Our Impact Storybook

A 26 year old woman from Medie and has worked as a Get Global facilitator for 1 year. She spoke of the programme: “being a facilitator, I have been enlightened and informed through training on how change can be created. I feel a part of effecting real change in the theme of SDG 4; Quality Education. This process has been an experience of knowledge sharing and learning, facilitating and impacting children to believe they can make a difference. It has also provided me a friendship group and regular income which I am saving to go to university” 

Her Story:

Growing up as a child in my community, I realised there were a lot of diverse issues surrounding us. As a child, I believed that everything that I saw, was what should happen. Knowing that as a child, I also felt everything was static and couldn’t be changed; things like cultural norms, moral norms and traditional practices.On my journey as I became a young woman, joining groups and making decisions to solve issues, has been my main aim. How to interact and impact change has been recognized and been adopted which has changed my perception and the way I think.Today, being a Get Global facilitator, training and imparting skills and knowledge into the youth to understand what society, culture and government talks about change or development. I have been enlightened and informed through training; on how change can be created. The sustainable development goals have always mentioned Agenda 2030, outlining 17 goals. Equally, it talks about the thematic areas where change can be made, which all is connected to Goal 4, Quality Education.Walking through this process, delivering my first Get Global Programme has been an experience and knowledge sharing. Facilitating and impacting the youth to make a change story today and tomorrow in my life and other people’s lives. It has been a great journey and I must say an informed and impactful journey.

I became a trustee of Move The World almost 4 years ago, and currently in my second term of service. The experience has been incredibly valuable and my decision to offer to extend my term reflects the fact that the benefit has been two way. So, what has been my trustee journey.The pivotal moment came in 2017 when I joined Move The World (MTW) as the Ghana Director after magically discovering MTW on Twitter (yes, Elon’s bird app). After following activities of the organisation for a few months, I found a recruitment ad for a Director position. I hastefully applied and no I didn’t have to wait long before hearing back. The recruiting process was very organized and prompt, which made me positive about my soon-to-be new place of work.After working with the team and the Medie Community for nearly 2 years, I moved on to take up a new position with the German Development Cooperation in Ghana. By this time, I had seen colleagues and community members become family members because of the deep experiences we shared. I was very humbled to be considered for a Trustee position as I saw this a validation of some of the work that I had done earlier but also an opportunity to continue to actively belong and contribute to this amazing Organisation.Making lifelong friends through a team experience is one of the greatest benefits of being part of a team. When you work closely with others towards a shared goal, you have the opportunity to form strong bonds and create meaningful connections that can last a lifetime. Both as a Director and as a Trustee, I had the opportunity to meet very great people who have achieved so much professionally but are also extremely good people. If there is one thing MTW is blessed with, it must be attracting good people. I have benefitted from the counsel and mentorship of local community members of Medie but also Team members of MTW.As a charity trustee, I have had the privilege of working alongside dedicated and passionateindividuals who are committed to making a positive impact in their communities. Serving as a trustee has allowed me to contribute my skills and expertise towards a worthy cause, and to work collaboratively with a diverse group of individuals to achieve our shared goals.My leadership journey has taken many unexpected turns over the years, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I was fortunate enough to directly work with Claire and Megan as my bosses during my time as a director. I observed and learned from the strategic thought process and “hands on” mentality of the duo. The founders created a culture of flat hierarchy in the organisation leading to growth opportunities and great office relationships. This fascinated me a lot considering the amount of work we got done as this was a bit of a deviation from what I had been exposed to at the time. I can say that these leadership lessons have shaped my mindset around leadership and has fundamentally changed the trajectory of my life and career. I am also constantly inspired by the resilience and dedication of the individuals and organizations that we work with. Despite the challenges that they may face (particularly during the height of COVID-19), they remain committed to their missions and are always seeking ways to improve and grow.At MTW, we see ourselves more as Sailboats as opposed to speedboats. We focus more on long term sustainable impact and less of short-lived effect. Being a sailboat challenges us to avoid chasing after shiny objects but trusting in the cumulating power of baby steps over time.One of the most rewarding aspects of being a charity trustee is seeing the impact of our work first- hand. Whether it’s through providing support and resources in the communities we work in, promoting awareness of important issues, or facilitating meaningful change within our communities, the work that we do as trustees has the power to make a real difference in peoples lives.It has been a significant development opportunity for me. I think most people think aboutTrusteeships as an opportunity to give back, and it certainly is that, but it is a practical process, you learn by doing it and the skills and competencies you develop as a result, in my opinion rival any development training I could have been offered.Overall, serving as a charity trustee has been a truly fulfilling experience, and I would encourage anyone who is passionate about making a positive impact in their community to consider getting involved in this meaningful work.

