Ghana must benefit from France’s plan to mobilise more volunteers — Ambassador

The French Ambassador to Ghana, Jules Armand Aniambossou, has stressed the need for Ghana and France to further solidify their relationship with the signing of a formal agreement for the former to benefit from the latter’s plan to mobilise more volunteers.

He said his government was prioritising the mobilisation of young volunteers to help in the development and progress of countries that it has bilateral relations with and Ghana now as a member of the francophonie deserved to benefit the most.

Mr Aniamboussou said to show commitment to the priority, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, had announced a plan to increase the number of volunteers, setting a goal of creating 1000 new volunteer opportunities by 2027.

“It is our hope that some of these volunteer opportunities will take place in Ghana, to strengthen our bilateral partnership,” the Ambassador stated. 

French Volunteering Day

The day is set aside to honour the commitment of volunteers whose roles are considered crucial in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations.

A number of activities to highlight the French volunteers’ activities in Ghana in the areas of education, health, environment and francophonie took place at the Alliance Francaise in Accra.

Among the dignitaries present at the event were the national representative of the French Volunteers in Ghana, Telngar Rassembeye, the Executive Director of the National Service Authority (NSA), Osei Assibey Antwi, the Legal Director at the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS), Juliana Addo and Lebanese Ambassador to Ghana, Maher Kheir.

Partnership

The Ambassador said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his French counterpart, Mr Macron, would meet in November and stated that the issue of volunteering would feature on the agenda, as already, the two countries had committed to facilitate the issuance of permits for volunteers in an exchange programme.

“We have to make more efforts to facilitate the growth of this relationship. In this regard, France and Ghana have made the commitment to facilitate the issuance of residence permits for volunteers and language assistants.”

“Our two Presidents will meet in November, and the topic of volunteering will be on the agenda,” the Ambassador stated, emphasising that beyond the formalisation of the agreement, the youth of the two countries were also more interested in meeting and working with each other, “and this is a very positive development, paving the way for future collaboration and solidarity.”

He explained that the decision to increase the number of volunteers stemmed from the French government’s belief that volunteering was a vibrant tool to foster Sustainable Development Goals with regard to access to health, water, quality education,  promoting equality between women and men among others.

He congratulated the French Volunteering, Ghana, for its role in helping strengthen the relationship between the two countries, emphasising that the efforts of the volunteering group, along with the five Alliances Françaises in Ghana, had played an important role in Ghana's journey to full membership of Francophonie.

Compulsory French

The Executive Director of the NSA, Osei Assibey Antwi, in his address, said there was the need to make the teaching and learning of the French language in basic and senior high schools compulsory, given that Ghana stood to gain from such an initiative as that it was surrounded by Francophone nations; it would enable Ghanaians to tap into the diverse opportunities on the world stage and vice versa.

“Given that Ghana is surrounded by francophone countries, it is only prudent that French somewhat becomes a second official language.”

“The first President of the Republic said the independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa. So this statement can only be achieved when French becomes a compulsory subject and everyone, from the down to the university level, becomes fluent, so we can share our experiences with our brothers.”

“Ghana stands to benefit and in this day of the world becoming a global village, we need to really encourage the new generation to fully take advantage by ensuring that the language is taught in schools with all the seriousness it requires,” Mr Antwi said.

Spirit of volunteerism

Mr Antwi advised the general public to incorporate the spirit of volunteerism to promote the collective effort required to create a higher, brighter, more inclusive and sustainable future.