Who We Are?
Our Story
It started as an ordinary 30-minute children’s programme in 1996. Mainly adult- led with the inclusion of children. Gradually transition into a highly respected organisation. Curious Minds is a uniquely young people-led organisation focusing on promoting children and youth development, which has existed since 1st April 1996.
What we Do
Curious Minds works to ensure that all children and youth are well informed and meaningfully participate in decision-making that affects their lives by advocating, generating knowledge, sharing information, building partnerships and training young activists at local, national and international levels.
Our Focus
...Setting the young people's agenda
Curious Minds works to promote the development needs and aspirations of young people in Ghana and across the African continent but with a primary focus on Rights of the Child (RoC) and Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (ASRHR). The Organisation’s approach to children and youth development is a rights-based one with full and meaningful participation of young people as a pivot for our engagement at all levels of programme/project conceptualisation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Young people are indeed at the heart of Curious Minds’ campaigns in the area of RoC and Sexual and Reproductive Health including HIV and AIDS, Maternal and Child Health – all anchored on relevant national policy targets and successive Medium Term Development Strategies as well as global development targets set by the UN and other relevant international bodies.
Strategic Pillars
Our work is premised on four strategic pillars
Advocacy
Goal
To have a strong political and financial support for children and youth issues that recognise the importance of young people’s diversities and promote their involvement at all levels of decision making.
Activities
Since 1996, we have embarked on several advocacy activities across the country. Notable among them are our weekly radio and television programmes that address social, cultural, policy and legal issues affecting children by calling on duty bearers to take action to protect and guarantee the rights of children and young people. We use other channels such as print magazine and social media to addresses those issues. We have also represented children and young people at national (Ghana), regional (African Union) and international (United Nations) spaces where critical decisions are taken for children and youth.
Comminications
Goal
To use the media as an effective tool to generate discussions, share information and communicate the development challenges of young people as well as promote their issues for appropriate recognition and attention at all levels of leadership in Ghana and across Africa. It is also the organisation’s aim to have a strong organisational identity that is recognized at the national, regional and international levels and has influence in relevant processes.
Activities
Curious Minds is primarily a media-based organisation, as such our activities are deeply rooted in the media and involves the production of seven (7) different weekly radio programmes and one (1) television programme produced and presented by young people and broadcast in English and other local languages targeting children and youth as well as policy makers and duty bearers. We have since 1996 used radio and subsequently other media platforms to amplify the voices of children and youth and promote their development issues. Our approach to young people’s advocacy and development is unique in Ghana, one of a few in Africa and a celebrated global best practice.
Organisational Development
Goal
To make Curious Minds a strong, independent, efficient and sustainable organisation where all members are equipped with the necessary skills and competencies for effective participation in decision making processes and are consistently active towards the fulfillment of the organisation’s mission.
Activities
Curious Minds thrives on the energies, knowledge, skills and abilities of its members, staff and volunteers.Hence, there is a deliberate effort to continuously recruit and build the capacity of all human resources needed to empower them in order to achieve the organisation’s goals. Members, staff and volunteers of Curious Minds have been involved in building the capacity of young people in other organisations and have themselves played key roles in the formation and running of various networks and initiatives aimed at advancing the cause of young people at the community, national and international levels.
Capacity Building
Goal
To equip all members, staff and volunteers of Curious Minds with relevant knowledge and skills in the field of children and youth development in order to have a full understanding of such issues and ensure effective and efficient implementation of all activities of the organisation.
Activities
Curious Minds’ work is deeply rooted in regular capacity building of members, staff and volunteers of the organisation as well as young people from other likeminded organisations who share similar passions.The capacity building sessions helps the organisation to be better positioned to deliver on its mandate. To this end, Curious Minds has an established mechanism for regular internal capacity building of members, staff and volunteers through a system of peer learning where older and more experienced members of the organisation train new and younger ones. Beyond these internal training sessions, periodic capacity building activities are organised with external facilitators/trainers on specific thematic areas to ensure an effective delivery of our mandate.
