WRITE IT CONTEST ORGANISED BY THE Y-GHANA INSTITUTE OF JOURNALISM (GIJ) WITH SUPPORT OF THE GHANA YMCA

By Linda Adzeoda

YMCA aims at inspiring young people to develop integrity and social responsibility as they would have the space to deliberate issues faced as a country and to accept some responsibility as young people in helping to resolve such issues. Ghana YMCA together with GIJ Y Club, organized “Write It Contest” “Africa 2063 Ghana 61 Years on” at the Ghana Institute of Journalism in Accra. One of the goals for this project is to encourage responsible citizenship in increasing awareness of society issues and understanding of the processes by which we make laws to govern ourselves.

It is a project designed to be used as a vehicle by Y-Clubs i.e. branches of the Ghana YMCA in tertiary institutions to engage the youth on civic participation. The first edition of this project was piloted in the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) branch of the Ghana YMCA.

The winner examined the Agenda 2063 in practical terms and measured how far Ghana has come in realizing the Agenda with prime focus on the media.  He then recommended inclusiveness powered by the media as an effective method for engaging the masses and getting them to own and propel the Agenda 2063.

The winners of the writing contest were awarded their prizes at a ceremony at the school’s premises.

The winners; Jeffter Kobby Donkor (First place), Priscilla Mawuena Adjeidu (first runners-up) and Felix Kwaku-Dua (second runners-up) received a tablet, a smartphone and a Mi-Fi respectively. Each of the top ten finalists also received a pen drive as a consolation prize.

Members enjoyed participating because they were exposed to a positive development agenda that they didn’t even know existed and said they will follow the progress on Agenda 2063 closely and contribute my quota towards its realization.”

“The Write It” Contest will be an annual writing competition that will be organized by the Y-GIJ with support from the Ghana YMCA. This year’s contest, which is the first edition, recorded over thirty participants from different parts of the country. The contest exposed many young people at the Ghana Institute of Journalism to the Agenda 2063 and started a conversation about the African union’s development agenda for Africa.

Goddy Nana Mens, Coordinator for the Y-Club Project and members, were happy that such a useful project has been instituted to help develop the civic capacity of young people.