NNEKA YOUTH FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2020 NNEKA ANNUAL REPORT 2020 THEME “COMMIT TODAY – BUILD TOMORROW” ACHIEVEMENTS • 6,663 Youth empowered. • 155 Teen mothers& Girls trained and empowered. • 44 Youth enrolled into NELS initiative. • 107 Children impacted through Nneka Skills academy INTRODUCTION The year 2020 has been a very challenging year due to the advent of the nouvelle Corona virus. The world came to a standstill and protocols restricted virtually every sector, that notwithstanding, our yearly goals of reaching out to the youth and women and bringing development and empowerment was not sidelined. We were fortunate to take our mini camp at the beginning of the year in Nchumuru and this made it easier for us to reach out to many youth, women and communities with our empowerment and community engagement programs. Despite the pandemic our team of volunteers went around deprived communities and households creating awareness of the corona virus and taking them through precautionary measures. Our Vocational Entrepreneurial Pathway was also carried with all protocols observed. Our major summer camp had to adapt to time due to the COVID-19 and this prompted us to go virtual and we were able to work through satellite centers we set up. Some of our children from the surrounding communities around our youth development center were taken through academic, craft/arts, sports and vocational classes throughout the Covid-19 break, to help them fill the lapses created by the pandemic. The Nneka Educational Logistic Support Scheme (NELS) was not left out as a number of children were brought on board to benefit from the scholarship scheme. This year’s Christmas party was no exception. We journeyed to two different centers , Juapong and Battor and their surrounding communities respectively to put smiles on the faces of the children. It was made successful through the help of sponsors and partners. For eight consecutive years we have made massive impact in the lives of youth, women and communities and we hope to expand our threshold in coming years. This report takes you through the impactful programs and projects we undertook in 2020 despite the drawbacks. 2020 INITIATIVES Youth Engagement/Empowerment Covid-19 Awareness Campaign Women Empowerment/Training New Strategies( Virtual Camp) Nneka Education Logistics Support (NELS) Christmas Party YOUTH EMPOWERMENT/ENGAGEMENT. • Beneficiary Engagement Nneka Youth foundation started 2020 on a good note by bringing together a cross section of some of our scholarship beneficiaries who have been under our support since 2012. They are made up of students from various levels; Junior and Senior High schools, teacher training colleges and universities. Number of Beneficiaries: 30 Date : 3/01/2020 • Youth Seminar Our mantra ‘’Commit Today, Build tomorrow ‘’ dominated the empowerment theme for 2020. As Nneka Youth Foundation was determined to achieve all goals set, we moved to various schools in 2 regions with our friends from TKM, USA who joined us to reach out to 950 young people from five basic schools; two in Afadzato South District and three in the Ningo Prampram District . Our future leaders received essential nuggets of Self Belief, Purpose, Goal setting and Planning . TKM continued their great philanthropic mission by offering to support 12 more of our young people through basic education. We are poised to raise more world changers and transform more lives this decade. Date: 20 – 23/01/2020 , Number of Students reached : 950 • Speed Mentoring ‘’Over the last eight years we have set out to make a difference In every community we set our foot, in the lives of every beneficiary’’ Nneka Youth Foundation relayed massive impact across 5 communities in the HO West District through a bend of our flagship initiatives. The week kicked off with our revered stakeholder- Engagement and Review sessions known as Speed mentoring. These session saw us reach out to over 350 young people and over 250 duty bearers dominated by women including :Parent , Teachers and Community • Students Seminar We had the opportunity to join Jim Bourton Senior High School (JIBMASS) in their SRC Week Celebration at Logba Adzokkoe. The Headmaster, Mr Tenu and madam Ruth Frimpong and the entire staff were very generous in giving us the whole of the afternoon to interact with over 900 students on quality Education in the Free Era, and their role as students. At the end of our deliberations the students agreed to focus on the positives rather than the challenges if they have to make the best out of the system. Education Week Celebrations • Catholic week celebration We reached out to over 300 children from the R/C Basic Schools in Ve Golokuati during their Catholic Week Celebration. The theme for the year was on Corruption and how to fight it. It was amazing to see how much these children knew about the menace. This softened the grounds for us to share with them how to unite to