HerStory Podcast Series
HerStory Podcast Series
Episode 36: Meet YCI’s HerStart partner, Norsaac
In this episode, Angel George Buendia, HerStart Program and Partnerships Fellow speaks with Ukasha Mohammed from Norsaac’s NiV Hub, one of YCI’s HerStart partners in Ghana.
Ukasha shares how Norsaac supports young people to achieve economic independence and sustainable livelihoods though vocational skills development and entrepreneurship training. He also discusses sociocultural practices as the biggest challenge to gender equality and how the partnership with HerStart has strengthened NiV Hub's capacity through training and volunteer support from HerStart Fellows, enabling them to lead gender equality initiatives and advocacy.
Welcome to Youth Challenge International's Hair Start Hair Story podcast series. Youth Challenge International, OYCI launched the Hair Start Innovate the Future Program in 2020 as part of our initiative to advance women's equality globally, our goal is to provide 10,000 women in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda with the resources and supports they need to successfully launch and grow their social businesses. We are sharing real stories of young women who are leading change in their communities. Y C's , hair Start Innovate. The Future program is funded in passed by the government of Canada to progress Canada's feminist International Assistance policy. Learn more@y.org or hair start.org .
Speaker 2:Hello, my name is Angel George Illa , and I'm the programs and partnerships fellow with Youth Challenge International or Y CS Hair Start Program in Tamal Lake , Ghana. Today I'm speaking to Akasha Mohamed about his role as the Hear startts partner Lead for NAV Hub. NAV Hub is a social enterprise organization based in Tamale Gaana that aims to build sustainable businesses to achieve positive social impact through social entrepreneurship. NAV Hub is a related entity to nor sza one of youth challenge international's partner organizations here in Ghana, NORS Zc and NAV hub's partnership with YCI was developed under the Partner Innovation fund or PF through the partner sustainability plan or PSP initiative. NAV Hub has been working with YCI and supporting the implementation of the Hear Start program since 2020.
Speaker 3:Asha and I are coming to you from the NAV Hub Office here in Tamala , Ghana . Hello, Asha . It's a pleasure having you for this podcast.
Speaker 4:It's a pleasure having you too and a great opportunity.
Speaker 3:Can you first tell us about your role as NAB hub's partner lead for her start ?
Speaker 4:Okay. I serve as the partner lead within North South Partnership with YCI. Uh , and in that capacity I happen to be the liaison officer when it comes to implementation related issues. And this include planning recruitment of trainees, facilitation of the three models of the Head Start program. And in that light , I'm the lead trainer at No Sac NIB.
Speaker 3:How long have you been working for this role? At NIB
Speaker 4:I've been part of the program since in st in , so I can say that it's about four years now and , uh, I happen to be, I was part of the team since 2020 in the capacity as the partner lead .
Speaker 3:Why is NIB B'S partnership with the Hair Start Program important?
Speaker 4:Economic independence among the youth is a significant concern to our organization, leading to our effort in the past and now where we provide pragmatic and youth center solutions that has guaranteed some form of , uh, sustainable livelihood means to thousands of young people through vocational skills development, entrepreneurship trainings, access to credit for business expansion and growth among others through these interventions rollout . As mentioned, NSAC gained some recognition in the area of economic empowerment for young people, and we cannot do this alone, hence the need to partner with like-minded organizations like , um, YCI. So her start for me, that partnership can be described as timely as Nsac NIV since 2015 began an exploration on social entrepreneurship as one of the tools or areas for development, this interest and commitment be NIV, as a related entity of um , nor sac . And by so doing we see this partnership as a tool to foster development in the areas that we work.
Speaker 3:How do you think the partnership between NAB and HER Star contribute to the gender equality goals of the Her Star program?
