The European Union (EU) Delegation in Ghana funded Resilience Against Climate Change – Social Transformation Research and Policy Advocacy (REACH-STR) project, led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), organised a career guidance and counselling training for its student scholarship beneficiaries. The training, which took place on 23rd and 24th May at the Peace Holiday Resort at Ada, is associated with this year’s EU Day celebration themed, ‘Youth and Skills’.
The scholarship beneficiaries of REACH-STR, made up of both Masters and PhD students (i.e., 11 males and 8 females) from University of Ghana – Centre for Migration Studies (UG-CMS), Legon (i.e., 4 males and 5 females) and Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS) [i.e., 7 males and 3 females] were present to undergo the training.
On the first day, the students received expert training on personality and career path development, work culture, and Curriculum Vitae (CV) restructuring and interview grooming. The students were taught to choose career paths based on their personality types, to enable them to be efficient and productive at the workplace. They were advised to let their academic work help solve societal problems.
According to Mr. Wisdom Kudjordi, one of the trainers, “understanding the work culture of an organisation will help you contribute to achieving the company’s goals”. Mr. Kudjordi said, it is important to learn resilience strategies at the workplace in order not to give up easily. These self-resilience strategies, he said, includes engaging in brain dumping, developing positive self-talk, practicing self-acceptance and self-compassion, building good social support system, and developing good problem-solving skills.
On the second day of the training, the students had a write shop session where they asked questions relating to the connection between their research questions and social transformation (i.e., the project’s focus). The session was led by the REACH-STR team of researchers, who have a better understanding on how to incorporate social transformation in a research work.
The career guidance and counselling training ended with the students’ commending EU and the organizers for the training and stating that their expectations for the training have been met.
“The training has given me a lot of clarity as to what to expect in the working world and how to find the environment that would perfectly work out for me, in order to be productive. The write shop session has also given me clarity concerning my research topic and how to proceed further. Yes, my expectations have been met; I have not regretted it at all, and I thank all the organizers for putting this together” – David Quaye, PhD in Migration Studies, UG-CMS.
“The programme has been impactful to me because it has given me the opportunity to identify my personality trait which to me is very essential in working in every environment you find yourself. It has also enabled me to understand the working environment and the culture that surrounds the working environment, and to best identify the career path that will enable me not only to impact the nation but also to be happy in the job that I find myself. I would like to, on behalf of my other beneficiaries, thank IWMI and the EU for giving us the platform to embark on an educational career and also to, first of all, have the opportunity to even pursue or dreams, which is by furthering our education. Thank you and we are grateful to you” – Gloria Barka Diesuo, MPhil in Environment and Resource, SDD-UBIDS.
Written by: Sandra Hyde, IWMI-Ghana
Photo Credit: KathyAnn Events
*The REACH-STR project is funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (CSIR-STEPRI), University of Ghana – Centre for Migration Studies (UG-CMS), and the Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS).
Resilience Against Climate Change - Social Transformation Research and Policy Advocacy (REACH-STR) 