A 12 year old boy at Medie International School, who first learnt of the SDG’s through the Get Global Programme. He enjoyed learning about SDG 1 – No Poverty and declared to his class that he now wanted to be referred to as “Mr No Poverty” because he pledged to work hard to become an entrepreneur so that he as a business owner could employ people with fair wages from his community and alleviate them from poverty. 

My name is Ayomah Joseph. I am 19 years old and a teacher at Sowers Academy, located at Medie Top Hill. I obtained my Basic Education Certificate Examination (B.E.C.E) at Sowers Academy and proceeded to Senior High School where I studied Elective Science from the year 2017 to 2020. I have a lot of interest in sports, especially football. I also love teaching. As a Get Global teacher guide my aim is to ensure my students have a lot of interest in the programme and also to get more knowledge through our lessons to be able to benefit the society and country at large.As a science student, I aspire to study human anatomy so that I can get into the health sector to help humanity specifically as a doctor or a nurse. I love to share what I have with others. So as a teacher, my best experience is me impacting the lives of these young ones.

A private preparatory school set up to provide access to education for youth in who were not attending school. It currently has 150 students. The school has a creative and visually stimulating environment, however, lacks supplies and access to quality teachers and relies on external funding for continued operations. Move The World partnered with Mayeh to deliver Get Global and we have seen great results. Students are more engaged and actively taking responsibility for their surrounding area and fellow students. The activities they are introduced to, they are replicating in their break times, and they have been inspired through this programme to start a school vegetable garden as part of their pledge for sustainability and SDG 2: Zero Hunger. 

My name is Afari Richmond Addo. I studied Pure Science at Nkwatia Presbyterian Senior High School. I love to read and to write articles. I also love researching to learn new things and learning from experienced people. Currently, I am a teacher at United Christian Academy. I aspire to be a great leader and to direct the youth to achieve great goals. I look forward to impacting students with my knowledge and to help them impact others. In the near future, I want to be recognised as one of the best engineers in Africa. My best teaching experience is knowing  that my students learn quickly whenever I teach.

When we incorporated Move The World as a charity back in 2016, we made the decision that I would act as Chair of Trustees, and whilst I had been operating in this guise for quite a few years, supporting the oversight and strategic direction of the organisation, I had never been an official Trustee before – so it has been an amazing learning journey. The last 6 years have taught me a lot about the charity sector, in particular the relentless nature of fundraising that is required to keep the work and impact of a small charity going. As in any kind of leadership role, you get over one hurdle, and there’s another one coming up very quickly behind it! This has taught me a lot about resilience, and has also reminded me to have hope, always.We have faced some really challenging times from key people moving on, immense fundraising pressures, and oh yes, a global pandemic where all our partner schools shut and we had to pivot overnight! And yet the thing I’m proudest of is that through it all, we have always persisted, and cared for each other as much as possible in the process. There have been so many moments of light heartedness and joy too that have had a big impact on me. From all of the trips to Ghana, dancing (in the rain) and learning with the amazing people that do the work on a day to day basis. Also the annual Christmas video, and the very many days spent with the team getting stuck into the work alongside a bowl of guacamole (a MTW favourite). I will be truly grateful for everything this opportunity has taught me; and I hope I can take these lessons in to many future endeavours to come!