Speaker 4:For me, I would say is been massive. If you look at the partnership, it has strengthened our effort in , uh, championing gender equality related , um, interventions. I would say that the coming of , uh, the Head Start project, it has been a reinforcement mm-hmm <affirmative> of gender equality efforts through the provision of opportunities for young women who for some time now have been denied research opportunities. I see it as an equalizing factor since gender equality is all about equal rights, responsibility and opportunities for women and men, girls and boys. It has been easier in the recruitment of these , uh, young women as we have leveraged on our existing established youth network groups and communities. The trainings also, I can say that the trainings we provide or facilitate for four years now, it is a clear contribution in addressing barriers that contribute to the marginalization of young women. And this include the funding and support for women to develop social entrepreneurship.
Speaker 3:What were the impacts of her start here in the community of Tamala ? Can you share some examples of that?
Speaker 4:Yes, there have been , uh, for four years now. I can say that there have been great impact and generally we can talk about the numbers, which , uh, currently we can both close to a thousand of young women have been empowered on social entrepreneurship through the various layers of training . And for me it is very significant. Why am I saying that This has increased the ability of young women in developing their business plans and in the context of social entrepreneurship, we say , uh, the impact business model campus , now they have the ability to do so significant also is of the fact that there have been great support received from these young women, from their relatives. You can talk of parents , you can talk of spouses, you can talk of guidance. We have been implementing projects. Uh , we've not seen that massive support that young women are getting from their , I mean their relatives. And this can be attributed to the approaches that we have. Um , hold on to and , uh, you seen in the implementation, I can also see that the concept of social entrepreneurship has become a household name predominantly among young women. And for me, what it means is that the community has become more aware mm-hmm , <affirmative> of environmental and social issues that is affecting them and how they can be able to initiate sustainable solutions to addressing some of these , uh, problems. If you look at the numbers or , so , it is worth noting that over a hundred most vulnerable or excluded people have been reached out to. We can talk of , um, rural folks who've been into the rural areas, provide these , uh, trainings. We have reached out to people living with disability. We have also reached out to people living with HIV and aids. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> . So people who are already excluded in the society. These are the people that we have consciously also target. And I , for me, it's an impact. They're also getting the opportunity to become economic independent through the models that we we run. There are a lot of , uh, impact. We can also boost over 40 young women have successfully launched and end or growing their businesses, their social entrepreneurship business through the Catalyst Fund. If you look at the catalyst fund assets , the last cohort we had about 30 of , uh, young women within TAM who are benefiting. And it is through the Catalyst fund that they have been able to grow. Some of them grow their business, some to launching their social entrepreneurship . They are numerous of young people outside the Catalyst Fund who are nurturing their businesses. And for me it is very significant. Why is it significant? Because the areas that they're venturing , it is providing employment opportunity to other young people, some of the initiative, I mean, it is scary for our environment because we have people who have solutions that are protecting and preserving the environment. And we also have some that is focusing on gender equality and inclusion related . So for me it is very significant.
Speaker 3:What has been the biggest challenge related to achieving gender equality? Have you observed within your community?
Speaker 4:The biggest in my own opinion is sociocultural practices and orientation. That is it. This is very broad because there are other factors that can be attributed to this . So, so for , for me, I see it as the biggest challenge. For example, we still have the issue of boy child preferences and that is affecting , uh, the female counterparts. We still have , um, child marriages. These are some of the problems or issues affecting gender equality. Uh , we can also talk of menstruation and uh , uh, menstruation related issues. These are all, but we can attribute it to the social cultural practices and orientation.
Speaker 3:How has the HEAR Start program supported your organizational capacity to tackle these challenges?
