This March, EduSpots launches its new Catalyse Leadership Programme, enabling 60 voluntary community actors (‘Catalysts’) from 50 communities to advance their leadership, entrepreneurship and wider professional skills.
This two year programme has been fully funded by the EA Foundation, a UK-based foundation established to improve lives of disadvantaged communities around the world, with a particular focus on improving access to education and basic services, relieving poverty, and promoting environmentally sustainable practices.
Catalyse Leadership Programme
The programme fully launches with a five day residential training Academy at EduSpots’ Training Centre in Elmina in April, where Catalysts will join a range of collaborative workshops with expert practitioners that will enable them to drive further sustainable impact at their 50 community-led education spaces named ‘Spots’.
These spaces, situated across 15 regions of Ghana, collectively provide over 10,000 learners each year with a safe space to study, with access to resources, a range of clubs and mentorship from a team of trained local mentors.
As part of the programme, Catalysts can apply to receive flexible grant funding, enabling them to execute Catalyse Projects at their Spots, designed to drive a wider quality and scale of educational impact in their communities. In this process, they work alongside experienced staff mentors, most of whom have gained experience as Catalysts.
To strengthen their skills, knowledge and mindset further across the full year period, Catalysts engage in a structured leadership programme delivered via WhatsApp and monthly online workshops with experienced practitioners, based around key themes chosen by the network of Catalysts, such as digital learning, safeguarding, community engagement and fundraising.
Catalysts will graduate from the first year of the programme at the relaunch of EduSpots’ Ignite Programme, through which EduSpots’ aims to train its full network in over 300 Catalysts across the network of Spots in a mix of education, teamwork and leadership training
John Bosco, a participant on the programme from Atsata Bame, Volta Region, commented:
“I feel excited because this programme will go a long way to reshape my leadership skills in my community and this will help me to become an agent of change in my community and beyond.”
Commenting on the launch of the programme, EduSpots’ Education & Research Manager, and previous Dichemso Catalyst, Lawrence Dankwah, said: “I envision the Catalyse Programme creating a ripple effect that not only consolidates our current impact but also inspires and empowers communities beyond our existing network to join us in working towards our collective future!”
Digitalisation process
As part of a digital skills day at the Catalyst Academy, participants will receive tablets to be owned by their community, and engage in training on how to use EduSpots’ new app, alongside other learning applications, as part of a trial process as part of the EduSpots’ wider digitalisation process, supported by the fundraising led by Wanderlust Ghana.
EduSpots’ app aims to equip Catalysts with the digital tools needed to track user and resource information at their Spots, alongside enabling them to access resources, support and feedback for EduSpots’ four education strands for learners stretching across early years education, literacy development, STEM and sustainability education and gender-based empowerment, which are all run by volunteers on a clubs-based model.
Read more about the programme below!
Footage from the 2022 CLEd Academy:
Read the 2022 Impact Report on the previously existing CLEd Programme here:
The next Academy will be launched in April 2023.
The 10 month CLEd programme involves the following stages:
- Application and interview process
- Introduction to course, group and mentors (online)
- Community needs assessment
- 5 Day Residential CLEd Academy
- Ongoing mentoring from Peer Mentors (CLEd graduates)
- Online group coaching sessions
- Grant application process
- Community visits
- Documentation of impact
- Presentations
- Graduation
We will be calling again for applications to be part of the third cohort in December 2023.
Joy News Report on the First CLEd Academy
Previous Changemaker Programme