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 of all 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 base on the following approaches
Appreciative Inquiry is a way to engage groups of people in self-determined change. It focuses on what is working rather than what is not, and often leads to people co-designing their future. As development facilitators, we recognize that in whatever state that one finds a community, they were already developing naturally before the coming of any external intervention. They might be doing so unconsciously; they might even get stuck at a point along their development journey, unable to find their way out; but they were already developing in one way or in another
Therefore 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
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is an approach that uses the existing resources of a community to support its development. Rather than focusing on challenges or resources that are lacking, ABCD seeks to identify often unrecognized assets produced by local individuals, associations, and institutions, and then works to build on those assets to sustain a community and support its growth.
At the core of Asset-based community development is indigenous knowledge capitalization. Indigenous knowledge is an integral part of the culture and history of a local community.
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
Action Learning is a problem-solving strategy and experiential education approach where the synergy of a group is utilized. In action learning, a small group of people are presented with real problems that they take action on and then learn from the process and the results. People learn by doing and then reflect on what’s been learned to inform future actions.
As a development practitioner organization that seek to build a brand specialized in development facilitation, we recognize the important role of learning to our work. Learning is embedded in all our processes. We promote learning among our stakeholders using storytelling, role playing and creative writing in our learning sessions
AFES-Ghana’s Participation in International Development
We participate and contribute to the attainment of Africa Union’s Agenda 2063. Working through Office of the African Union Chairperson’s Youth Envoy (AUCYE) and African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC) secretariat
-African Union Agenda 2063
https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview
We also participate and contribute to the attainment of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 5, 8, 10 and 13 in Ghana. Working through the Ghana Civil Society Organizations platform on SDGs
–SDGs logos (1-17) (UN sustainable development goals)