On Saturday, April 24, SELL Programme Ghana undertook a clean-up campaign in some parts of the Tamale metropolis of the Northern Region as part of our activities to mark World Earth Day 2021 (which fell on April
22). The activity which began at the Jubilee Park had participants set out in groups. Clad in Earth Day branded t-shirts, they cleaned and collected littered rubbish and desilted choked gutters along Absa Bank, Central Mosque, Post Office to Vodafone, Post Office to ADB, through to Nagasaki
stretch.
The initiative was in partnership with like-minded organizations including, Make A Difference (MAD) Ghana, Sagnarigu Youth Parliament, Northern Regional Youth Network (NRYN), Camfed Association (CAMA), Yumzaa Foundation, Lavish AiD Foundation, Friends of Hope Foundation, Youth Action Movement and waste management entity Zoomlion Ghana. Participants also created awareness on the threats to our environment and the need to take action towards protecting our earth. About two hundred (200) people participated in the clean-up exercise.

SELL Programme Ghana’s commissioned volunteers of the Garu cluster team under the Navrongo-Bolgatanga zone of the Upper East Region organized an awareness raising program on Care for the Earth for students of Fr. Morin and Duri Junior High Schools in the Garu District, Friday April 23. The students were taken through sessions which educated them on the threats to the earth, the importance of environmental protection and the need to care for the earth. About two hundred (200) students benefitted from Earth Day branded exercise books. On Saturday, April 24, together with some youth, they embarked on a clean-up exercise in the Holy Angels Parish and later engaged in a conversation on Garu-based radio station Quality FM, where they discussed the need to care for our common home. All the activities were part of World Earth Day 2021 celebration.

From April 23-25, SELL Programme Ghana organized a workshop for the Tatale community. It is the first step-down workshop under the Yendi zone of the Northern Region, following a new beginning in February.
The workshop which took place at the parish library in Tatale focused on the Self Awareness unit of the SELL Programme. Our trained volunteers facilitated the various sessions. One (1) resource team member attended
as support person. The program helped the participants recognize their gifts and talents and
the call to 'know one's self.' Forty-two (42) young adults participated in the workshop.

The Tamale Archdiocesan Catholic Youth Council (TACYC) partnered with the Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL) Programme Ghana to organize a leadership workshop for some youth leaders in the Archdiocese, Saturday, February 27. The one-day event which took place at the Catholic Youth Center in Tamale - Northern Region, brought together young adults made up of leaders and representatives of about eight (8) different parishes. Through sessions, they explored various topics aimed at discovering their leadership styles, as well as, enhance their leadership skills as they continue to serve their respective youth apostolate in the Archdiocese. Seventeen (17) young persons participated in the workshop.

From March 11th to 14th, we trained fifty-four (54) volunteer facilitators in the Damongo zone. It took place at the Center for Conflict Transformation and Peace Studies in Damongo - Savannah Region of Ghana, and focused on the Leadership unit of the SELL Programme. Our facilitators took them through various sessions on the unit, aimed at helping them to be good communicators, how authority and power can affect their ability to be effective leaders, identifying their own leadership styles and recognize their roles as leaders in caring for the earth. The young adults comprised of Catholic youth, Muslim youth and some representatives of the Youth Empowerment Synergy (YES) Ghana movement. Some of the volunteer facilitators said, the training will help them educate their communities on the need to sustain the environment, as well as, exhibit good leadership in all areas they engage in. In general, it was an engaging sharing and learning experience for them. They have been equipped with materials to help them hold similar workshops in their respective communities for the benefit of other young  adults. 

A Rising from Resilient Roots (RRR) workshop was organized for the Navrongo-Bolgatanga zone of the Upper East Region of Ghana, on Saturday, March 20. It took place at the Youth Center in Vea - Bongo, and brought together young adults from various communities in the Upper East Region. The workshop is part of the Sahel Peace Initiative (SPI) of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) with SELL Programme - Ghana as partners, and is being implemented in the five (5) regions of Northern Ghana. The purpose is to help participants find internal balance, strengthen their identity and learn new coping skills in order to increase hope and wellbeing in themselves and their communities. Some of the participants said, the various activities they undertook created positive mindsets in them, taught them diverse ways of dealing with the challenges in life and enhanced the never-give-up spirit in them. Twentynine (29) persons participated. Two (2) of SELL’s trained volunteer facilitators led some of the sessions at the workshop.

