Childcare Volunteers in Ghana

Volunteer in Ghana and help us improve the lives of disadvantaged young children. You will assist local teachers and caregivers in a kindergarten, daycare center, or special needs school. Childcare volunteering in Ghana is a great opportunity for you to gain practical childcare experience and learn new skills. Best of all, you’ll be helping where it’s really needed and working on sustainable, long-term goals.

This project focuses on early childhood development and learning through play. Your work will help us achieve our goals of promoting literacy, numeracy, and hygiene practices among young Ghanaian children.

You will live with a local host family. This will be your home away from home and you’ll learn all about Ghanaian hospitality, culture, and traditions.

This project is ideal for anyone who wants to help where it’s really needed and improve the lives of young children. You’ll gain practical experience of working in childcare, which could help your future career. It’s also the perfect project to help you develop important life skills such as teamwork, leadership, and planning.

If you have loads of energy, take a playful approach to life, and enjoy the antics of little ones, childcare volunteering in Ghana is definitely for you. No experience is required! As a volunteer working with children in Ghana, you’ll support the local teachers and caregivers and have OGVO staff members close at hand to help guide you along.

Our Childcare Project in Ghana runs throughout the year and you can join at any time from a minimum of one week. However, we do encourage you to stay longer, so you can have a bigger impact on the children you work with.

This project is also perfect for qualified professionals. With your skills backing up our ongoing efforts, we can make an even bigger difference together. We’ll match you to the placement where your skills are needed most.

This means you can share your training and knowledge with others. You can work hand-in-hand with our partner organisations and local communities to support sustainable development.

You’ll work in a kindergarten, daycare center, or special needs center. However, you won’t be on your own! Your main role is to support local teachers and caregivers with early childhood development work.

Here are some of the tasks you can expect to do during your placement:

• Run educational activities like helping children learn to read
• Share ideas with other volunteers to create new, fun activities
• Run hygiene awareness campaigns to help keep the children healthy
• Track the development of children and placements using special tools and techniques

You’ll enjoy loads of opportunities to take initiative, while having a strong support system and reliable curriculum to guide you along.

Your work with children in Ghana will be divided into four main categories:

Help teachers pay attention to children equally

Classes are often full beyond capacity, so teachers and caregivers don’t always manage to attend to each child throughout the day. You will play a huge role in being an extra pair of hands and eyes to help pay attention to children who need it most on any given day.

Give teachers and students a break from regular class routine by offering to lead a fun creative lesson. This could include arts and crafts, reading, or even introducing them to a new game. After classes end and before their parents collect them, you can help children with their homework or arrange sports activities outside.

Work with other volunteers

One of the best things about joining one of our volunteer programs is the fact that you get to meet other volunteers from all over the world. Make the most of this opportunity by sharing ideas for activities, lessons, and games you can play with the children. You can also share these ideas with placement staff who can add them to their existing class routine to add a bit of variety.

Present hygiene awareness workshops

Some of the children you will work with may never have learned about the importance of basic hygiene. You can help improve this by teaching them how to brush their teeth properly and to wash their hands regularly throughout the day. Make this fun with songs, games, and little class challenges.

Assess children and identify specific placement needs

One of the ways in which we keep track of the children’s development and the specific needs of placement is through specially designed checklists. We will train you on how to use these checklists. You will assess the status of each child on a daily basis in areas related to:

• Numeracy
• Literacy
• Fine motor skills
• Emotional abilities
• Social skills
• Hygiene

A typical Day as a Childcare Volunteer in Ghana

A typical day will run from about 8am to 5pm, coinciding with kindergarten and daycare center hours. You will be working closely with teachers and caregivers to keep energetic young children fully engaged and entertained.

Every day at work will be different. On certain days you might help run an arts and crafts program, while others may include outdoor sports activities or Basic English lessons.

During the hours you aren’t working, you’ll have ample free time to explore with your fellow volunteers.

Since you will be living with a local host family, breakfast or dinners offer great opportunities to get to know them better and fully immerse yourself in their way of life.

The aim of this project is to improve early childhood development in Ghanaian communities by helping give young children a well-rounded educational experience.

With elementary school classrooms, kindergartens, and daycare centers often being overcrowded, local teachers and caregivers struggle to divide their attention equally. Because of this, certain children may have trouble learning certain skills, depending on their interests, strengths, and weaknesses.

Qualifications

There are no special qualifications needed for a person to become a volunteer in this project but you should have passion, enthusiasm and care for children. Most of all, applicants must have the willingness to share their time and space as well as to show their compassion, patience and flexibility.

Location of OGVO Volunteer/Intern Programs

We have volunteer and intern work placements in both urban and rural areas in Ghana including Accra, Koforidua, Kumasi, Cape Coast, Kwamoso, Salt Pond,Swedru,Tepa, Boaben-Fiema, Bibiani, Boako, Wassa Akropong, Wale Wale, Mampong, Asafo, Buduburam, and many more.

Start Dates and Durations

We pride ourselves for our flexibility. Volunteers or interns can arrive any day of the year with advanced notice. You can volunteer or intern for periods of 1 week to 6 months. Extension can be arranged with advanced notice as well.

OGVO Program Prices

Our fees are extremely affordable as compare to other organisations. Our program fee starts as small as US $250. Program fees mainly help us cover the variable costs, such as food, accommodation, airport pick-up, placement, program orientation, etc. Program fees vary according to the length of your program. To see program fees and what it covers, please click here.

ACCOMMODATION & MEALS ARE INCLUDED

Volunteers on this program will be accommodated with a local host family, and will gain the opportunity to become immersed in the local culture and custom, improving their knowledge of the people, culture and language. Ghanaian families are renowned for their kindness and hospitality and they love to learn about different cultures. Living with a local family truly is the best way to throw oneself into the local culture and to meet people who will often become lifelong friends!

All families have been fully vetted by our team and have extensive experience hosting international volunteers. Bedrooms are private but generally shared with volunteers of the same gender. Volunteers will be provided access to a shared bathroom. Generally, your host brother, sister or mother assist you with your laundry but it is not an obligation, learn to wash your clothing’s with your hands in several buckets, enjoy the sun drying your clothes and odor the African fragrance in your clothes.

Host families will provide volunteers with breakfast, lunch and dinner during the working week.

Breakfast is usually ready by around 7am; however you can eat later if you prefer to get up late. Lunch is usually packed by your host family in a lunch box so that you can eat at your project if you wish. Dinner is usually served around 6pm.

If you have special eating needs, you can indicate that while applying. Even though special eating needs are not something we can guarantee, we will do our best to meet your needs.

It is important to remember that the living conditions in Ghana are different from home. Most families have running water, but hot water is still uncommon in some areas. Although the accommodation is basic, this is part of the challenge and experience of volunteering in a developing country. With a little patience, and a flexible attitude, you will quickly get used to your new surroundings.

Working days and hours

You will work 5 days a week, leaving you two free days (Saturday & Sunday) to explore the area. You’ll work around 4 – 9 hours per day.

FREE TIME

During weekends Volunteers/Interns have the opportunity to visit all that Ghana has to offer. Weekend trips available include visits to Mole National Park in the Northern Region of Ghana. This National Park offers a great Safari-like experience and is one of the biggest Elephant Sanctuaries in Africa with the chance to spot Lions, Leopards & Antelopes in their natural habitat.
Volunteers can also take a trip to Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana to relax in the beautiful beaches and see the famous Cape Coast castle, the Kakum Canopy walkway and Elmina castle, where slave trade begun.

What Our Volunteers and Interns Are Saying