Översikt
Volunteer in Ghana and help us improve the lives of disadvantaged young children. You’ll assist local teachers and caregivers in a kindergarten, daycare centre, or special needs school. Volunteering with children in Ghana is a great opportunity for you to gain practical childcare experience and learn new skills. Best of all, you’ll be helping where it’s really needed and working on sustainable, long-term goals.
This project focuses on early childhood development and learning through play. Your work will help us achieve our goals of promoting literacy, numeracy, and hygiene practices among young Ghanaian children.
You’ll be based in one of three stunning locations, and will live with a local host family. This will be your home away from home and you’ll learn all about Ghanaian hospitality, culture, and traditions.
Is a Childcare Project in Ghana right for me?
This project is ideal for anyone who wants to help where it’s really needed and improve the lives of young children. You’ll gain practical experience of working in childcare, which could help your future career. It’s also the perfect project to help you develop important life skills such as teamwork, leadership, and planning.
If you have loads of energy, take a playful approach to life, and enjoy the antics of little ones, childcare volunteering in Ghana is definitely for you. No experience in childcare? No problem! As a volunteer working with children in Ghana, you’ll support the local teachers and caregivers and have Projects Abroad staff members close at hand to help guide you along.
Our Childcare Project in Ghana runs throughout the year and you can join at any time. The longer you stay, the bigger the impact you'll have on the children you work with.
What will I do on this project?
You'll work in a kindergarten, daycare centre, or special needs centre. However, you won't be on your own! Your main role is to support local teachers and caregivers with early childhood development work.
Here are some of the tasks you can expect to do during your placement:
- Run educational activities like helping children learn to read
- Share ideas with other volunteers to create new, fun activities
- Run hygiene awareness campaigns to help keep the children healthy
- Track the development of children and placements using special tools and techniques
You’ll enjoy loads of opportunities to take initiative, while having a strong support system and reliable curriculum to guide you along.
Your work with children in Ghana will be divided into four main categories:
Help teachers pay attention to children equally
Classes are often full beyond capacity, so teachers and caregivers don’t always manage to attend to each child throughout the day. You will play a huge role in being an extra pair of hands and eyes to help pay attention to children who need it most on any given day.
Give teachers and students a break from regular class routine by offering to lead a fun creative lesson. This could include arts and crafts, reading, or even introducing them to a new game. After classes end and before their parents collect them, you can help children with their homework or arrange sports activities outside.
Work with other volunteers
One of the best things about joining one of our volunteer programmes is the fact that you get to meet other volunteers from all over the world. Make the most of this opportunity by sharing ideas for activities, lessons, and games you can play with the children. You can also share these ideas with placement staff who can add them to their existing class routine to add a bit of variety.
Present hygiene awareness workshops
Some of the children you will work with may never have learned about the importance of basic hygiene. You can help improve this by teaching them how to brush their teeth properly and to wash their hands regularly throughout the day. Make this fun with songs, games, and little class challenges.
Assess children and identify specific placement needs
One of the ways in which we keep track of the children’s development and the specific needs of placements, is through specially designed checklists. We will train you on how to use these checklists. You will assess the status of each child on a daily basis in areas related to:
- Numeracy
- Literacy
- Fine motor skills
- Emotional abilities
- Social skills
- Hygiene
During regular workshops with our local team, you will upload this information to our Global Impact Database. This database enables us to keep track of each child’s development and track the work we do throughout the world on all of our different projects. Read more about how the database works.
Where in Ghana will I be working?
Depending on your interests and/or skills, you will work at one of the following placements:
- Kindergarten
- Daycare centre
- Special needs schools
Akuapem Hills
Located in the Eastern Region of Ghana, the Akuapem Hills form part of the Togo mountain range and are characterised by vibrant green vegetation and rich red earth. This is where most of our childcare placements are located.
Accra
With a population of 2.7 million people, Accra is the largest city in Ghana and also the country's capital. If you would like to experience the humid buzz of this burgeoning West African city, there are a number of placement options here, including a special needs school.
Cape Coast
A typical day as a Childcare Volunteer in Ghana
A typical day will run from about 8am to 5pm, coinciding with kindergarten and daycare centre hours. You will be working closely with teachers and caregivers to keep energetic young children fully engaged and entertained.
Every day at work will be different. On certain days you might help run an arts and crafts programme, while others may include outdoor sports activities or basic English lessons.
During the hours you aren’t working, you’ll have ample free time to explore with your fellow volunteers.
Since you will be living with a local host family, breakfast or dinners offer great opportunities to get to know them better and fully immerse yourself in their way of life.
What are the aims and impact of this project?
