- (+233) 248 670 960 / 246 445 119
- info@afesweb.org
- Address : Junction 23, Bonya Estate, Koforidua.
AFES-GHANA
HISTORY OF AFES
AFES was formed at a time when Ghana had fully decentralized political and administrative powers to the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) following the enactment of the Local Government Act of 1993 (Act 462)- further establishing the local government substructure system involving the Zonal, Town and Area (ZoTA) councils through which development initiatives implemented by the MMDAs will originate. This required a lot of community mobilization effort (pre-social media era)
So, in August 2004, AFES was originally founded as a community-based youth group in Damongo in the West Gonja District of the Savannah region, with the aim of supporting the District Assembly and its sub-structure actors including the Assembly persons and Unit Committee members in mobilizing communities to participate in public hearings of District Development plans held by the District Planning Coordinating Unit (DPCU)
However, in August 2009, AFES was legally registered as a national not-for-profit organization predominantly engaged in youth development practice with a special focus on data-driven, evidence-base youth policy advocacy whilst encouraging community selfhelp initiatives through volunteerism
AFES-GHANA AT A GLANCE
We are a youth-led development organization committed to strengthening youth participation in local governance. We work to ensure that young people have meaningful opportunities to contribute to decision-making processes that shape their communities. By empowering youth voices and promoting inclusive governance, AFES-Ghana helps bridge the gap between citizens, city authorities and community stakeholders.
A major focus of AFES-Ghana is creating and facilitating civic spaces where young people can actively engage with local government officials and community leaders. Through dialogue platforms, forums, and stakeholder engagements, the organization encourages constructive conversations that enable youth to share their ideas, concerns, and solutions for community development. These engagements help promote transparency, accountability, and inclusive decision-making at the local level.
In addition, AFES-Ghana promotes volunteerism and youth capacity development as tools for sustainable community change. The organization supports self-initiated community actions led by young people and provides training in essential soft skills, including youth-led research and documentation, as well as digital skills for online advocacy. Through these initiatives, AFES-Ghana equips young people with the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to drive positive change in their communities.
THEORY OF CHANGE
AFES-Ghana is a community-based, advocacy-oriented, youth-led development practitioner organization predominantly working with rural communities as facilitators or coaches, supporting them with strategic direction and input at the point of decision-making towards the realization of their individual as well as their communal aspirations. Our approach to development facilitation is powered by our quest to first create a unique style and set of expertise in the field of development practice that place us in the position of being capable of locating and appreciating our target communities along their already existing development pathways. By so doing our interventions are deliberately fashioned with relevance and sensitivity to the specific needs of our target individuals, communities and institutions. We do so based on the following approaches
Facilitating community development base on Appreciative Inquiry:
At AFES-Ghana, we undertake no project without engaging our target communities in creative dialogue that open space for us to create a focus by discovering and clarifying the issues confronting the citizens, appreciating what is working and facilitating a shared-vision development process. We then mobilize the community for collective action in ways that empower local citizens to continue to strengthen the best practices after our direct interventions
Promoting Asset-Based Community Development through indigenous
knowledge capitalization:
At AFES-Ghana we promote inclusivity in our programming, using self-help, mutual aid and volunteering as potent mechanisms through which we identify and mobilize individuals with interest, passion or skills as assets and connecting and empowering them along political and social structures at the district and community levels to lead the change that is being sought
Enhancing Action Learning: Learning by doing through volunteerism
We create and facilitate opportunities for young people to volunteer in our programmes and activities. This sets a pace for practical hands-on learning and bridges the gap between school completion and workplace experience