About the Program 

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