The Informer is the product of the "Journalism, Creative Writing and RSH" Club of the Lady Volta Resource Centre. 

Get to know the centre and the NGO, Village Exchange Ghana.

 

Lady Volta Resource Centre: RSH and Youth Empowerment

The Lady Volta Resource Centre (LVRC) was launched in October, 2006, in response to VEG research indicating the critical need for improved RSH programs in Ho Municipality. The LVRC is a centrally-located community site where young adults and teens can access educational / IT resources, participate in youth clubs and activities, and receive counseling in sexual health issues.

Through creative learning in a safe space, the program aims to help young people foster a strong sense of identity and to value their agency for change. Coupled with the provision of accurate RSH information, this approach promotes the development of well-adjusted, informed young adults who have the tools to make responsible decisions about their sexual health.

With the support of dedicated staff and volunteers, the LVRC has grown significantly in recent years to include a number of outreach programs in villages throughout the Volta Region. With the continued expansion of on-site and outreach programs, VEG aims to reach a growing number of young people in need of RSH education and support.

Village Exchange Ghana (VEG)

Village Exchange International/Ghana (VEG) strives to empower Ghana’s most marginalized women by employing a holistic approach to poverty alleviation. Our organization operates at the intersection of healthcare, education, and economic opportunity to address the multiple facets of poverty and to provide meaningful, comprehensive support for women in rural Ghana.

Founded in 2002 by two individuals dedicated to development and women’s issues, VEG has since leveraged the experience of local and international experts and volunteers to provide professional, research-based programs. VEG’s efforts have flourished through strategic partnerships with local organizations, traditional leaders, and international entities, such as the United Nations Population Fund.

VEG aims to continue creating life-changing opportunities for the women of rural Ghana, enabling them to raise themselves out of poverty and become powerful agents of change.

Our Mission

To promote the self-actualization of Ghana's disadvantaged women through three pillars of intervention:

• Poverty alleviation strategies, including microfinance and small-enterprise development

• Reproductive and sexual health programs

• Quantitative and qualitative research on women's health issues

 

VEG’s Microfinance Institute

Microfinance is the provision of small loans to low-income populations who would otherwise lack access to formal financial services. By providing access to capital within a structured program, microfinance allows clients to grow their small businesses, build savings, and improve their standard of living.

Increasing women’s access to capital through microfinance is an essential component of VEG’s empowerment program. We offer two types of loans – Income Generating Activity (IGA) and Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) loans – to address women’s varying financial needs.  Both IGA and SME loans are based on a progressive lending structure, which serves a dual purpose.  First, it allows the growth of the client’s business to follow a natural progression, better ensuring sustainability with each new loan.  Second, it reduces VEG’s risk, as only the most reliable clients are eligible for larger loan amounts.

VEG adopts a holistic approach to microfinance by integrating non-financial services into the loan package.  Clients expand their knowledge and skill set in programs covering literacy, reproductive health, and business development.  Business skills training includes savings mechanisms, bookkeeping strategies, and marketing skills, among others.

 

Lady Volta Beads and Batik

In our second poverty alleviation program, VEG acts as the entrepreneur, providing market research, product chain development, and infrastructure development to businesses maintained by local female artisans. Two current businesses supported by VEG are Lady Volta Beads and Lady Volta Batik.  Both projects aim to fulfil the twin goals of fostering young women’s entrepreneurship and financial independence in a responsible and sustainable manner. 

In launching both projects, VEG hopes to improve the lives of women in poverty, particularly teenage mothers.  We provide an innovative combination of income-generating activities, education, and financial services.  For example, VEG provides regular training in literacy, numeracy, and business development, as well as life skills including early childhood nutrition, sexual health, family planning, and self-esteem for female workers.

 

Research-Based Health Initiatives

Encouraging responsible reproductive and sexual health is an important means to promote the empowerment of women, improve gender relations, and ensure that women have equal educational and professional opportunities. 

VEG conducts comprehensive research to ensure that client-centred health programs effectively address the unmet needs of young women. Our staff is versed in founded research methods and seeks to produce quality, up-to-date, reliable data.  Examples of research-based initiatives include the Takla Gbogame Teenage Pregnancy Awareness Program and a Qualitative Survey Amongst Young Mothers of Ho Municipality.

As an Implementing Partner of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), VEG’s foremost research-based initiative led to the creation of the Lady Volta Resource Centre (LVRC). LVRC offers counselling and information on sexual and reproductive health issues to youth under 26 years old.  Centrally located in Ho Township, the LVRC provides a range of in-centre and outreach programs to promote behavioral change and responsible decision-making amongst youth regarding their sexual and reproductive health.

In very simple words, this is the outline of the project that "gave birth" to the Informer. Feel free to ask us questions about it on eadevor@villageexchangeghana.org or aclarke@villageexchangeghana.org 

Basics of "Journalism, Creative Writing and RSH" Project

Public: Teenagers (16 to 26 years old)

Resume:  Through journalistic and writing skills, teenagers will be counseled to research and better understand their community whereas sexual health questions/ themes.

Periodicity: 1x Week

Group size: 10 – 15 people

MAIN GOAL:

The main goal of the project is to develop teenager’s social awareness and self awareness by introducing them basic notions on journalism skills and practice. eg:

 

-       Interviewing – learning HOW to ask questions and WHAT to do with the answers.

-       Planning – learning how to choose a topic for a discussion; article; piece of writing.

-       Sorting out information – understanding how one information is more important than another according to the context: priority and hierarchy

-       Writing – developing better quality in writing and learning how to pass along information in a clear and objective way.

-        

Justification: As the world-wide definition points out, journalism is “a style of writing or communicating, formally employed by publications and broadcasters, for the benefit of a particular community of people.” Therefore, the project will enable young people to better understand their community as well as their role on it.

RSH and Journalism:

Observing that the project will take place as part of Lady Volta Resource Centre, the group will also have to develop their knowledge on youth RSH, as part of the projects activities.

PRODUCT: The group of young people, after 3 weeks of capacitating “classes”, will develop a mural newspaper to be placed in initially 10 different spots/ places in Ho:

-       schools

-       Market

-       Lady Volta Resource Centre

The newspaper will be then “renewed” every 15 days for as long as the program lasts (13 weeks).

Ü The group will create everything in this mural newspaper: the name of the newspaper, its sections, its content, etc.

Ü By developing the structure of the newspaper, the group will be automatically forced to look into their community and its needs. What is information in Ho? Which public will they target? Will the information change/ adapt according to the public?

Ü In every week the project takes place, the group will have to observe and rethink their work. Is the newspaper reaching the people they expected? What is the feedback they are receiving?

Ü Every week the group will have to plan their activities as well as collecting the information they will need for the articles. That will lead them to develop important skills such as: autonomy, responsibility, respect to the others as well as respect for their own work and, obviously as the project advances, they will also lead them to developing journalistic and writing skills.

Ü Every person involved with the project will be attributed a function and will be expected to deliver their product on time.

Ü The writing (handwriting or typing) of the article will be done at their leisure time. They will have full support of the centre, but the interviews and writing of the material should be conducted/ done off the program hours.

Ü Due to the lack of time for the weekly meetings, the group will have outside meeting hours with the educator, who will be available for them in pre-scheduled hours during the week.