The students of Otto-Pankok high school have raised 7500 € in a charity run for the Apotdabogo Junior High School. What a wonderful Christmas present! Details will follow...

YHFG director John Krugu participates in the 16th International Conference on AIDS & STI in Africa (ICASA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is presenting key aspects from his Master Thesis "NGO Delivered Youth Peer-led Interventions in West Africa - A review of the Evidence".

The Young Professional Program YPP is a collaboration between Talents beyond Limits (The Netherlands) and YHFG. It has started this week with a very successful 6 day intercultural training programm "Culture, Communication and Leadership" in Bolgatanga.

JPG newsletter no 8 is now available in German, English and Dutch.

The Sir Halley Stewart Trust Foundation has awarded a two year funding grant to YHFG for the new Youth SPEEK program (Supporting Peers and Encouraging Empowerment through Knowledge). In rural communities, sexuality and sexual transmittable diseases (STD) are still taboo subjects. Peer education will be the main strategy to educate rural youth about sexual and reproductive health, their rights and responsibilities to lower the rates of HIV/STD transmissions, unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions. Community health care providers will be included in the project and offered training to help improve the youth friendly access to health care. YHFG aims to build the capacity of young people to advocate for their rights.

We have selected the best JPG/YHFG photos of the year to create this wall calendar (spiral bound; size A4, open A3) with 13 full-colour photos and background information in English, German, Dutch and Italian. We are looking forward to your order by email for 10€/calendar + shipping. All profits from this sale will benefit directly the projects of our partner YHFG.

The Urban Youth Fund of the UN-HABITAT has awarded YHFG 20'000 USD for its STEP-UP program (Seamstress Training and Education Program Upper-East). It is the main objective of STEP-UP to reduce poverty among young seamstresses by providing the necessary skills to start a successful business. The STEP-UP program will establish a shop and workshop as an educational facility to give the girls additional 12 months training on technical and entrepreneurial issues. This infrastructure will at the same time serve as a place, where they work and earn their income in a self-managed business. YHFG will also offer educational seminars on reproductive health and sexual rights to improve responsible family planning. Each year's graduates will train the next cohort of 25 seamstresses. Sales from the shop will ensure long-term sustainability.

The construction of our JHS in Zongoire is currently suspended due to lack of funding. While the brick work is complete, we still need to find funds for roofing, flooring, plastering and painting. Since one year, a first class of 58 students is using a classroom in the old building of the primary school. In September 2011 a second class will start. Currently we still need 22000 Euro to complete the school and enable the JHS students to move in.

JPG newsletter no 7 is now available in German and English and Dutch.

JPG has launched its first project at the online platform 1%club (available in Dutch and English). We are using this platform to raise funds for the first classroom in the newly built Junior High School in Zongoire. Please support us at http://www.1procentclub.nl/projects/ghanajuniorhighbenches.

A teacher of the Cobbenhagenmavo high school collected 8 pairs of football boots and 6 pairs of shinguards. A donation of 70 Euro enabled us to equip the under 12 year old football team with new jerseys for the upcoming league. The boys welcomed boots and jerseys with great excitement.

Julia and Anke have arrived in Bolga at YHFG for a 3 weeks visit. Together with the YHFG team they will review the last 2 years of project work and plan upcoming projects and activities.

Finally! The joint Facebook page of Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana and JugendPartnershaft Gana e.V. has been published today. We are looking forward to share news and thoughts with old and new friends and supporters.

With financial support from the Lions Clubs Utrecht Host and the Bolgatanga district assembly the annual Youth Parliament took place. This years motto was "Bridging the gap between Adolescent sexuality and HIV risk". Six schools with 164 Senior High School students were present when teams from 4 different schools debated several statements.

1st and 2nd year students of the Dutch high school Cobbenhagenmavo raised 1163 Euro during an ice skating event for the new Junior High School in Zongoire.

Anke and Jolien have invited former Meet Africa volunteers for an informative and networking meeting. On this occasion several volunteers have expressed interest in joining JPG and continue to support the projects of YHFG.

The car has finally arrived at the harbour of Tema. After a long and desperate period of waiting, YHFG has its own project car. Many thanks to all donors and supporters involved!

The turn of the year 2010/11 brings a lot of challenges for us. The funding of the youth project is about to end, the funding of the Sunuga project has already finished. Currently, we are preparing several project proposals and hope for new funding in the near future. Yet, until external project funding is available, we are again very much reliant on donations from current and future JPG members.

