Description:
During the past years, armed conflict in Liberia and the western zones of Côte d’Ivoire has caused large numbers of Liberian refugees to flee to Ghana. The refugee population is now approaching 48,000, having risen from 3,000 when the camp was first formed in the 1970s. Voluntary repatriation movements are expected to take place throughout this year and next, with it crucial to help prepare refugees, particularly women and young people, to rebuild their lives in their home country.
One Society, based in the Refugee Settlement, is an association of 25 refugee based non-governmental organizations. They are seeking volunteers to assist the One Society Program Coordinator.
The society was established to bring together the many NGOs on the camp. Often, individuals on the camp set up an NGO with a similar remit to existing NGOs. This leads to duplication of provision and competition for resources. By providing a forum for organizations on camp to interact, One Society hopes to maximize the impact of each individual organization. This is achieved through sharing of best practices, development of strategies to avoid replication of work, and liaison between organizations where there is a beneficial link.
The centre is looking for:
Microfinance
One Society is looking to develop microfinance and microenterprise schemes on the camp. Currently, there is no expertise of running such schemes. The volunteer will be teaching people about how microfinance and microenterprise schemes work.
Volunteers must have a strong interest in refugee issues and commitment to teaching refugees skills that will enable them to be economically independent. You will need to be flexible and tolerant, show initiative and enthusiasm to face the many hurdles and challenges that you will encounter. You will have to be able to cope with basic living and working conditions.
In order to maintain the sustainability and high performance of this project all volunteers are required to complete a detailed hand-over document for successive volunteers.
