Community Volunteer Projects Ghana

Project Age Limit
Minimum age of 17 years, maximum age dependant on participant’s health.

Your Volunteer Project
There is a wide range of project work available in Ghana to suit your interests and background. The main types of project work are listed below with an outline of some of the work that you may be involved in.

To help us arrange the most suitable volunteer project for you we will need to know which areas most interest you, what experience you have working in these areas and what you are hoping to get out of your volunteer programme. The project areas are listed as follows:

Orphanage Programmes
This is a wonderful opportunity to provide vital love and support to young children who have lost their families, either through death, abuse or abandonment: With your care their lives can be changed. Some of the homes really struggle to care for the children, especially the babies. You will provide that essential early developmental care and support that is so important in the lives of young children.

Some activities you may be involved in include:

• Planning and providing extra curricular activities; sports, music and culture, games, extra studies and organising excursions
• Changing nappies and bottle-feeding any babies.
• Teaching in local schools the children attend - In addition to maths and English, you can teach any subject that you are interested in.
• Providing love, care and attention
• Supervising day-to-day activities such as sweeping, bathing and fetching of water etc.During your time at an orphanage, you will also be expected to help with teaching, as many children go to school during the day or attend schools attached to the orphanage. Thus you must be flexible and prepared to do some teaching.

Teaching Placements
With these placements, you have the choice of working in a primary (5-13yrs), junior secondary (13-16) or secondary school (16-18). The schools will vary in their facilities, but generally consist of a few classrooms with wooden desks and a blackboard. There are plenty of opportunities for you to be creative in your role and make the lessons memorable for the children!

As a western volunteer, your contribution is important and your work for just a few months can dramatically change a school in many ways. Get the children involved as much as possible in both school hours, but also in after school activities. For example, you could arrange football practice on Wednesdays, and drama on a Friday... You may be surprised at how one person can potentially make such a massive difference to so many people.

Summer Schools
During the school vacations in Ghana you may volunteer at organised summer schools, where children from villages assemble into one school. This has been very effective so far and headmasters and children have found the programmes very useful. During this time you can coach sports, teach art and music and just spend your time enjoying your interaction with the children.

Though the time will not be ‘structured’, you can be very creative and bring loads of ideas with you.

Health Care Work and Medical Clinics
You will have the opportunity to work in the large hospitals in town, which tend to house all of their departments in one main hospital, allowing you access into a variety of different wards. This project is most advised for volunteers with some medical experience. If you are a non-qualified medical volunteer, then you must be prepared to shadow doctors and remain flexible to help in whichever way possible, though this may be limited. You will still gain a very good insight into the medical environment and learn important new skills.

You will be helping in some of the following areas:

• Helping in the consulting room, the family planning services, maternal and childcare wards
• Shadowing fellow doctors in routine observations and medical practices
• Helping in the dispensary, in the operating theatre and outpatient department
• Treatment of fresh cuts, as well as old wounds and uncomplicated diseases
• Assist midwives in outreach programmes (when the need arises)
• Checking and recording temperature, vital signs and body weight
• Assist in drawing up programmes for other health education purposes HIV/AIDS Projects

These projects are vital to the education of children and adults in urban and rural communities about the threat and risks of HIV and AIDS in Africa. During the project you will be focused on moving from school to school, working alongside the children on this education scheme, through the use of visual aids and workshops. You will need to be a self-motivated volunteer, working much to your own initiative and ideas. We also advise that you study up on sexual health and HIV/AIDS in particular, before your departure.

Your activities will include:

• Home base visitation and counselling
• Facilitating peer education, through use of posters, videos, talks etc
• Public education on HIV / AIDS at various communities and local schools
• Designing educational materials with the children and getting them involved
• Forming clubs within the communities to carry on your valuable work once you leave

Vocational School for Women
This is an extremely worthwhile and rewarding programme: You will be working alongside a large group of women who are too poor (and often homeless) to enter the education system and have been helped by this scheme to gain skills, which will empower them to obtain paid work once they leave. During your time here you can teach them any range of skills, which will help them to find employment in the future to support their families and themselves.

In the past volunteers have taught:

• Reading and writing, English literature and language, maths and science
• Vocational skills such as silver-service waitressing, dressmaking and Fashion design, catering and cookery and office skills, such as filing, invoicing etc
• Sexual education, HIV and AIDS awareness and general health and safety
• Other subjects such as world geography and history, drama, music and arts
• Coach sports and teach them about anatomy and nutrition

Water and Sanitation
Located in the North of Ghana this project aims to develop the sanitation of rural areas and protect their access to water. As a volunteer, you will be going around the local villages, building bore holes, repairing pipes, and educating the communities about health and sanitation. This is a broad programme, which demands creativity and intuition to really develop educational aids and influence the local people.

Construction Programmes
These projects are not for the unfit! You will be working hard on building sites with a number of fellow teammates from Ghana and typically in urban areas, to help erect a number of buildings. These may include domestic houses, offices, schools, orphanages etc and working hours are usually from about 8am – 4pm. This is a great chance to gain some building skills, or to practise the skills you already have, and maybe even teach the guys a thing or two from a western perspective.

Your activities will include:

• Mixing concrete and helping to carry materials
• Bricklaying and Roofing
• Painting
• Electrics and Plumbing

Project Support
Throughout your stay in Ghana you will have the support and guidance of the Ghanaian project leader Tina and her team. You will also be assigned a regional coordinator who lives in close proximity of your accommodation.

This is quite an independent project, in that you live with local families and are responsible for your own way to the project work each day. However, should you have any questions, you will be able to contact your local coordinator for assistance and support. We will also provide you with a 24hour emergency number in the UK before departure.

Project Orientation
On arrival at Kotoka International Airport in Accra, you will be transferred to your hostel in Accra for your orientation. The orientation is conducted by the Programme Leader, Tina, who will make you feel extremely comfortable during your time in Accra. The orientation will start on the Monday after you arrive, lasting until Thursday. On the Friday you will be transferred to your project area and met by your new coordinator for that region, where they will then show you around and take you to meet your host family.

Your orientation will include:

• An introduction to Ghanaian culture and values, local food and practices
• Various host family issues and expectations
• Your health and safety whilst in Ghana and places to visit
• Workplace ethics before starting your project
• Money and transportation in Ghana
• Local language lessons, dance and drumming classes and a Ghanaian cookery lesson
• Excursion to the local beach one afternoon
• A City tour, including the markets and arts centre and an excursion to the local beach