As we celebrate the growth of our recently launched Ignite Equity programme, we take a moment to reflect on the remarkable achievements we accomplished last year.
Spots involved in this journey have shared their progress, impact, and key lessons. We will take these insights forward into 2025 and beyond. This was all possible due to the generous funding from the Coles-Medlock Foundation.
About the Programme:
Ignite Equity is one of the four core strands in EduSpots, which represents our unwavering commitment to equipping local change-makers to drive equitable futures. It is designed to equip young people to challenge gender-based barriers and create more equitable communities. Over the past year, we have rebranded our Ignite Girls programme to include young men in the conversation of fostering safe learning spaces for students, recognising the vital role both genders play in deconstructing gender-norms. We have trained over 40 Catalysts in 26 Spots who have gone on to establish Ignite Equity clubs, which have encouraged dialogue and critical thinking in order to take meaningful steps towards gender equality. The aim is to inspire Sparks to become agents of change in their communities, with Catalysts trained to lead and mentor these efforts.
The key goals for 2024 included the following:
– Equipping Sparks aged 12-16 through inspiring confidence and leadership
– Enabling Sparks and Catalysts to design innovative community-led solutions for gender-related challenges
– Supporting Sparks in staying committed to their educational journeys.
– Fostering sustainable practices within the Spots
To put this into practice, we established highly competitive, themed monthly challenges designed to help learners develop active citizenship skills through teamwork, transformative learning, and play. By the end of the year, 26 communities actively participated in these challenges and received monthly feedback. The monthly themes include: gender equity plays, sustainable period projects, active citizenship and speaking up about sexual harassment. In one challenge, Sparks explored equity in career choices, challenging the misconception that vocational jobs are less valuable than white-collar careers. Through discussions, they celebrated diverse career paths while connecting with their local culture. To support the Catalysts with the delivery of the monthly themes, we hosted regular coaching sessions enriched by guest facilitators, including Sally Yeobah, a specialist in gender-based issues in Ghana, which ensured that they were well-equipped to guide learners.
As the Ignite Equity strand becomes one of the most actively involved across the network, we pushed to invest further in the quality of the programme such as welcoming Zainab Yussif as our dedicated Gender Equity & Inclusion Coordinator. Zainab started in EduSpots as a Catalyst leading the Ignite Equity strand in Nkonya Spot. Her exceptional commitment and leadership led to her advancing to Ignite Equity Peer Mentor, sharing her expertise in facing challenges to shape discussions and taking action. Her impact across the network is unmatched – she has enabled new opportunities such as resource development tailored for individual Spots, designing activities addressing inclusion and safeguarding topics, and refining out Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning systems to better communicate with Catalysts.
Reflection:
In 2024, we disbursed a total of GHS 29, 405 to support community-led initiatives for menstrual and personal hygiene issues. This manifested in projects such as sanitary pad workshops, soap production enterprises, sensitisation and awareness events to name a few. Prizes and certificates were awarded to celebrate the achievements of the learners, and a total of 700 learners and 40 Catalysts participated in the Ignite Equity project. Through surveying learner experiences, we discovered that 93% agreed that the initiative created a positive change to their lives, with growth in areas such as self-confidence and problem-solving skills.
2024 also provided some learning opportunities for how to better carry out the programme in upcoming years. Participation was particularly low during school vacations, exam preparations, and institutional demands such as Catalysts marking scripts. This highlighted the need for more flexible engagement strategies during breaks. To mitigate these challenges, we have derived a plan for 2025, involving the following steps:
- Encourage learners to engage with alternative activities that they can bring home.
- Provide equitable resource distribution across all engaged Spots.
- Support the growth of social enterprises which arose in 2023, encouraging further innovation for tackling menstrual hygiene challenges.
- Offer targeted support for new Spots and establish safeguarding systems to foster self-sustaining leadership amongst peer mentors.
Individual learners shared stories to demonstrate the impact of this initiative. Franklin’s Appiah Agee from Ahenkro shared how much it has equipped her to have the confidence to speak up about her views, and has inspired her to become a Catalyst herself. Catalyst Rita exemplifies the impact on inclusiveness in teaching, sharing how she has “become more responsive to inclusion in my classroom pedagogy”. From Ameyaw Spot, Baffowaa Oscarline, a learner, shared how he now sees himself “as a role model for the younger ones” in his community, and how he has “developed the confidence and skills to express” his creativity. These stories illustrate Ignite Equity’s dual impact—equipping existing Catalysts while nurturing learners into future leaders.
Overall we are so proud of the journey that Ignite Equity has been on and are so grateful for every Catalyst involved who enabled its success. We will continue to teach and strive for equity in all environments and look forward to the next steps of our new programme in the coming year. Thank you to the Coles-Medlock Foundation for supporting our goals and for making this programme possible.