Partner West Africa
A non-ideological, grass-roots, not-for-profit, volunteer-led charity (or non-governmental organisation/NGO), with a headquarters in Ghana and offices in the UK.
Who are we?
Partner West Africa (PWA) is a UK-registered, progressive, non-profit, charitable non-governmental organisation (NGO). Founded by Birmingham alumni, Matt Craig, Executive Director of PWA. Read more about Matt Craig's profile (PDF - 164KB) and his journey to set-up PWA.
What do we do?
We work to support, protect and empower vulnerable West African children & their families and to engage children from the international community to become responsible global citizens. Our core aims & objectives, achieved through a broad range of disciplines, are to reduce child poverty and improve access to education for underprivileged children.
As a UK-based charity we are registered and overseen by the UK Charity's Commission and have a well-established operational head-quarters, international volunteering division, and childcare centre in Ghana, West Africa - where we are certified by the Ghanaian Department of Social Welfare to undertake humanitarian & developmental works nation-wide.
Importantly, we are a key member of the 'Better Volunteering, Better Care' Network's Global Working Group - the leading international body concerned with preventing harm to children caused by volunteer interaction or volunteering projects, and we are a leading voice in the campaign to end 'orphanage volunteering' and protect already vulnerable children from the emotional distress associated with short-term relationship engagement with international volunteers.
What’s different about us?
All of our projects & programmes are specifically designed to compliment in word and spirit the aims and objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2015; the framework agreed by the international community to identify and help address the most critical humanitarian challenges facing man and women-kind today.
The 'Partner' in Partner West Africa describes the collaborative approach at the centre of our model. Our focus on collaborative and strategic partnerships builds on our belief that the challenges the world faces today require comprehensive, holistic, cooperative responses. No person or organisation can effect sufficient change alone. So by harnessing the knowledge and skills that our international volunteers, academic experts, partner organisations and local and international community members provide, and by intelligently identifying and making the most efficient use of the variety of resources these different parties can offer, Partner West Africa seeks to design robust and fully inclusive, sustainable solutions to local development challenges. For that reason, Partner West Africa embodies the values inherent in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No.17:
‘the 'revitalization of global partnerships for international development'
Projects we offer
- Partner West Africa Daycare Centre & Nursery
- Creative Early-years Education & Child Rights
- International Schools Partnership Programme
- Malaria Prevention Programme
- Children’s Health, Hygiene & Nutrition
- Female Health & Gender Equality
- Fundraising, Promotion & Journalism
- Development Policy: Monitoring & Evaluation
- Multidisciplinary volunteering programmes
Why PWA?
- Every volunteer and application is treated on a unique and bespoke basis
- Our programmes require community inclusion and involvement, are usually based on knowledge sharing and building local capacity, and predominantly address poverty that affects traditional fishing communities on the South Coast of Ghana.
- Volunteers have a specific role within our team with responsibilities they are held to account for, working as temporary team members not well meaning visitors.
- We are at the forefront of volunteering ethics and pass all industry standards and best practice approaches for responsible, ethical volunteering.
- Each of our projects has a status which is shown on its website page: Research & Planning, Operational, or under Monitoring & Evaluation allowing volunteers to match their skills and interests to our projects timescales more effectively and allowing us to be clear on what stage a project is at.
- All our volunteer placements provide a broad mix of activities, allowing you to focus on your specific project as well as supporting other projects so you get a rich mix of NGO/Third Sector work.
- All our volunteers live side by side with our staff in a very comfortable and well equipped secure guest house, in a beautiful and popular beachside village called Kokrobite (of which we are heavily discussed in the Wikipedia entry! Ha.
- We have one of the best volunteer feedback track records in the sector, available at: http://www.partnerwestafrica.org/volunteer-reviews
- T&Cs are here: http://www.partnerwestafrica.org/terms and pricing is here http://www.partnerwestafrica.org/availability subject to the 20% exclusive discount off the Food & Accommodation Fee (not the £100 Reservation Fee) for UoB students. This discount will be added AFTER initial application and upon receipt of a valid UoB ID card.
- And we can be contacted at: http://www.partnerwestafrica.org/contact
Interested? Want further information?
For further details and to apply, please visit:
This is an unpaid opportunity requiring students/graduates to pay a fee. This opportunity falls outside Careers Network’s Advertising Terms (PDF - 132KB). We recommend that interested students/graduates undertake their own research into this opportunity before applying to decide whether it is suitable for you.
If you apply for this opportunity, you may be eligible to apply for a University of Birmingham Work Experience Bursary to help assist with some of the costs involved. For more information regarding UoB bursaries, please visit www.birmingham.ac.uk/internships/funding.