Inspiring Volunteers International, Inc.
1. HOW IT STARTED
• In the year 2008, Gideon Duodu Ebbah who was then a third year undergraduate student at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana returned from an internship in Berlin, Germany with an idea to form a Volunteering Organization that would assist in solving the various problems and challenges facing the Ghanaian communities – especially the less privileged and very poor ones – and the Africa continent at large. His Vision was motivated by how he saw the Germans applied volunteering principles in majority of their services to enhance sustainable development. This idea was ably supported by Matthew Kofi-Ackah Erzoah who was also in the same year at KNUST and on the 9th of September, 2009, this noble organization was founded on the campus of KNUST with the initial name Achievers International Movement (AIM) as group of students to be involved in Volunteering activities. Meck Ebba-Mesu, who was by then graduate of University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana never hesitated in giving intellectual and material support to AIM though he was not on KNUST campus. The association then saw tremendous active participation in its volunteering activities where within a year, over one hundred and twenty students had been registered with the association and participated in its activities. After over one year of successful service, the association was legally registered with the government of Ghana as an official NGO with the new name Inspiring Volunteers International (“Inspiring Volunteers”) and Meck Ebba Mesu appointed as General Manager by the Executive Directors - Gideon Duodu Ebbah and Matthew Kofi-Ackah Erzoah (Deputy)- to expand the volunteer activities on a national scale.
2. WHAT WE STAND FOR
We are committed to contributing to emergency and development support, and volunteerism in the global community. Our vision is a world where overall environmental sustainability is achieved, global poverty is alleviated and human development is appreciated in the global community, with priority to volunteering. And our mission is to tackle crucial social issues hindering the development of people and communities especially in the underdeveloped and developing countries by developing sustainable strategies, embarking on professional, developmental, environmental sustainability and poverty- alleviation projects. Partnering organizations and promoting innovation in order to promote education, peace and development in our dear communities is our main concern.
3. JOURNEY SO FAR: Volunteer Activities Performed or Projects undertaken since 09/09/2009
1) Donation and Clean-up Exercise at Ejisu Government Hospital
We organized a clean-up exercise and donated items such fruits, fruit drinks, biscuits and others to the Ejisu Government Hospital on the 14th of November, 2009. It was the first clean-up of its kind to be done by any organization on the hospital’s premises. This donation came from the pockets of our volunteers with no external support received. The hospital is one of the hospitals serving a lot of rural communities especially the poor ones in the Ashanti region of Ghana and this was our major reason for undertaking this activity in this particular hospital. Our volunteers who were 30 in number for the programme swept and scrubbed the floors, removed cobwebs and mopped the floors. Patients in bed were visited and gift items were afterward presented to the patients and staff of the hospital.
This drew the attention of the media and our activity was aired on many FM stations in Kumasi such as Kessben FM, Love FM, Fox FM, etc. and the Ghanaian Times newspaper publicized our work in its 10th December, 2009 edition.
2) Pupils Mentorship Programme at Bomso JHS
On the 9th of April 2010, the organization successfully organized a mentorship programme at the Bomso JHS to educate and inspire the BECE (Basic Education Certificate Examination) candidates as they prepared to write their examination held on19th to 23rd April, 2010. The pupils were also coached on how to take the right step in the right direction at the right time in their lives in order to be successful in the lives they are living. About 120 pupils were mentored. The programme was successful and much appreciated by the staff and students of the school.
3) Volunteers Training and Grooming
Volunteers were trained at our meeting times and were enhanced in developing volunteer programmes and projects. Successful and active volunteers were given Certificates at the end of their volunteering period in order to compliment their hard work and noble service.
4) Community Forums
As part of our volunteer commitment to strengthening democratic and decentralized governance through civil involvement by widening the decision-making base to ensure greater participation in the development process at community, sub-district and district levels, we have been organizing community forums geared at promoting local democratic debate through extensive community dialogues on relevant developmental topics affecting the local people. An example of our community forums is the recent one organized at Sureso and Oda Kontoamso Communities where there was a dialogue on how Capitation Grants are utilized in the Public Primary School.
1) Radio Discussion programme
As a way of reaching out to larger population and communities, we engage in radio discussions as a way of broadening our community forums and extending our subjects to greater population. For instance, the Velvet Beam 95.1 FM at Asankrangwa, the capital town of the Wassa Amenfi West District in the Western Region has been our station of holding radio discussions over the years.
5) CHALLENGES
Our major challenge since we begun operation has been lack of funds and external support in terms of Donors and Philanthropists for the organization, to enhance the motivation of our volunteers and activities of the organization.