Speaker 4:We have received series of capacity building in gender equality , both in person trainings and also online. So this is something that has helped us build our capacity in direct regard . I cannot forget to also mention the fellowship program. I mean, it's a contribution in building our capacity because we have received tens of , um, fellows , uh, in , uh, gender equality and they have all significantly contributed. I mean , in terms of our capacity, in terms of identifying some gaps within our structures, that's is affecting our delivery as far as gender equality programming is concerned or gender transmitted programming is concerned. So for me, these are some of the things that , uh, we have , uh, gained from , uh, the hair staff project significantly. So is the PSP , uh, the partner sustainability plan, the support that we are getting through PF currently in year four, the team was general equality with the resources that has was given to us . It presented a groundbreaking initiative aimed at fostering gender equality and transmitted programming within the civil society organization in the thermal metro municipality , municipal areas of the northern Ghana. So with this project is it has given us the opportunity to strengthen our advocacy because we are not alone in the civil society space, but we are using this resource to champion, to be the lead in advocating more how our other colleagues can be well capacitated and challenge some of the norms, bring on interventions that will promote gender equality and , uh, girls and women will not be affected like we are currently , um, seeing . So for me, I see it's a thumb up to , uh, YCI and the head start . And these , these are some of the ways that we have been able to, so through that, again, I must say that it does strengthen the gender transmitted program of no SAC IV . And why am I saying that? Because we got the opportunity to conduct gender equality analysis of all policies of the organization to see. And for me, with that effort, it has strengthened our recognition of the fact that men, women, girls, boys, we all have unique interests and needs. And for that matter, in all our dealings, we need to factor this and provide solutions that will not be harmful or that will not disadvantage the other genders . So for me, these are some of the support that we have received and we, we are so grateful for that.
Speaker 3:What else do you think should be done to address these challenges?
Speaker 4:We need to intensify gender equality, sensitization and campaigns. We need to, in our own effort , um, in the communities, at the workplace, I mean wherever in society we need to intensify this . Also as a civil societal organization, I mean no Sac and Ivy , we can also initiate policy dialogue with key stakeholders. And uh , the reason is that if you look at Ghana, we have the best of policies that's is championing gender equality, but enforcement is not there. The implementation is very weak. So for me, with these dialogues, it is possible for us with the stakeholders to outline, to identify some of the systemic challenges affecting implementation of these beautiful policies and to see how can we forge ahead to have the best of implementation so that both men, women, girls, boys, we all live in a society that is just, and also non-discriminatory. I also think that education is a tool that can solve this problem. So education, accessibility for girls and boys or more girls should be promoted because as we school , as we are in enlightened some of the negative orientation, some of the negative attitudes, all of the , uh, harmful practices we live in and thankfully in Ghana, successful government and even current government have tried their best to provide , um, free quality education to people. And I see it as a strong way of solving some of the challenges that we have just mentioned. So as NGOs, two maybe educational interventions that can help young girls to stay in school. And I mean that's the retention, girls retention in school when it's is promoted and once they're retaining the schools, they can , uh, climb to high height. In terms of , uh, the educational level.
Speaker 3:Looking forward as an organization, what is NI v's vision for its community?
Speaker 4:Our vision is to become a leading social enterprise. In Ghana, we sustainable businesses for social impact thrive . That is our vision. But in the context of , um, gender equality, for me, I think that our vision is more about equal rights, responsibility, opportunities for women and men, girls and boys. That is it. When we do that, it's possible for us to solve some of the problems that we have mentioned before.
Speaker 3:Akasha , thank you again for giving us the time to speak with you today and we look forward to seeing NAV grow and create more positive impact here in Tamalay and beyond.
Speaker 4:Thank you so much. Also, angel for the time and the opportunity to share my thoughts.
Speaker 5:Thanks
Speaker 1:For joining us today and learning about how you challenge International has partnered with young women to advance gender equality globally and create a social entrepreneurship ecosystem with a positive impact for all. If you enjoy this hairstyle, innovate the Future podcast episode. Please subscribe and share our episodes on social media. A special thanks to the fellows that volunteered their time in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda who help create these episodes. Y Cs has start , innovate. The future and fellowship programs are funded through the government of Canada's volunteer corporation program, providing skilled Canadians opportunities to volunteer with global partners and advance Canada's feminist international assistance policy. Join us and thousands of young people around the globe creating a better future together. Learn more@yci.org or hair.org .
