With a $149,600 grant, the Ford Foundation has renewed its commitment to supporting the Fund for Service to Children and Youth at Ashesi over the next two years.
Two years ago, the Fund for Service to Children and Youth, which seeks to support student-centered projects aimed at impacting lives of disadvantaged children and youth in Ghana, benefited from an initial grant of $94,000 from the foundation.
As part of that round, 29 community service projects received funding ranging from $500 to $10,000 in projects that sought to impact areas such as education, mentorship, sanitation, childcare, and youth in agriculture.
Aside supporting the projects, the grant, through the Fund for Service to Children and Youth model, helped to increase engagement by students, staff and faculty in community service and skill development.
“For the most part we know that beneficiaries tend to speak positively about their experience with Ashesi students,” said Rebecca Awuah. “We’ve also seen that some of the students who participated and got funding have gone on to do bigger projects, or their projects are scaling or have managed to grow themselves as leaders, so we feel that the first round of funding had an impact.”
The second round of funding will also help support more student-centered projects targeted at children and youth, or sanitation in Ghana.
“The second-round funding is a vote of confidence from the Ford Foundation, both of the model and the team that are executing the model,” said Rebecca Awuah. “Working with students and hearing about their projects, I think small amounts of funding go a long way in boosting student projects because the students are passionate, are working hard and they’re willing to get out there and try and something new.”
The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that supports visionary leaders and organizations on the frontline of social change. The foundation aims to help strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation and advance human achievement across the world.
Community service is embedded within Ashesi’s core curriculum and is part of our commitment to develop a sense of citizenship by helping students understand how they can make a positive impact in their surrounding communities. Through the Fund for Service to Children and Youth, students can apply for up to $10,000 in funding to develop, improve and sustain service projects that target disadvantaged youth and children.
For more information about the fund, contact Jude Acquaah at jacquaah@ashesi.edu.gh, the Program Coordinator for the project.