Hello and Greetings from Medie International School to Move The World. My name is Maz Tanko ECOWAS. My Students call me Global Citizen. I’m here to share my experience for the past 7 months with the team of local facilitators that visited our school to train engage and interact with my students. In fact, though schools have been shut down and we are home now, I just want to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to Move the World for recognising my school, MIS.Thank God that when they first visited us, we received them I want to send this message across that if you really want your school to be dynamic, your school to develop academically, pls open, open up whenever they visit you. This group of young people are modern day scholars who no matter your position in education, when you meet them, you will love them. You will really have to humble yourself to learn a lot from them. I am a teacher, I have had the opportunity to observe, I was there with them, I see a lot of activities that have taken place. You might have heard of SDGs, Global Goals, Sustainable Development Goals. Yes! Some of us even at the tertiary level, we heard so many things about SDGs, we have been hearing them but in fact to be honest with you, we haven’t taken our time to actually sit down and then go through and begin to study these goals.Now my students rhyme with it, they understand the concept of the SDGs. They now call themselves names such as Mr. ‘No Poverty’, Good Health, Quality Education, and many others.For the past 7 months, these local Get Global facilitators who visited our schools have actually grouped these kids in sections, they visit the school every 2 weeks to train them. They engage them in interactive activities which has actually exposed these students to the outside world. They now think outside their environment, as a teacher, a lot of progress has been made, my students have learnt a lot. I must confess that Get Global has really transformed the lives of these students.The interactive activities have improved their academic performance, they report to school on time, the love and unity has actually improved, they used to fight among themselves, but the use of therapy talks, skills and techniques by these GG local facilitators have actually change the mind-sets of these students. They now do things together, they share ideas together, and you could see the happiness when they come to school.Personally, as a class teacher, it has actually helped me. These students now ask intelligent questions, they ask questions outside their environment, they ask global questions, I mean intelligent questions. I must use this opportunity, in fact on behalf of the management of MIS to thank MTW, we thank you so much for your support. I have received home activities from Lawrencia, I downloaded them, I sent them online to parents to give it to their wards and the children are busy consuming them,In fact, we can’t thank you enough, we appreciate you MTW, we hope that when school resumes, you will not forget us, you will visit us to continue with the good works you are doing. 

I first became aware of Move the World in 2017 when I was living in Ghana and working as Executive Director for a locally-founded NGO, when Claire Hardy (MTW MD) came to visit our programme. On my return to the UK in 2018, I was honoured and a little bemused to be asked to join the Board of Trustees. I had never been a Trustee before and felt that it was way beyond my realm of experience, knowledge, expertise or wisdom – the recent role in Ghana had been my first real exposure to the charity sector and surely Trustees are wise old owls who know everything! I professed my lack of suitability for the role and was invited along for the ride anyway. And I’m so glad I was. It has been incredible watching the core team in the UK and Ghana grow and develop not only their mission, vision, impact and team but each of themselves and each other along the way. The charity has grown from wanting to do “something” to knowing exactly the impact they want to and can make and clarifying the message they are sharing with the board, supporters, corporations and funding bodies. I have witnessed the realisation that our impact is not only our primary beneficiaries – the children in our programmes – but the facilitators, the teachers, siblings, extended families, the schools, the communities at large, our board of trustees and those supporting our journey along the way.

As for me, personally, working with Move the World has shown that there is a better way to lead a team and still be productive and performance-led. Working in and with a charity is hard work, as in any business. The relentless drive for funding is similar to the relentless search for new business, except there are fewer options and many more charities all applying for the same limited funding. Retaining humanity as the bedrock for all conversations, decisions and programming is the single most valuable ingredient to the success of Move the World and I am so proud to have been part of that over the last few years. Because of this, we have navigated the clarification of our mission and vision, the launch of our two flagship programmes, a global pandemic and subsequent financial challenges; all of which we have met head on with determination, love and whenever possible deep joy and friendship!

You get out of being a Trustee what you put into it, as with much in life. For me, I joined as a Trustee (scared that I wouldn’t bring any value) and quickly became the one nagging for financial visibility and clarity so I was asked to become Treasurer to provide a clear focus particularly through the pandemic. I have provided maternity cover for our then Chair of Trustees, Megan Taylor, (twice) and am now honoured to be stepping into the role of Chair of Trustees as Megan moves on to embrace her next set of adventures. It’s a tough act to follow and I’m eager to continue learning every day from this fantastic collection of people – all the way from our beneficiaries to my fellow colleagues on the Board of Trustees.

