A Call For Kofi Anna Foundation/Fund

A financial resource waiting to be tapped.

Funding for graduate education requires enormous financial commitments for prospective graduate students from Developing Countries especially those coming from the African continent. The Ghanaian graduate student is therefore no exception to this phenomenon. The financial demands from the payment of tuition fees to the unavoidable daily exigencies are so huge that they pose difficulties to many Ghanaian students whether they are studying at home in Ghana or abroad. This in fact prevents Ghanaian graduate students in general and those from underprivileged backgrounds in particular from exploring high-profile extra-curricular activities such as the opportunity to intern with the United Nations to gain a hands-on experience in the real world of work and at the international level with all the exposure that comes with it.

Indeed, one of the items on the eligibility checklist from which prospective applicants for the UN internship programme must answer ‘YES’ to all 5 questions requires individuals to have a financial resource of US$5 000 to cover the cots of travel, accommodation, as well as living expenses for the period of the internship. It is apparent that apart from this financial requirement, all the other 4 requirements are almost always easily fulfilled by prospective applicants. The financial requirements are therefore a clear deterrent to most brilliant Ghanaian graduate students who would like to seize the opportunity.

By reason of this, some countries have already taken steps to put in place available funding for their graduate students who are offered a place by the UN to participate in its internship programme. There are also other benevolent organizations and foundations which, through the hard work of former interns, have also come to recognise the need to provide funding for prospective interns with the UN. But as usual, there are rigid rules with specific requirements for candidates to meet in order to access these funds. The implication is that geographical location, nationality and other restrictive requirements exclude Ghanaians from accessing some of these funds. It is in the light of this that the Ghanaian public both home and abroad including individuals, organizations, churches, the Government and other interested bodies need to consider the need to rally to give support to a standing fund which will offer financial support to hard working students from Ghana who are offered a place to intern with the UN on its prestigious internship programme.

The importance of this project cannot be underestimated considering the role our own Kofi Annan, the out-going UN Secretary-General has been playing on the world stage in the last ten years. We all need to recognise that there are many brilliant young Ghanaian students out there who also need similar opportunities which will empower them from their very humble beginnings to aspire for greater laurels on the international stage just as Mr. Kofi Annan has demonstrated.

We also need to consider the fact that as Kofi Annan prepares to take his exit from the world stage into his retirement, there cannot be any befitting memorial in his honour than that which is geared toward creating opportunities for his fellow countrymen to learn within an organization he once headed. This is therefore a well-timed honour for Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General which will also provide opportunities for Ghanaian graduate students to experience the UN.

The good news is that there is already a centre of excellence established in Ghana christened after the out-going UN Secretary-General-Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence-which could provide a desk or an office for the coordination of activities with regards to all the processes involved in the establishment of this fund till it becomes operational.

As the Ghanaian adage instructs, ‘knowledge is like a baobab tree, it is so vast that one person’s arm cannot embrace it all’. This appeal therefore goes to all those who may have ideas, proposals, and very substantial contributions to contact this writer with such ideas and contributions. A proposal has already been sent to the office of the spokesman for Kofi Annan for his perusal, consideration and action.

P.Y. Tsikata (former UN intern, Department of Economic & Social Affairs, New York)

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.