“My students view agriculture as a way to earn income and to feed Ghana…and the world. They have this view because of 4-H,” 4-H Ghana club advisor when asked to explain his drawing of how his 4-H members interpreted agriculture.

Stephen and Ofosu from 4-H Ghana staff and Dustin from AgriCorps recently facilitated 12 day-long trainings for over 200 4-H club advisors and district officers across Ghana. Thousands of youth will ultimately be impacted from the content convened to the advisors.

The purpose of the trainings was to empower 4-H advisors with new knowledge and techniques to develop their members and grow their clubs.

The program included teaching Positive Youth Development (PYD) activities for advisors to utilize in their clubs, introducing the 4-H Global Knowledge Center, and role playing a club meeting to serve as an example for advisors. PYD is a framework by which youth are developed and delivered, according to 4-H. The framework includes three ways of achieving positive development in students:

• positive relationship with an adult (i.e. club advisor)
• lifeskill development
• opportunities to lead

AgriCorps is a non-governmental organization that pairs agricultural youth professionals from the United States with 4-H clubs in Africa to work alongside 4-H advisors helping them to train students and transfer agricultural technology and methodology.