[ 2019-03-02 ]

Award winning students

Eleven Ghanaian students win UN award
As part of this year’s Harvard National
Model United Nations (HNMUN) Conference in the
United States of America, 11 Ghanaian students
received awards for winning the pitch contest in
the Harvard Resolution Project Social Venture
Challenge (SVC).

The awards ceremony took place in Boston,
Massachussetts, and as their reward, the group
received a $10,000 grant to enable them to
undertake various social development interventions
in their home country within the framework of the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United
Nations.

A statement issued by Life-Link Friendship
Schools, Ghana, explained that the Harvard
Resolution Project Social Venture Challenge (SVC),
was one of eight global Resolution Project events
organised on the sidelines of the annual Harvard
gathering. The event had 23 Ghanaian students
participating under the auspices of Life-Link
Friendship Schools, Ghana.

Venture ideas

The SVC affords students the opportunity to
generate ‘outstanding venture ideas’
to address social and humanitarian challenges in
their local communities.

Selected winners receive a venture grant of US$
2000 per group on a starting or existing project
and are individually made members of the
prestigious “Resolution Fellowship”,
which is a strong and growing community of young
leaders from all over the world whose core aim is
to help fellows succeed in their ventures and
beyond.

The 11 students who participated in the contest
constituted themselves into five different social
ventures and were from a pool of four different
universities in Ghana.

Participants

They were Hunvillah Asamoah (Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology - KNUST) and
Horace Claud Allan Odoi (University of Ghana) who
worked on “Burden To Save” a project
to provide toilet facilities for the people of
Dayiri in the Northern Region of Ghana to tackle
cholera; Gilbert Kekeli Yao Dzeketey (University
of Professional Studies) and Ernest Kekeli Awudey
(University of Ghana) who pitched to work on
“Match Dey”, a project that tackles
reproductive health through sex education in rural
areas and a contraceptive delivery system for
universities.

The third team comprised Prince Annan and Akosua
Benhene Nyantakyi both from the Kings University
College and Priscilla Mensah Ankoh of the KNUST
whose project is titled, “Computer
Minds” and highlights an initiative tailored
for rural schoolchildren at Gomoa Dunkwa in the
Central Region of Ghana to reduce the high rate of
computer illiteracy.

The fourth group comprising Abraham Agoni
(University of Ghana) and Owiredu Kissi (Ghana
Institute of Journalism) did their work on
“School of Thoughts” which seeks to
bridge the educational gap between rural and urban
areas, particularly in the North of Ghana by
training young individuals in rural areas to
identify their potential and work to change the
society.

The last group was called “SPES”, and
were represented by Emmanuella Agyeman Tuffour
(University of Ghana) and Adwoa Agyeman Tuffour
(KNUST).

According to their pitching document, their
project sought to transform the healthcare
experience of the newborn by providing safe,
effective and affordable phototherapy eye
protectors.

Participating countries

The statement named Venezuela, Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Liberia and USA as the other countries
whose students participated in the contest.

Co-founder of the award scheme and Head of Jury,
Howard .A. Levine, commended the winners for their
exemplary leadership and urged the generality of
students to be problem solvers.

“We need your committed leadership, your
ideas and your unquenchable desire for change. So
when you see an issue, when you see a problem in
your community, get to solving it,” he told
the students.

The Executive Director of Life-Link Friendship
Schools Ghana, Mr Ernest Gyimah-Danquah, lauded
the students for bringing honour to their schools
and their countries.

According to him, it was the fifth time a Ghanaian
student delegation from Life-Link Ghana had
participated in the contest and won. He said there
were now 22 Fellowship members from Ghana.

Life-Link runs annual Model United Nations
Conferences for students at all educational
levels.

The organisation had worked with the UN system in
Ghana and Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign
Affairs for 20 years to train and equip students
in international diplomacy and leadership and
problem-solving skills.

Source - Daily Graphic

... go Back