African Heights essay competition seeks youthful election manifestos

An Essay competition to challenge the youth to draw up a manifesto that captures their needs and aspirations has been launched ahead of Ghana’s presidential and parliamentary elections in November this year.

African Heights Foundation, a youth civic advocacy group in Ghana, is the powerhouse behind the competition dubbed ‘the Voices of our generation (VOG) Essay competition’.

The competition is another way to “involve the country’s youth in the formulation of national policies that have a direct bearing on their lives ahead of the November elections” Egya Kojo Botwe, with the foundation has said.

The Foundation thus seeks to create a platform to allow the youth to have the direct impact on policy process and reverse the usual trend listening to politicians speak of why they want power, what they intend to do, and how they intend to achieve it; but rather the youth telling the politicians why, how and what they ought to do.

The topic for the competition is “What should a 2016 election manifesto say if young people mattered?

Guidelines for participation

-Only one entry may be submitted by each participant

-Essays must be submitted in Microsoft Word format to [email protected] between April 25th and June 25th, 2016.

-The work must reflect the participant’s own research, writing and original thinking.
-Each essay must include the following:

– Title of essay

-Contestant’s name, date of birth, institution (If any) and contact information.

-Each essay should not be more than 1,500 words long

-All scripts would be marked by an independent team of consultants after which the best scripts would be selected and winners announced in August 2016.

Follow the African Heights Foundation on Facebook via
https:/www.faceook.com/africanheightsfoundation

Objective

This activity will give young people who are selected through a competition the opportunity to present their papers to Ghana’s political class and the general public on the kind of society the youth expects to live in.

The best papers will also be published and presented to all political parties to be factored in the crafting of their manifestoes.

The best essays from the VOG competition will also be published and also made available online.

Prices

The winner takes home an amount of Ghc3,000 and a set of books; whiles the first and second runners up, take home Ghc2,000 and Ghc1,000 respectively plus books.

The 2016 ‘Voices of our generation (VOG) Essay competition’ is supported by Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).

African Heights Foundation political parties’ youth debate series

The African Heights Foundation in collaboration with University Debate Societies and other partners in Ghana is already organizing a series of debates on university campuses on issues affecting the youth and women as the country heads to another critical election this November.

The first debate took place at the University of Development Studies (UDS) campus in Tamale. The debate has also taken place at the University of Cape Coast in the central Region. The next debate will take place at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology- KNUST in Kumasi in August. The last of the series will be climaxed in Accra at the University of Ghana.

About African Heights Foundation

The African Heights Foundation is a not-for-profit organization, based in Accra, Ghana, dedicated to using the tools of education, advocacy and civic participation to raise leaders and active citizens excelling in various sectors of society in Ghana and Africa.

The Foundation aims at strengthening democratic values and increasing citizens’ participation in decision making processes and thereby contributing to improved policies and practices that affects people’s lives.

The Foundation also focuses on developing leaders and citizens with a sound understanding and a deep commitment to quality education, democracy, economic development and human rights as underlying values for building a peaceful, prosperous and ambitious country.

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana