“Recycle Up! Ghana” Summer camp comes to Cape Coast

• Posted on August 12, 2015August 12, 2015
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Waste  and  filth  is  engulfing  Ghana  and  causing  a  myriad  of  problems.  The  government  and  manybenevolent organisations have been working tirelessly to solve the problem of sanitation. This howeverhasn’t yielded massive results yet.

The youth of Ghana, the future leaders of the Nation, have amazingideas on how this canker can be solved and the results maintained for generations. “Recycle Up! Ghana” is a project that aims to increase senior high school students’ awareness about thewaste problem and motivate them to make a difference in their schools and communities.

The mainelement of the project is a two-week long summer camp that brings together students from varioussenior high schools. The maiden version of the camp was organised at KNUST campus in Kumasi in 2014.In 2015, the initiative is taking on pace and organised twoo parallel camps in Kumasi and Cape Coast. Theproject is initiated by the regional group of “Technik ohne Grenzen e.V” (TeoG).

The camps  take  place from 5th to  14th August  2015 and bring  together  16 and 20 students,  agedbetween 14 and 19, who were garnered from different Senior High Schools throughout the Cape Coastand Kumasi Metropolis in the Central and Ashanti Regions.

The venues for the camp is the School Hostel,Cape  Coast  Polytechnic,  Cape  Coast  and  Queens  Hall  on  KNUST  Campus  in  Kumasi  allow  formaximizedtrainingmaximized training effectiveness and foster an ideal teamwork environment. “Technik  ohne  Grenzen  e.V”  (TeoG) is  a  nonprofit,  non-governmental  organization  which  uses  itsresources to undertake projects in deprived areas to help better the living conditions of the community.

It has its headquarters in Erlangen, Germany and also has Regional Groups in SunyanyiSunyani, Kumasiand Cape Coast, Ghana. The English translation is “Technology Without Borders”.Six  Schools were selected  from the cape Coast  Metropolis  whereas  nine schools are represented  inKumasi, stretching from single sex schools to mixed schools.

The criteria for the selection of the schoolswere based on school performance, proximity of the school to the camp venue as well as the willingnessof the school and students to partake in the project. The school selection for the Kumasi camp benefitedfrom the experience and cooperation with the schools in the previous year.

The participating schools forthe Recycle Up! Cape Coast Summer camp in Cape Coast include the University of Cape Coast PracticeSenior High School, Adisadel College, Academy of Christ Senior High School, Edinaman Senior HighSchool and Cape Coast Technical Senior High School. For Kumasi, the following schools are represented:Opoku  Ware  Senior  High  School,  Kumasi  AcademiAcademy,  T.I  Amass,  Kumasi  Sec.Tech  School,  YaaAsantewaare Girls School, KNUST Senior High School, Anglican Senior High and Prempeh College

The content of the camp will  be threefold with each step to be perfected in close cooperation withseveral partner institutions.In the first part, ”,”KNOWLEDGE”, is meant to provide participants with the required technical, but alsopersonal training of becoming a change maker in the pollution and waste management area.

In order to achieve this we complement technical exercises about plastics and waste management with soft skilltraining sessions about effective communication and public speaking (among others). The  second  step  is  called  “EXPERIENCE”.  Building  on  this  knowledge,  the  participants  explorecommunities affected by severe pollution in the second part of the camp.

The idea for them is to traceout the underlying problems and incentives at play which need to be changed in order to achieve abetter waste management situation. Ultimately, the third phase of the camp, “SOLUTIONS”, is meant to bring participants together in groupsand  let  them  develop  an  idea  to  solve  the  identified  problem  under  the  guidance  of  experiencedmentors.

Each  team  will  present  their  idea  on  the  13th of  August,  2015.  This  event  will  be  open  for  publicparticipation. Leaders of public authorities, environmental experts, radio & TV stations as well as thegeneral public are invited for this “Grand Finale” of the Recycle Up!-Summer camp 2015.

The teams thatdevelop the most promising solutions will be awarded. Independent from this, all participating schoolswill receive seed funding to support the implementation of environmental clubs in the schools.As co-founders of such clubs, the participants of the Recycle Up! Summer Camp 2015 shall act as localenvironmental  ambassadors  and  provide  their  colleagues  with  essential  knowledge  to  work  on  theenvironmental challenges and waste management, starting in Senior High Schools.

This Program is powered by Technology Without Borders (TeoG).MEDIA  PARTNERS:  ATL  FM,  Ghana  News  Agency,  Cape  360,  Y  102.5  FM,  KokonsaGh, 233times.net ,Ameyawdebrah.comVisit our blog: http://recycleupghana.wordpress.com Email: [email protected]