The Advocacy and Communications Unit has had a fruitful second quarter of the year. Below is an update on our activities:
Job Readiness Training
The ACU carried out a project under WEE-NORTH with the Alinéa Foundation. The goal of the project was to provide a curriculum, content and facilitation strategies for Job Readiness training for young women workers in industrial trades, so that they will be prepared to join the workforce on attachment after a period of training. After conducting a Training Needs Assessment, the team worked with Kofi Asare and Patricia Formadi to develop a curriculum, content, and the facilitation guide and slides for such a training. We are excited to be contributing to improving the participation of young women in male-dominated trade sectors.
Future of Work Dialogue II
The world of work is changing, likewise the mode and delivery of work in different contexts. Recognizing the usefulness of digital technologies in the world of work, as well as the many opportunities it offers, especially for young people in Technical, and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), PDA’s ACU in partnership with World University Service of Canada (WUSC) hosted the second dialogue on TVET and Digitalization: Challenges and Opportunities for Young People in Ghana. The dialogue aims to provide a platform for young people, working and/or practicing in TVET to interact with industry experts to learn, identify and leverage on the many opportunities digitalization offers within the TVET sector to create jobs. The recording from the first dialogue session is available here.
Quarterly Webinars
For the past two decades, PDA has positioned itself as a knowledge generation hub within the development ecosystem in Ghana, and thus, has resolved to share some of the knowledge with its partners and practitioners by hosting the quarterly PDA webinar series. The webinar series is intended to provide a platform for PDA, partners, and stakeholders in the development space to convene to share, learn and apply contextually-relevant and engaging issues. Previous webinars have focused on conducting a community needs assessment and research findings from an assessment of remote learning programmes in Ghana.
As a key player in the space, PDA recognizes the need for organizations to adopt active measures to protect persons in contact with the organization from harm and to respond appropriately if any harm occurs. Such persons include employees, volunteers, clients, project beneficiaries, customers and contractors, among others. It is based on this premise that we are hosting our next webinar themed “Mainstreaming Safeguarding Systems & Practices within Organizations: The PDA Experience.” This will provide partners an opportunity to learn about PDA’s experience in instituting workable organizational safeguarding measures applicable in different contexts.
Make sure to register at https://bit.ly/3bhv78p to join the webinar on 28th July, from 10am to 12 noon. It will also be livestreamed on our social media pages, and the recording will be freely available afterwards.
- Launch of New Website
The ACU has also been able to launch the new website of PDA. Featuring some major design and content changes, the website has a more modern feel and has incorporated the major suggestions and feedback from as many people as possible. Our social media pages have also been active, with regular updates and interactions. The LinkedIn page has also been revived and is already attracting significant attention from partners, clients, and staff.
- Knowledge Sharing Workshop
The annual Knowledge Sharing Workshop on Child Protection has been a highlight of PDA’s calendar every year. Scheduled for 24th November, 2022, the theme of this year’s workshop will be on Child Labour. The partners for this year’s event will be Free The Slaves (FTS), who have great expertise and experience in child labour. Do read up on the concept note and plan to be there in-person as we prepare towards the workshop.
- PDA Child Abuse Tracker
PDA remains committed to advocating for the protection of children from all forms of abuse by using data from its child abuse tracker. Since its deployment in 2017, the online platform has recorded over five hundred cases of child abuse reported in selected print and online media in Ghana. Access the platform and the quarterly infographic reports here. The makers of the platform, Ushahidi, recently featured us in an article here!