MASO is a five year programme, focused on creating employment opportunities for the youth (aged 18-25) in Ghana’s cocoa communities.
A group of people who play a critical role in the success of the MASO programme are the “Community Facilitators”. These young men and women selected from the communities where the programme operates, are trained to mobilize, guide and train the MASO participants.
Gli Daniel Prempeh is a Community Facilitator at Ketepii in the Kadjebi District of the Volta Region. Daniel was registered as a participant in his community but offered himself to be interviewed for a facilitator position when those who were interviewed could not make the mark. He excelled and was therefore chosen to handle the group.
Daniel is 24 years old and completed Senior High School in 2014 after which he started assisting his brother in his shop as a Sales Boy. According to Daniel, he first heard about the programme through a documentary he watched on television and since that day, he has been hoping the programme reaches his community. It was therefore a dream come true in 2018 when he heard MASO was coming to town and he vowed to take full advantage of the programme.
Life as a facilitator
“Even before I was registered as a participant and later selected as the facilitator, I took it upon myself to move from house to house convincing parents to allow their wards join the programme”.
Daniel had heard a lot from the MASO documentary he watched on television so it was quite easy talking about the programme to others. Through his effort, a number of youth got registered in his small community. As a facilitator, he is the link between the Programme Officer and the participants. He mobilizes the youth for meetings and training, he is in charge of training (theory and practical) for participants who are in the Agro Academy. Daniel is also responsible for records keeping at his community and submits monthly reports to his programme officer. As a good facilitator, Daniel has taken some initiatives with his group.
Special initiatives
Daniel organizes his participants to provide services such as cleaning and planting of trees along the road in his Community, Ketepii.
When he was asked why he took that initiative, Daniel said, “i believe in cleanliness and beautification of the environment and as young people living in the community, do not see why we have to sit and watch their elders do this”. He has also facilitated the creation of a welfare fund and a savings and loans association for his group.
“We have started helping each other in their farms and I see how some of my youth struggle to make provision for food for people who will visit their farms so I told myself why can’t we contribute some money every meeting day so people who are in difficulties can get some support from the fund?” he explained.
Challenges
According to Daniel, getting some participants to attend meetings and trainings has been a challenge. The participants are aware of the meeting days and times yet you have to be going to their homes to call them meanwhile I also have other tasks. “My work as a facilitator is very challenging because you could become an easy target of abuse in the community but you must remain calm so you do not lose focus”.
Daniel in a group energizer
Vision
Through MASO, Daniel has started a 2-acre cocoa farm at Ketepii and by the year 2022, he hopes to have at least 6 acres of cocoa farm and establish other businesses. This is a vision he shares with all other participants in his group.
“MASO has been very useful to me because I thought it was all over until MASO came and changed my thinking”.
Article and photos by Kwame Apau, MASO Programme officer in the Volta Region