fight against corruption. We hope , with these future leaders , society would be corruption free as they grow. • Holy Child Week Celebration We had an interaction with students in Dominic Savio Catholic school during their Holy Child week celebration. They were enlightened on how to live like good children and taking responsibility in life. This was a very interactive session with them and the session ended with them being fulfilled. Date: 5/02/2020 Number of students: 30 MINI CAMP Our Young innovators summit was very transformational and impactful. The theme for this year’s summit dubbed “Commit today, Build tomorrow” started on the 5th – 9th of March and drew about 700 young people from 18 schools in 10 communities in the Krachi Nchurumu district. We were privileged to have the District Chief Executive to interact with the children on how they should take advantage of being thought how to catch fish and not be given fish. Participants were taken through lessons on Reproductive health, Drug Abuse, Social Media, Corruption, Potential building, Career Choice and they also learnt hand craft skills in general beads designing and making and Cassava Flour Production and Processing into Pastries. Participants also had fun games and awards were given to all who participated in every activity. We were privileged to have a few selected youth to represent Nneka Youth Foundation at Ghana’s 63rd Independence Celebrations March Pass in Chinderi. We were able to make an outstanding performance to the amazement of all. NEW FOCUS COVID-19 AWARENESS CAMPAIGN Nneka Youth Foundation has over the last 8 years promoted development and health care initiatives across rural Ghana. We are of the firm belief that the rural communities form a chunk of the vulnerable sample size and must be prioritized in health care initiatives. In the wake of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic ,Ghana has seen a steady spread of this disease in the country. This has seen a major precautionary and preventive measures being implemented across the country. NYF therefore launched a sensitization drive on the 8th of April, in support of the Districts’ Health and Assemblies across some of the communities and villages we work in with our able volunteers including those in the health sectors, education and tertiary students. Some of the Districts we work in the Volta and Greater Accra regions of Ghana have peculiar settlement conditions where little or no information reaches. And some of these districts share boarders with Togo with so many unapproved routes that are used at the hindsight of the immigration. The awareness campaign was mainly to: • Educate households on the deadly COVID-19 pandemic and its effect and also with a health care volunteers to take them through the necessary measures on how to protect themselves, stay safe and practice social and physical distancing. Make them aware of how this deadly pandemic spreads and how they should be couscous. Cont’ New Focus COVID-19 AWARENESS CAMPAIGN • Making of Tippy Taps for hand washing. There are no running taps in most households in the communities hence it was very effective and simple to put up Tippy Taps and give out soaps to households. This has been very essential and instrumental in promoting hand washing in this crucial times. This tippy taps aid in easy hand wash and less contact with bowls for hand washing thus curbing the spread of the virus. • Teaching precautionary measures. We teach them the right way to wash their hands and make nose mask with handkerchiefs. We put up visible signs/posters to keep them in check at all times and also to guide them. • Giving livelihood intervention to the young women and teen mothers we work with as a way of empowering them economically during the period through our Vocational Entrepreneurial Pathway Initiative. • Nneka Youth Foundation being a beacon of female activism and women empowerment engaged the beneficiaries of our N-POWERS (Nneka Palm Oil Women Empowerment Reorientation Scheme) project to gauge the challenges confronting them and to assist them to adjust to the times and still keep productivity at an optimum level. So far with little support we have reached out to 902 households in 63 communities in 5 districts with 15 volunteers on the ground. We are very grateful to individuals and organizations for their support during this campaign. We were glad to have Goil Tema Zone team support our Campaign with gallons, nose mask, tissues, liquid soap and sanitizers to be able to reach out to a wider range of people in the communities we work in. We say AYEKOO to all who support this initiative. Cont’ New Focus COVID-19 AWARENESS CAMPAIGN We were privileged to have 3 of our wards at various levels in their tertiary education dedicate themselves to deliver various projects - Arts/ Craft, Sports, Reading and writing skills and ICT through out the Covid – 19 period when schools were closed by way of giving back to the Foundation.