Mensah Etsiuah Gifty is my name, age 20 and I teach at Annalord’s Academy. I offered General Arts at Nsawam Senior High School. My passion for Teaching was peaked after a few volunteering visits in a school my mum teaches. My interest has been to impact knowledge and help younger generations to be creative thinkers. As a Teacher Guide, I aspire to be a KG tutor and I look forward to using the facilitation skills exhibited by the MTW team in my teaching experiences to give them a strong foundation. My best teaching experience so far is how the students willingly cooperate with me while I teach.This has always been a highlight that makes my day.

I am Tony Blair, aged 19years and I teach at Lord Krishna’s Academy. I offered Business at Senior High School. My passion is to see the world transform and I believe as a Get Global Teacher Guide, this is possible. I want to be a tax adviser in the near future to educate individuals and the society about how taxes generate revenue for the Government in construction of infrastructures and facilities in the country. My best teaching experience so far is seeing how my teacher -student relationship has improved by being open to students and encouraging them to express their views. With the teacher guide training, I am now aware of the types of learners we have in a class and I have gained some teaching skills in creating games to assist students in learning and to keep students active in class. 

I am Portia Adjeibea Quansah, aged 23 and a teacher at Meyah Preparatory School. Currently, I am studying Science Education at the University of Cape Coast. My passion lies in Teaching and this has inspired me to help children acquire more knowledge. As a teacher Guide, I look forward to influencing more individuals to know more about the sustainable development goals to contribute to its achievement. My best teaching experience has been the knowledge students have acquired through my teaching skills and the change (behavioral & academically) I have seen most of them go through in a few years of teaching.

I go by the name Agroh Desmond Selase. I completed Pope John Senior High School at Koforidua where I studied General Arts. I come from Nyagbo in the Volta Region. I love the agenda about the Get Global and deem it a privilege to be part of this. I am in much alacrity to teach people about the SDGs. I really love to make people happy in any situation they find themselves in. I like to play football and  I will be very happy if I train people to assist me in changing the world.

Osman is a young, energetic, inspiring boy. The first time meeting Osman, he made me happy because he will always contribute even if he doesn’t have an idea. I notice however that he looks down on others and likes to pick on his mates, especially a particular girl in the class. I spoke to him about being nice to others and when we had a session on Good Health and Wellbeing, during the appreciation activity, I dived in very well especially with the kind of words that we use against our friends which makes it unhealthy and has negative impacts on them. I talked to Osman and I’ve realised that now he has changed. He treats everyone equally, he respects the views of other people unlike before when he feels he knows it all and so whatever other people say, it doesn’t matter and that when he speaks, it’s final. He always wants to decide for the class or his group, but after sometime talking to him, he’s changed and now gives people the opportunity to contribute and share their views. I believe that going into the school is not all about facilitating your session and coming back but then, you should be able to change the lives of the students that you are educating or facilitating so that they can also change from their negative ways and take the positive path which will help the people around them. As a global citizen who wants to create change in the world and in your country, if you cannot respect the views of others, you can’t make it. Change is a gradual process, and I believe by the time we’re done with the programme in his school, Osman will be a lovely person who is able  to work with people, understanding and valuing the views of others in his life.

A charity organisation that turns the youth into global thinkers is where I always want to be and that is why Move The World will always be my home forever. Being a part of addressing the global challenges we are facing now has a great impact on me and my community as a whole! It’s been positive and fun since we started our first Get Global facilitation program. A 6 months program for students age 9 – 11 years who are being educated about the first 6 sustainable development goals through creative projects and activities. I like the fact that I’ve built a whole family out of this Get Global programme, amazing people that I’ve met, some I have never seen before but now we are like close friends, we are like family and anytime we see each other I always like that family bond and that is one thing I’ve picked out of this whole program as a global citizen.Get Global has impacted so many lives especially mine if I should speak from my personal point of view. It has given me an avenue to have an impact in children’s lives.Every time I pick up the Get Global curriculum to read and prepare for my facilitation, I feel empowered to change society.Also, I believe that the earth is not ours; it is a treasure we hold in trust for future generations. That is why one kid in a classroom or a corner somewhere would look at me and might also want to make a change in the future as I am doing now, which will be an impact created as global citizens.