Youth Without Borders Ghana Youth Entrepreneurship Programme
Youth Entrepreneurship Programme is a national development program that recruits and works with youth volunteers, to work in all 10 regions across the Country.

The Young Professionals Programme (YPP) is an initiative by Youth Without Borders Ghana in line with the economic empowerment (through skills, business and entrepreneurship training) strategic goal of the organisation. The programme seeks to provide entry-level job experience for the youth in an area of their professional interest through internships, industrial attachment and secondments programmes. Young people will provide technical and administrative support to programmes and operations of their host organisations whiles benefitting from professional development and mentoring.

Objectives

1. Offer young people the opportunity to be active players in the development of their world
2. Provide professional and industry skills and experiences for the youth
3. Promote the spirit of service among the youth
4.  Provide a platform for leadership development and mentorship of the youth

Categories

The Young Professional Prpgramme is designed to meet all the unique needs of both young people and requesting organisations. This allows for more flexibility and key outcomes to be achieved in the end. The following 4 categories are available for young people and organisations to choose from:

1. Intern: This aspect of the YPP programme allows young people in a recognised higher educational institution and programme to acquire practical experiences in their field of study with an organisation that meets their demands. Young people who also intend to gain some amount of professional experience in their chosen career can also serve as interns.
2. Volunteer: Young people who aspire to contribute their skills, experiences, knowledge and other resources to benefit the organisations, projects and programmes of their interest can apply for volunteer opportunities. The main aim will be to make a difference instead of for financial gains.
3. Consultant: These young people shall work with organisations to deliver specific results on programmes and projects of development within a specified time frame. They shall possess certain skills sets, experiences and knowledge that are directly required to deliver specific outcomes. They shall not be full-time staff of the organisation but rather short-term staff. A consultancy fee shall be agreed upon between the organisation and young consultant through the facilitation of the YWB YPP Secretariat.
4. Junior Officer: Organisations shall deliberately create these positions for young people with the relevant skills and qualification who may not under normal circumstances meet the normal recruitment criteria of such positions. These shall be young people who do not meet the minimum requirements that is required for many the position in many organisations. One (1) to three (3) years working experiences shall qualify young people to apply for such opportunities

How it works

The following processes shall be followed to ensure a clear, concise and transparent administration of the young professionals programmes to ensure it meets its stated objectives:

• Request by organisation: Organisations seeking to engage a young professional shall make a request to the YWB YPP secretariat. This request shall have the full details and conditions for such positions or vacancies including the terms of reference, conditions of service and requirements.
• Call for applications: After receiving a request, a call for applications will be made for interest young people to apply through a system to be setup.
• Selection: All applications received shall be screened and final three candidates selected for the final selection stage.
• Interviews: The requesting organisation shall either conduct an interview to select their preferred candidate or request the YPP secretariat to do the final interviews and
• Contract signing: A contract will be signed between the organisation and the selected young professional to spell out and provide a clear conditions and directions for the working relationship. Such contracts shall be signed through the YPP secretariat who shall act as a witness as well.
• Assumption of duty:
• Progress report: Young professionals shall provide regular report of their work, activities and challenges to the YPP secretariat. This shall help track the work of YPs, help improve the programme and measure the impact of the programme.  

Notwithstanding the above process, the secretariat will periodically request various organisations to host young professionals

Eligibility

1. Must be between the ages of 18 to 35 years
2. Applicants must have or in a process of obtaining entry level qualification in the field of interest
3. Relevant experiences and interest in the field will be an added advantage
4. Being a member of Youth without Borders Ghana is an advantage but not a requirement

An ideal Young Professional will

1. Be self-disciplined
2. Self-motivated and positive
3. Be open-minded and ready to learn
4. Have ability to solve problems
5. Be passionate, promising and purposeful
6. Recognise and respect diversity in terms of nationality, culture, race, sex and religion.

Application process

The YP programme is meant for youth with special capability for creative, and strategic thinking. If you have and believe you fulfil the eligibility criteria above, kindly submit your online application before the closing date. The application check list includes:

1. Academic certificates/transcript
2. Current resume
3. Letter of motivation (Maximum 700 words)
4. Ensure all questions in application portal are answered accurately

Selection process

After application process, screening of all application will be done and the most promising applicants selected. The selection will be competitive and the quality of the letter of motivation submitted by applicants will be taken into consideration. Interviews maybe conducted by the selection panel if the need be. The number of applicants to be selected in each batch will depend on the number of positions and vacancies available.

