To Be Worldwide, founded in 2002 by Nellie Kirschner-Timmer (Ghanaian/Dutch), developed the concept of an Educational Resource Centers (ERC) to help children ages 6-15 of predominately from public schools were facilities are lacking, realize their full potential. The Centres include a computer lab with 40 computers, a children’s library and lessons programs. Over 12000 children have enrolled at our Centres. We cooperate closely with the Ghana Education Services, providing computer lessons to local schools during school hours as well. To Be Worldwide is registered in Ghana and the Netherlands, with a full board in each country. She has won the Global Junior Award in 2009 for her work.
Helping children realize their full potential for a better future includes helping them understand their talents and how to develop these. And most important “why” they need to be developed and what opportunities this can lead to.
An expanding middle class and recent oil finds off the coast introduce a host of new career opportunities. Children in Ghana, however, have a narrow and often unrealistic view of career options. When researching kids’ ambitions, 95% of children told us they wanted to be a ‘doctor’ or ‘lawyer’. It is also uncommon for children to voice their own opinions in Ghana, given the large role family and church play in their lives. Children base their ambitions on what their environment thinks will bring them status and wealth. As a result, with no understanding of the possibilities and with immediate financial needs pressing, most children forgo higher education. They leave school at age 16 to take a low paying job and help out with the family’s finances.
Compounding this issue is the fact that Ghana’s schools offer limited career counseling. Children choose orientation courses in Junior High School without much awareness on how this relates to careers. Many teachers don’t know the steps towards a certain career either. Children generally pick the same courses their friends have selected.
To help children and their parents explore more realistic career goals and understand paths to achieve them, To Be Worldwide developed the “I Want To Be” Program. View a short demo of the application here http://www.cnote.nl/tobe/demo/demo.html . (Demo mentions a 2 month period. With all learnings it is now run in 3 weeks consecutively).