Members of the Kufuor Scholars Program have rolled out an initiative to help in the fight against Covid-19.

The scholars have started an educational campaign aimed at encouraging the youth to social distance, wear masks, and practice necessary hygienic acts so the disease doesn’t spread.

Aaron Atimpe who is a Kufuor Scholar from the class of 2018 explained; “we are leveraging social media to reach as many young people as possible. So, on a daily basis, we put out educative messages on Facebook and Twitter.

"We use that to educate people on precautionary measures.” Targeting the youth is important because the disease which many people assumed wrongly affects mainly the elderly is killing youth and children in Ghana.

The group is also mobilising resources and various materials to donate to the vulnerable groups like cleaners at various tertiary institutions.

“We hope to help people in need. Particularly, those struggling. We hope to provide some cushion to the vulnerable in society so they can survive,” Esther Emmanuella Spio who graduated from the program in 2018 explained.

“We hope that through this community project, people will be able to appreciate the fact that Covid-19 is real and exists, hence the need to take precaution and protect themselves and other loved ones,” she added.

The Kufuor Scholars Program (KSP) is a leadership and mentorship program for young people in Ghanaian Universities in the first year of their studies.

It aims to add value to the formal education they get at the tertiary level by providing specialized orientation through programmed mentorship, skills and experiential activities.

The program is producing leaders imbued with a strong sense of patriotism, leaders who are innovative, problem solvers, creative thinkers and knowledgeable in their respective fields of endeavour. 

The program which started in 2015 admits 20 to 25 students every year to participate in the three yearlong training and mentorship program that seeks to empower them with an ethical problem – solving skills. Four batches have been admitted so far.

On what motivated the decision to start the Covid-19 educational campaign, Salaman Mohammed who is president of the Kufuor Scholars Program alumni explained that “as young scholars, we realized this time of the Coronavirus pandemic has brought a lot of strain on leadership. Leaders are taking split second decisions to help stem the spread.

“And as young leaders, we believe we cannot sit idle and we must come up with something innovative to help. We want to show other young people that there is always something to do something irrespective of the times we live in,” he said.  

Coordinator of the Kufuor Scholars Program Dr. Pascal Brenya is excited the young people found it necessary to on their own start this educational initiative.

“Coming from them, we find it genuine and original. If they can still take time off to think of others, for us as a foundation, we think it is laudable. It tells us that these are young people we can count on.

"Giving back is something we have taught them from the beginning of the program. This is great,” he observed.