U-report
Ghana’s presence at this year's Republic Hall week celebration at the Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi left an
indelible mark in the minds of students at the school. From April 1st-
6th 2019, U-Report champions joined students of KNUST to celebrate
the Republic hall week.
‘Repu’Hall
week as it is popularly called by students is one of the most attended hall
week celebrations on KNUST campus. The Hall was named Republic to commemorate
Ghana's attainment of Republic Status in 1960, and was officially opened in
1961 with women been first to be admitted into the hall. The hall is now home
to about 850 students with facilities that includes a basketball court, gift
shop, saloon and games room.
U-report
Champions, staff and volunteers took advantage of the 2019 edition of Republic
Hall week celebration to promote U-Report and recruit students to the U-Report
platform with some fun and excitement. Many of the students engaged were eager to
know more about U-Report since they believed that their voices should indeed be
considered in decision making at all stages in the development process. The
students agreed that U-Report could make their voices heard and channeled to
the right people for solutions to the many problems young people are bedeviled
with.
Some
channels used by the U-report Champions to recruit U-reporters were the lecture
hall talks, one-on-one sign up and also some radio discussions at the campus
based radio station – Focus FM at KNUST.
U-Report
which is a free SMS innovation by UNICEF to engage young people for community
participation, seeks to help address issues that affect various communities
with specific emphasis on young people sharing their views on issues that
matter to them. Through a short code - 1755 young people have their views collated
when they send "Join" and respond to the polls that is ran about
three times a month.
After
a week-long interesting engagement with some students in the hostel, lecturer
halls and one-on-one, U Report champions were able to add some 1,500 more U
Reporters to the platform.
Having
understood the power and impact of the tool in community engagement, the
leadership of the campus radio and two other halls requested for an opportunity
for partnership to engage more students in the university.