Youth Without Borders Ghana Youth Leadership Programme
YWB-LP is a national development program that recruits and works with youth volunteers, to work in all 10 regions across the Country.

Youth Without Borders Ghana Youth Mentorship Programme
YWB-MP is a national development program that recruits and works with youth volunteers, to work in all 10 regions across the Country.

Youth Without Borders Ghana Youth Volunteers Programme
YWB-YVP is a national development program that recruits and works with youth volunteers, to work in all 10 regions across the Country.

YWB-YVP promotes volunteering to deepen the status of young people in Ghana as key participants in the delivery of Ghana’s human development targets and goals. It brings people together to share skills, knowledge, creativity and learning to build a more integrated Country and by implication strengthen Ghana’s relevance in the globalized world.

Objectives of the YWB-YVP  

– Engage Ghanaian Youth in the Country’s development through meaningful youth participation by providing Service for their Communities;
– Provide opportunities to Young Ghanaians to serve and gain crucial professional experience, soft skills, social competence, national exposure and leadership skills;
– Promote shared values and Nationalism among the upcoming generation.

The Power of Service
Assisting development: Imagine, a young woman or man volunteering in a community applying her/his skills and knowledge (teaching mathematics and English in a rural high school, or assisting in a local health center) for one year has delivered an average of 2,160 hours of service to the community. It is therefore needless to say the impact an army of youth volunteers can create within a foreseeable time.

For a long time, Inter-African missions have mainly been limited to sending of peace keeping troops to areas risking war or civil unrest. African soldiers have made a tremendous impact in securing peace and security for fellow brothers and sisters in their respective countries. YWB-YVP  seeks to replicate this momentum to a civilian setting, whereby Ghanaian Youth can yet once again be deployed to provide their services in assisting development and attaining the common destiny of a prosperous and peaceful country.

Empowering Youth: Volunteerism is not an easy task and demands qualities of a leader to attain once mission in a different region or community. YWB-YVP devotes itself to producing a generation of Ghanaian leaders, willing to serve their country and its people, knowledgeable of Ghanaian dynamics, and courageous to take charge and challenge themselves on a daring adventure of building themselves and their country through service.

Promoting Nationalism and Responsible Citizenry: Upon the independence of Ghana, our heroic leaders including Kwame Nkrumah, J.B Dankwah, Edward Akufo-Addo, Emmanuel Obetsebi-Lamptey, William Ofori Atta, Ebenezer Arko-Adje and among others, had one common dream for the country – A Strong and United Country! Volunteers travelling to a local community in a Region outside of their own would not only be volunteering their service, but also be able to learn and exchange from their host community. This would create a life changing experience and perception returned volunteers would have about other communities and their country at large.

Areas of Focus

On the field, YWB Youth Volunteers would serve primarily in the following fields:

Education
Health and HIV/ AIDS
Peace and Security
Information and Communications Technology
Business and Youth Entrepreneurship
Agriculture and Environment

Typical Environment of Service
YWB-YVP volunteers are deployed strictly in non for profit settings where their impact and contributions can fill the gap for much needed skilled man power. This would typically be:

Rural Community Schools
Hospitals and Health Centers
Post Conflict Setting
International Organizations

Non-Governmental Organisations(NGOs)
Government Offices/ Ministries

Civil Society Organisations

How It Works

– Aspiring volunteers who fulfill all requirements would fill out online application form and upload their CV.
– Organizations wishing to deploy youth volunteers are required to fill out the online request form . Alternatively, organizations can send their request to info@ywbghana.org

– Screening: Volunteer Applications and Volunteer Requests would now be screened for completeness through a vigorous and transparent process. Candidates whose application was not convincing, would be eliminated and notified. Volunteers are permitted to reapply a second time.

– Matching: Applications of nominated volunteer candidates are matched with available vacancies according to the criteria specified by the requesting organization or YWB-GH.

– Selection: Qualify volunteers would be selected and notified based on the vacancy available.

– Volunteer Training: Prior to their deployment volunteers would be trained for a period of 2 to 3 days  by the YWB-YVP unit to enhance volunteers professional, interpersonal and life skills. The training aims to prepare volunteers for their community of deployment and/or enhance their capacity.

– Deployment: selected volunteers would now sign an agreement with their host organization(if applicable) and YWB-GH which shall guide the terms of deployment.

– Progress Assessment: volunteers are expected to provide regular reports on their activities and address challenges to the YWB-YVP unit.