The Young Men’s Christian Association of Ghana (Ghana YMCA) has concluded a cross-country filmmaking training tour that spanned six towns in six regions across Ghana. The tour train which started off on 29th June 2020 at Koforidua in the Eastern Region made stops at Ho in the Volta region, Abura in the Central region, Funko in the Western region, Kumasi in the Ashanti region and finally Accra in the Greater Accra Region.
The filmmaking training tour was held as part of the Right On filmmaking training project which is a product of a partnership between WELTFILME.ev, Ghana YMCA, Sierra Leone Adult Education Association (SLADEA), The National Adult Education Association of Liberia (NAEAL), The University of The Gambia, Cinéma Numérique Ambulant (CNA-Togo) and Xchange Perspectives with financial support from German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Bread for the World.
The objective of the project is to identify young filmmakers in Ghana, and the partner countries, develop their skills through training and empower them with knowledge on how they can make films to cause social change. In all, the filmmaking tour trained over 120 young people across the six regions. At each region, under the supervision of the trainers, the trainees produced one short documentary film and one short fictional film.
The Executive Director of the Ghana YMCA, Kwabena Nketia Addae speaking at the certificate award ceremony for the Accra filmmaking training thanked the project partners for their continuous support for the project especially in the midst of a global pandemic. He explained that the project has added on new meaning because it is a timely intervention for many young filmmakers who are daunted by the uncertainty the future holds for their filmmaking careers. He reiterated the commitment of the YMCA to supporting young people and called on like-minded organisations to partner with the organisation to impact the lives of even more young people.
“I must extend heartfelt gratitude to the partners, without whom, this project would not have happened. Even though we are in a very difficult time when things are very unstable, they have shown great commitment by sticking to the plans we made to train young filmmakers. I believe this project could not have come any sooner for young filmmakers because they needed a sense of hope and belief that things will return to normal. Based on the feedback I have received, I am more than certain that the project has been successful and has inspired many young filmmakers to keep chasing their dreams. The Ghana YMCA is always looking to develop programmes and activities that empower young people and we are committed to working with any organisation which shares this interest,” Kwabena Nketia said.
The filmmaking training is one more project that is testament to the commitment of the Ghana YMCA to supporting young people to sustain their livelihoods by developing their skills in the midst of the COVID19 pandemic. The filmmaking training was first facilitated online in line with the government’s directive against workshops and training events due to the COVID19 outbreak. Following the success of the online version, the training was administered in various locations across the country to enable young people to practise the skills they had acquired virtually.
The productions from the training workshops can be watched on the Ghana YMCA Media Hub YouTube channel. To join any of our trainings, simply like the Ghana YMCA Facebook page and follow us actively for updates on the next training.