The capacity building sessions cover all aspects of children and youth development with particular attention to areas around our Thematic Focus. Since 1996, we have provided varied capacity building opportunities for children and youth across the country. These capacity building avenues includes trainings, workshops, seminars, conferences as well as meetings. Over ten thousand (10,000) young people have since 1996 benefited from capacity building programmes of the organisation in areas such as those outlined be below:
- Advocacy
- Child Rights
- Basic Broadcasting and Communication Skills
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (including HIV and AIDS)
- Comprehensive Abortion Care
- Results-based Management
- Budget Planning and Tracking
- Millennium Development Goals
- International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and its Programme of Action (PoA)
- Development of Medium-Term Development Plans.
- Children and Youth related Legislations, Charters, Conventions and Policies (including the Children’s Act of Ghana, African Youth Charter, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, National Youth Policy of Ghana etc)
- Curious Minds also participates in other capacity building programmes organised by other organisations at the national, regional and international levels.
Where We've Worked
Places we've made impact in Ghana
- Projects in respective districts
- Nation wide Projects
- National Secretariat
Where we are
One in many locations
The National Secretariat is located in Accra and from there all programs and projects of the organization are coordinated and implemented. We have an active chapter club that runs 3 weekly radio programs on Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s Uniiq FM and Obonu FM.
These are Uniiq Curious Minds (for children and adolescents), Gems Of Our Time (for young people), and ‘Momlikoo’ (in the Ga language).
These are Uniiq Curious Minds (for children and adolescents), Gems Of Our Time (for young people), and ‘Momlikoo’ (in the Ga language).
We have an active chapter club in the region, with a weekly radio program (Youth Action) on Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio Central. The chapter club activities are led by members who see to the organization of the programs undertaken.
Current projects in the region include the Girl Power Project 4 Change which is funded by STAR- Ghana Foundation, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and another on Women’s Rights and Bodily Autonomy that has been running since 2018 with support from RFSU.
Contact Person: Patrick Acquah - +233 24 403 0531
Current projects in the region include the Girl Power Project 4 Change which is funded by STAR- Ghana Foundation, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and another on Women’s Rights and Bodily Autonomy that has been running since 2018 with support from RFSU.
Contact Person: Patrick Acquah - +233 24 403 0531
We currently have an active chapter club in the region that runs a weekly radio program on the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio Savanna. The chapter club has a solid membership base that implements projects and creates relevant content for radio production that target young people in the region.
These activities are led by members of the club. Previous projects that were implemented in the region include the EROP Project (2021), the GUSO project (Get Up, Speak Out) from 2016 - 2020 and WASH Project (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) from 2015 to 2018.
Contact Person: Fabian Japheth - +233 24 854 7859
These activities are led by members of the club. Previous projects that were implemented in the region include the EROP Project (2021), the GUSO project (Get Up, Speak Out) from 2016 - 2020 and WASH Project (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) from 2015 to 2018.
Contact Person: Fabian Japheth - +233 24 854 7859
In the Volta Region of Ghana, we are implementing the Girl Power Project 4 Change which seeks to build the capacities of selected young women and girls regarding their Reproductive Health and Rights, as well as Gender-Based Violence.
Through this project, we are empowering adolescent girls and young women to be assertive and speak out when confronted with issues of sexual reproductive health. We are supported by the STAR-Ghana Foundation and the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.
Through this project, we are empowering adolescent girls and young women to be assertive and speak out when confronted with issues of sexual reproductive health. We are supported by the STAR-Ghana Foundation and the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.
We have an active chapter club based in the capital of the region, Wa. The chapter club undertakes several community outreaches to engage different kinds of young people, as well as in-school activities to engage students on issues regarding their reproductive health, climate change, rights, and responsibilities among others.
Between 2013 and 2015, we ran a sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) project for adolescents through dance4life under the Access, Services and Knowledge (ASK) Programme of the Ghana SRHR Alliance for Young People. From 2015 to 2018, we ran a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene project in the Upper West Region where we trained and empowered thousands of young ambassadors in schools who worked to promote WASH issues in their region.
Contact persons: Philip Tengzu - +233 54 063 4666 and Aminu Ibrahim - +233 54 067 7049
Between 2013 and 2015, we ran a sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) project for adolescents through dance4life under the Access, Services and Knowledge (ASK) Programme of the Ghana SRHR Alliance for Young People. From 2015 to 2018, we ran a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene project in the Upper West Region where we trained and empowered thousands of young ambassadors in schools who worked to promote WASH issues in their region.
Contact persons: Philip Tengzu - +233 54 063 4666 and Aminu Ibrahim - +233 54 067 7049