It's crazy to think that this time last year I was on a bus somewhere in Ghana heading back to Accra from the Northern Region and just yesterday I booked my flight ticket back to Accra; talk about going full circle!
As amazing as last year was, I think that 2012 will top it. I am heading back to Ghana for two short term jobs with YCI which are ideal for my personal career development. The first one, I will be taking the lead on a program development team and through the YMCA, we are to scale up the existing mentorship program in Koforidua. The mentorship program exists to increase youth livelihoods in Ghana and my team will be responsible for scaling up this program so that it becomes sustainable and replicable. Ideally, in 3 years time the YMCA and YCI would like to have the mentorship program operational in 3 other cities in Ghana.
In the second job, I will be working as a M&E Advisor with YCI's other local partner, Youth Empowerment Synergy (YES). The vision of YES is: a world where every young person has a real chance to benefit from and participate in the development process at local, national and international levels. For the month of November, I was studying M&E at the AMREF International Training Centre in Nairobi and I am very excited about putting these skills to practical work experience with YES. As an Advisor, I won't be evaluating the programs of YES but rather, taking a critical look at how the organization currently monitors projects and then setting up an M&E system that can be carried through to multiple projects. Based on the information I was provided with by YCI, this is what I envision myself doing but of course, I am going in with an open mind.
I have just over 3 weeks left in Canada before I depart again for the long journey across the Atlantic. This time I am taking a different route. Normally, I fly with KLM through Amsterdam and have a ridiculously long lay over in Schiphol Airport. This time I am flying with Delta via JFK and Atlanta straight across the Atlantic Ocean to Accra. This means I have 2 stop overs but each are just over an hour, although I might have a frantic jog through JFK to reach my connecting flight; I still see this being better than waiting around for 8 straight hours. Time will tell!