We welcome the first Dutch JPG members and are looking forward to interesting activities in the new working groups. The communications group will launch a joint Facebook page for YHFG and JPG and extend this website.

After a long search we have finally found the appropriate car for YHFG, a Mitsubishi L200 pick-up truck (1999, 150 000 km) in very good shape. Currently the car is on its way to Ghana by sea-freight.

After one year of study leave in Amsterdam John Krugu, executive director of YHFG, has graduated as Master of Public Health and is now back in Ghana. During his absence, his deputy David Ayine, supported by Anke van Amelsfoort, a former Meet Africa volunteer and the YHFG team have successfully continued the projects.

All blocks have been moulded and the foundation laid. Now the actual construction work is about to start.

Between May and September Anke van Amelsfoort has conducted a pilot project Peer Counselling where 15 Harvestclub members offered counsel for peers in their communities during the summer holidays. The outcome of this pilot will help us to develop a larger project on Peer Education. With this, we wish to reach out to the villages and bring sexual health education seminars to the youth there.

With the strong support of the Ghana Education Services, the first class of students for the Junior High School in Zongoire has started with their lessons in the rooms of the old Apotdabogo Primary School. From today on, ca 50 enthusiatic children and adolescents are studying in their first JHS year.

YHFG, JPG, Il Fuoco del Futuro (FdF) and partners are enthusiastic about the start of construction work for a Junior High School in Zongoire.
In the upcoming first phase of construction, the blocks are prepared and the foundation is laid. Meanwhile we are working hard to secure funding for the last construction phase.

After 3 months, the dry season peanuts have been harvested. The fields were irrigated twice per week with water from the Volta river. Overall, the pilot has been successful. However, we learned several lessons on how to improve dry season farming in the next season.

JPG and YHFG are planning to build a Junior High School in Zongoire in order to provide further education for Epefa children after they finished primary school. Our Italian partner Il Fuoco del Futuro will contribute 25,000 Euros and there will be another 15,000 from private donations. At the moment there are still at least 30,000 Euros missing and we are urgently seeking sponsors and partners.

With the proceeds from a Christmas market, which has been organised by the children from Tiefburg primary school, we have bought 40 benches for Apotdabogo primary school. With these another class room is completely furnished and the children do no longer have to learn while sitting on the floor. Thanks a lot to the children in Heidelberg!

Within the last days we have launched out pilot project for dry season farming of peanuts. Although the cultivation of crops is more difficult and labour intensive we hope to be safe from flooding and increase success rate of the Epefa harvest. 1.2 hectare (ca. 3 acres) have been seeded with 100kg of organic seeds.

Thanks a lot for a 1200 Euro donation from the Sustainable Cosmetics Summit which has taken place in Frankfurt on 16/17 November. We will use this money to buy a pump to supply peanut plants with water from the river in our pilot project for dry season farming.

The company Hengstenberg kindly donated 5 photocopiers for the youth centre in Bolgatanga. They will be used to print student publications like the Harvestletter and open a copy shop to sustain the youth centre beyond SEZ funding. Thanks a lot to Hengstenberg.

In the annual Youth Parliament many members of Harvestclubs and Apprenticeclubs discussed the following statements:
> Comprehensive sexuality education should be made a requirement in the school curriculum for students from the age of 12.
> The music industry is the main cause of promiscuity among youth.
> The dowry system where you pay cows/goods for marriage should be abolished.
> It's ok to have sex before marriage.
> Parents are to be blamed for teenage pregnancy.

The Bio certification of EPEFA for peanut farming and shea wild collection through ECOCERT has been finalised with success.

From the Junior Achievers program 8 Harvestclubs presented tie and dye fabrics, ties, local bags and various food products to their colleagues and to the public.

Graduation of the first computer course students in the SKILL Centre.

14 farmers groups have qualified for a micro credit. So far, 75 farmers have received 7560 GHC.

5T EPEFA peanut kernels from the 2008 harvest have been sold for a fair price to WELEDA and have been shipped to Germany.

Today, the SKILL Youth Center of YHFG in Bolgatanga was inaugurated.

JPG member Gero Frisch is visiting YHFG for 4 weeks. He will participate in the coordination and planning of the projects. Furthermore he will advise and train the YHFG members and Newsletter committee in computer issues.

Welcome to our new Sunuga project coordinator Rockson Ayebilla! He will work closely with the farmers during the organic certification and in the micro credit scheme. His responsibilities comprise training of the farmers and documentation.