Leadership By Example, Clean To Live Campaign In Tamale

A group of young hard working youth in the tamale metropolis organised a #Cleantolive campaign. Shamsia Baba Dua a student at the Nalerigu Nursing Training college came up with the idea and informed Some close friends to help with the awareness creation. Currently the volunteers involve a lot of dedicated Nursing Training students, Nurses, Teachers, Radio personalities in the Tamale metropolis, students from various tertiary institutions and many more.

A WHO study in 2012 calculated that for every $1 invested in sanitation, there was a return of $5.50 in lower health costs, more productivity and fewer premature deaths. Nearly one third of the current global population has gained access to an improved sanitation facility since 1990, a total of 2.1 billion people. 2.4 billion people still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines. Of these, 946 million still defecate in the open, for example in street gutters, behind bushes or into open bodies of water. Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio. Inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 280 000 diarrhoeal deaths annually and is a major factor in several neglected tropical diseases, including intestinal worms, schistosomiasis, and trachoma.

Poor sanitation also contributes to malnutrition. Over 500,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. That's over 1,400 children a day. Right now, more than 50 per cent of hospital beds in developing countries are filled with people who have an illness caused by poor sanitation or dirty water Sub-Saharan Africa has made slower progress, with sanitation coverage rising from 24% to 30% in 2015. In 47 countries, less than half the population has access to a toilet or an improved latrine. The Ghana Volunteer Program (GVP) is a program being run by the GhanaThinkFoundation, an NGO based both in Ghana and the USA. National Volunteer Day, which falls around the 21st of September each year, is our major activity.

It was instituted as part of GVP in 2013. This year, the event falls within the 19th – 21st Sept 2015 time frame. The initiative aims to get as many people as possible in Ghana to volunteer their time or do community service during the Founder’s Day Holiday weekend. While volunteerism is not very popular and part of our society’s fabric, many individuals and organisations volunteer occasionally. National Volunteer Day (NVDay) is to increase these numbers and unify efforts in volunteerism in Ghana. We are encouraging more people to do community service within Ghana. That’s the same spirit our founding fathers engendered within our citizenry.

Ato Ulzen-Appiah, the director of the GhanaThink Foundation stated that: “Volunteering is a great way to show leadership in our communities and for our nation. It’s great to see National Volunteer Day growing and becoming a yearly feature”. By having volunteer or community service activities during the 19th – 21st September time frame, we would be championing the ideals of our founding fathers and joining a national effort to work for Ghana. Volunteering demonstrates initiative and hard work, two ideals that many organisations look for while hiring. We believe that by participating in NVDay, participants would be building their CVs and professional capabilities. We expect several individuals and organisations to hold different activities throughout the country on the day. Last year, over 80 activities were organised and registered with us, mostly by individuals and groups that were organising volunteering activities for the first time.

Their activities directly impacted the lives of thousands of people. These activities happened in 9 out of the 10 regions in Ghana and in several cities and towns. Activities ranged from skills training programs, clean up exercises, tutoring in a particular course, reading clinics for kids, blood donation drives, creating playing grounds for kids in the government schools to painting schools and faded zebra crossings.

More than 300 people volunteered and their work benefitted thousands of people. The impact on the volunteers and beneficiaries was massive and wascaptured on social media via the #NVDay14 hashtag. Eleanor Asare, the lead coordinator for the Ghana Volunteer Program said, “NVDay has not only come to stay, but it is also here to cause a positive change in our attitudes towards volunteerism and to serve as a development tool.

” Make it a point to be a part of NVDay15 this year by organising and registering your event on our volunteeringh.org website. The registration of your activity will allow us to support you with more volunteers and some publicity. At the volunteeringh.org website, you can also join volunteer activities that are being planned by others. We look forward to hearing about the incredible things you will be doing on NVDay15. Stay updated with what’s happening with the #NVDay15 hashtag and on social media Twitter, Facebook and Google+ . You can also support the organization of National Volunteer Day activities by donating through gofundme.com/Nvday15. Volunteerism, the heart of community development.