The aim of this project is to improve early childhood development in Ghanaian communities by helping give young children a well-rounded educational experience. Projects Abroad has elected not to work with children in orphanages in Ghana, but rather focus on promoting education through community-based programmes that allow children to remain within their families.
With primary school classrooms, kindergartens, and daycare centres often being overcrowded, local teachers and caregivers struggle to divide their attention equally. Because of this, certain children may have trouble learning certain skills, depending on their interests, strengths, and weaknesses.
As laid out in our Childcare Management Plan for Ghana, we’ve identified five sustainable goals we hope to achieve with our volunteer childcare project in Ghana:
- Promote early childhood development
- Increase literacy
- Improve hygiene levels
- Increase numeracy
- Improve the quality of life for those living with disabilities
Help us achieve these long-term goals by joining us as a Childcare volunteer in Ghana.
Volontärarbete för yrkesprofessionella
Det här projektet är även perfekt för kvalificerade yrkesprofessionella. Med dina kunskaper kan vi tillsammans göra ännu större skillnad. Vi kommer matcha dig med en projektplacering där dina kunskaper behövs som mest. Det innebär att du kan dela med dig av dina kunskaper med andra. Tillsammans kommer du arbeta med partnerorganisationer för att skapa hållbar positiv förändring för människor på plats.
Om du har relevanta kvalifikationer, kontakta oss så kan vi hjälpa dig!
Projekthandlingsplaner
Vi har utarbetat långsiktiga mål för våra projekt och dokumenterat målen i våra projekthandlingsplaner. Våra projekthandlingsplaner används också för att planera ditt arbete. Tack vare våra projekthandlingsplaner kan du vara säker på att du arbetar mot ett långsiktigt mål och vi kan kontinuerligt utvärdera och förbättra vårt arbete. Våra projekthandlingsplaner säkerställer att vi gör en verklig skillnad.
Läs mer om våra projekthandlingsplaner.
Vi mäter resultatet av vårt arbete varje år
Vi arbetar mot långsiktigt mål med årliga delmål. Varje volontär och praktikant som deltar på ett av våra projekt hjälper oss att nå dessa långsiktiga mål. På så sätt kan även de som volontärarbetar eller praktiserar en kortare tid göra verklig skillnad. Varje person bygger på arbetet som tidigare volontärer och praktikanter gjort. Varje år utvärderar vi resultatet av vårt arbete. Du kan hitta en sammanställning av vad vi uppnått under året i vår Global Impact Report.
För mer information om vilken insats våra volontärer, praktikanter och personal gjort under året, läs vår senaste rapport.
Mat och boende
Du kommer bo hos en värdfamilj i Accra, Akuapem Hills, Cape Coast eller Dodowa. Din värdfamilj kommer välkomna dig som en familjemedlem till deras hem. De kommer lära dig mer om deras traditioner och om den lokala kulturen. Vi tror att det här är det bästa sättet att verkligen lära känna kulturen i ett nytt land. Du kommer få en unik upplevelse av Ghana.
Vi försöker alltid placera dig så att du bor med en annan Projects Abroad volontär eller praktikant. Ditt rum kommer vara enkelt men bekvämt, rent och säkert.
Din projektavgift inkluderar tre måltider om dagen.
Läs mer om våra boenden.
Fritidsaktiviteter när du är ledig
När du volontärarbetar i Ghana kommer du även få chansen att utforska detta färgstarka västafrikanska land. Det finns så många olika typer av aktiviteter att göra här så du kommer ha fullt upp på fritiden.
Musik är en otroligt viktig del i den ghanaiska kulturen. I större stöder som Accra kommer du kunna lyssna till många olika liveband och få oförglömliga minnen från det livliga nattlivet. Eller tillbringa dina kvällar med att smaka på goda lokala rätter på någon av de många restaurangerna.
För att lära dig mer om Ghanas historia rekommenderar vi ett besök i Cape Coast, där du kan gå på rundtur i slavforten och besöka museum.
Älskar du vara ute i naturen? Passa på att vandra genom regnskogen i Kakum National Park eller Mole National Park.
Vi driver många olika projekt i Ghana, så det finns andra Projects Abroad volontärer att lära känna. Du kan därför välja mellan att utforska Ghana tillsammans med andra eller utforska självständigt.
Säkerhet och personalstöd
Din säkerhet är vår första prioritet. Vi har många processer och system på plats för att se till att du har all hjälp och support som du behöver. För oss är det viktigt att du ska känna dig trygg när du reser med oss. Vår egen Projects Abroad personal finns tillgänglig för hjälp och stöd 24h om dygnet. De kommer se till att du trivs i ditt boende och känner dig hemma på din projektplacering. Om du skulle stöta på något problem, finns vår personal alltid där för att hjälpa dig.
Läs mer om support och säkerhet.
Meet the team in Ghana
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