 A one-day Peace Forum has taken place in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern Region of Ghana, Thursday March 25. The forum is part of the Sahel Peace Initiative (SPI) of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) with SELL Programme, Ghana as partners in its implementation. The purpose of the forum was to evaluate the series of activities carried out that advocated for peace in the lead up to the 2020 general elections and the way forward in sustaining peace in the area. It was chaired by the Bishop of Yendi Most Rev. Vincent Sowah Boi-Nai and took place at the Catholic Secretariat of the Diocese. Participants in a step-by-step approach discussed the lessons from the town hall meetings, peace walks, Rising from Resilient Roots workshop (which targeted young adults) and peace forums that were organized to advocate for peace before, during and after the elections and its impact. They roundly agreed that, these activities contributed positively to a peaceful election. Participants noted that, regular education on the need to live in harmony with one another was key to sustaining peace in the area. The participants included: constituency executives of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC), Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and Peoples National Congress (PNC). Others are: representatives of the Yendi Peace Council, Justice & Peace Commission, Yendi Peace Centre, Yendi Youth Parliament, National Investigations Bureau, Women in Agriculture Platform, Muslim Youth and the Diocesan Youth Council. Imam of the Yendi Peace Council, Alhaji A. Majeed urged all stakeholders to foster unity and continuously work towards ‘keeping the peace’ in Yendi and beyond. The Sahel Peace Iniative (SPI) was launched last year to raise awareness of crisis in countries in the Sahel region, advocate for change and help communities overcome obstacles to enable them build lasting peace. The SPI Working Group for Ghana was launched March 22 in Accra. Archbishop of Tamale and President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) Most Rev. Philip Naameh launched it, together with high-level representatives of the CRS in Ghana and West Africa region. Executive Team Leader of the Sharing Education and Learning for Life (SELL) Programme, Ghana Vincent Agyei participated in discussions at the launch which took place at the National Catholic Secretariat. The Working Group is to champion activities of the SPI in the country for social cohesion and peacebuilding.

On Saturday, April 10, our commissioned volunteer facilitators of the Garu Team under the Navrongo-Bolgatanga zone organized a workshop for the Songo community in the Garu area in the Upper East Region. It was on the Self Awareness unit of the SELL Programme and afforded the young adults the opportunity to deepen Knowledge of themselves. Our able facilitators took them through various sessions aimed at helping them recognize their gifts and talents and the call to 'know one's self.' Sixteen (16) young adults participated.

​SELL RAISES AWARENESS ON WORLD EARTH DAY As part of a series of activities to mark World Earth Day 2021 (which falls on April 22), SELL Programme Ghana organized a program to raise awareness dubbed, ‘Care for the Earth’ for students of the Choggu Yapalsi Primary School under the Sagnarigu District of the Northern Region of Ghana. The event which took place April 13-14, paved the way for the students to explore threats to the earth, the importance of environmental protection and the need to care for our home. The Resource Team, joined by some commissioned volunteer facilitators of the Tamale zone took the students through various sessions which educated them on the need to cultivate good habits that will ensure a cleaner and safer environment to live in. The students were also provided with materials to creatively highlight messages for raising awareness on environmental protection through drawings. They were encouraged to take action to rid the environment of plastics and properly dispose waste. SELL distributed over three hundred (300) branded Earth Day exercise books, pens and pencils to the students and teachers of the school. The global theme for the World Earth Day 2021 celebration is: “Restore Our Earth”, which focuses not only on the need to reduce our impact on the planet as we recover from the effects of Covid-19, but also how we can play a role in repairing the damage we have done. It is a day set aside to shine a light on the serious environmental problems the world is facing, from climate crisis to air pollution and deforestation.

​STEP-DOWN WORKSHOPS HELD IN BOLE AND BAMBOI-TINGA On April 16-18, SELL Programme Ghana organized step-down workshops for Bole and Bamboi-Tinga communities under the Damongo zone of the Savannah of Ghana. It focused on the Leadership unit of the SELL Programme. Our volunteers who were trained in February to run these workshops facilitated the various sessions. Two (2) resource team members attended as support persons. The participatory processes helped them share their experiences with leaders and discover their own leadership styles. Nineteen (19) and twenty-five (25) young adults participated in the respective workshops.

 A Rising from Resilient Roots (RRR) was organized for the Tamale zone, Northern Region of Ghana on April 16-17. It took place at the Catholic Youth Center in Tamale, and brought together young adults from various communities in Tamale, Kpandai and Kabonwule and some members of the Sagnarigu Youth Parliament. The workshop is part of the Sahel Peace Initiative (SPI) of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) with SELL Programme – Ghana as partners, and is being implemented in the five (5) regions of the Northern Ghana. The purpose is to help participants find internal balance, strengthen their identity and learn new coping skills in order to increase hope and wellbeing in themselves and their communities. Forty-one (41) persons participated.

As part of activities to mark World Earth Day 2021, SELL Programme Ghana held a radio awareness campaign on care on for the earth, Thursday April 22. The discussion which took place on Tamale-based Kesmi FM in the Northern Region of Ghana centered on the threats to the earth and the individual and collective actions needed to restore the earth. Vincent Agyei (Executive Team Leader, SELL Programme Ghana), Hagar Bebuur (Programmes Coordinator, SELL Programme Ghana) and Hamza Nyadia (Deputy Team Leader, Make A Difference – MAD Ghana) discussed the problems facing the environment. They called on all to take action to care for the earth which sustains us. They also donated a tree to the radio station to plant and nurture it as part of their corporate social responsibility.

To mark World Earth Day 2021, SELL Programme Ghana partnered with The Presentation Brothers Junior High School in Logre, Nabdam District of the Upper East Region, Ghana – for a clean-up exercise.
The teaming students tidied up the environment around the Logre Health Centre, Thursday April 22. They were also educated on the need to take stringent measures to care for the earth. Two-hundred and seventy-five (275) students received Earth Day branded books and surgical nose masks to commemorate the day. They will embark on a tree planting exercise at a later date.