in the development of the country cannot be over-emphasized. ‘We should not look down upon them; they are human beings like us with special ability skills that can also be used to advance the course of the development of the country’, the Project Lead intimated.
The South Tongu District Director of the NCCE, Mr. Seth Afiagorme urged the participants not only to remain committed to their dreams, vision and aspirations in life but also be patriotic to the overall development of their communities in particular and the country at large.
According to him, as leaders, they should be selfless, honest and committed to addressing issues that affect them, their peers and the society in general.
One of the facilitators of the training, Ms. Favour Okorie told our newsteam in an interview that the decision to involve the four (4) visually impaired students from Adidome SHS, was to create the opportunity for all the participants to appreciate the values, strengths and weaknesses of life and to see one another as partners in development.
The workshop formed part of a series of training programmes being organized by the Gray Network for stakeholders in its partner districts and municipalities including Ho, Hohoe and South Tongu.
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