No matter how good a plan is, it is more often better if birthed by a person who is directly impacted by a particular situation.
One man is on a multi-pronged mission to spark the emergence of a disadvantaged neighbourhood where he was born and where he still resides.
Mahmoud Jajah was born and grew up in Nima, a Muslim dominated area notorious for social vice but also known to produce impactful citizens across the social structure.
"Insha Allah (if it is the will of God) I hope to contribute greatly to the transformation of the Zongo communities across the country. My ambition is to bequeath a transformative and resilient Zongos to this generation and the generation to come.
"I believe strongly that with the power of digital technology, we can transform the Zongos in our lifetime. I want the kind of Zongo where every young person has the opportunity to live their dreams and become whoever they want to become in this world," he told me in an interview.
What is a Zongo, inner city?
Before we delve into his digital plans, here is a classical definition of Zongo or Inner City Community - again with help and perspective of Jajah.
"There are various definitions of the word ‘Zongo’. In actual fact the word itself is a corruption of the original Hausa word ‘Zango’, which basically means a settlement or towns populated by settlers from Northern Sahel regions, especially from Northern Nigeria with the Hausa language as their common lingua franca.
"But for me as a youth development worker, my definition of Zongo means a deprived, marginalized and disadvantaged community, and not necessarily Hausa dominated communities. In other words, for me a Zongo community is a deprived community, whether Hausa dominated or not."
The digital plans of Team Jajah
He opens up on how far back his youth activism kicked off with an invitation to join one such outside his area. Then it dawned on him that his society needed one such. This was back in March 2003.
First the non-profit wings, Initiative for Youth Development, IYD, and ZongoVation Hub. The former he describes as "a youth-led organization that is committed to improving the lives of young people in deprived communities, especially in the Zongos and the three regions in the North.
And of the ZongoVation Hub, he says: "it is a community tech innovation hub that I am setting up across the various Zongo communities and the three regions in the North to serve as the hub for the training and development of tech entrepreneurs and professionals."
Jajah's belief in technology and the digital regime as the future is behind the Zongo Coders initiative that saw his outfit organize training for young people in Nima.
On the project, he had the support of the Ministry of Inner City Development and MTN Ghana Foundation. He is also partnering the International Organisation for Migration, IOM, on sensitization on illegal migration.
There is also the entrepreneurial aspect of his work. Via the ZongoPreneurs wing, he looks to build the capacity of young people to set out and enter the self-employment arena.
Jajah holds that the challenges Zongo youth faces are not entirely different from that of the average Ghanaian youth but opportunities hardly exist for his type.
"Well, I will say that our challenges are not different from challenges facing other young people. However, our peculiar challenge for me is that our youth do not have opportunities available to other youth in non-Zongo communities such as scholarship programs and job opportunities.
"The prospects look very bright. Our challenges are also opportunities, only if we re-organize our societies," he adds.
In the concluding part of this interview, we look at the main challenges he sees Zongos facing. How social media helps his work, how political parties are literally swindling the Zongo youth. We also take a peek into his life - a husband, father, and CEO. Watch this space.
13 Rabi'ul Aw'wal, 1440 = 21 November, 2018
One man is on a multi-pronged mission to spark the emergence of a disadvantaged neighbourhood where he was born and where he still resides.
Mahmoud Jajah was born and grew up in Nima, a Muslim dominated area notorious for social vice but also known to produce impactful citizens across the social structure.
"Insha Allah (if it is the will of God) I hope to contribute greatly to the transformation of the Zongo communities across the country. My ambition is to bequeath a transformative and resilient Zongos to this generation and the generation to come.
"I believe strongly that with the power of digital technology, we can transform the Zongos in our lifetime. I want the kind of Zongo where every young person has the opportunity to live their dreams and become whoever they want to become in this world," he told me in an interview.
What is a Zongo, inner city?
Before we delve into his digital plans, here is a classical definition of Zongo or Inner City Community - again with help and perspective of Jajah.
"There are various definitions of the word ‘Zongo’. In actual fact the word itself is a corruption of the original Hausa word ‘Zango’, which basically means a settlement or towns populated by settlers from Northern Sahel regions, especially from Northern Nigeria with the Hausa language as their common lingua franca.
"But for me as a youth development worker, my definition of Zongo means a deprived, marginalized and disadvantaged community, and not necessarily Hausa dominated communities. In other words, for me a Zongo community is a deprived community, whether Hausa dominated or not."
The digital plans of Team Jajah
He opens up on how far back his youth activism kicked off with an invitation to join one such outside his area. Then it dawned on him that his society needed one such. This was back in March 2003.
First the non-profit wings, Initiative for Youth Development, IYD, and ZongoVation Hub. The former he describes as "a youth-led organization that is committed to improving the lives of young people in deprived communities, especially in the Zongos and the three regions in the North.
And of the ZongoVation Hub, he says: "it is a community tech innovation hub that I am setting up across the various Zongo communities and the three regions in the North to serve as the hub for the training and development of tech entrepreneurs and professionals."
Jajah's belief in technology and the digital regime as the future is behind the Zongo Coders initiative that saw his outfit organize training for young people in Nima.
On the project, he had the support of the Ministry of Inner City Development and MTN Ghana Foundation. He is also partnering the International Organisation for Migration, IOM, on sensitization on illegal migration.
There is also the entrepreneurial aspect of his work. Via the ZongoPreneurs wing, he looks to build the capacity of young people to set out and enter the self-employment arena.
Jajah holds that the challenges Zongo youth faces are not entirely different from that of the average Ghanaian youth but opportunities hardly exist for his type.
"Well, I will say that our challenges are not different from challenges facing other young people. However, our peculiar challenge for me is that our youth do not have opportunities available to other youth in non-Zongo communities such as scholarship programs and job opportunities.
"The prospects look very bright. Our challenges are also opportunities, only if we re-organize our societies," he adds.
In the concluding part of this interview, we look at the main challenges he sees Zongos facing. How social media helps his work, how political parties are literally swindling the Zongo youth. We also take a peek into his life - a husband, father, and CEO. Watch this space.
13 Rabi'ul Aw'wal, 1440 = 21 November, 2018
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