The move is to adequately prepare the selected organizations to go through the European Union (EU) Aid Volunteer certification process.

 ASPEm, which has been involved in international cooperation, humanitarian aid and development since 1979, is implementing the EVA project in collaboration with its partners APY in Spain and ADICE in France with funding from the EU.

 The EVA initiative focuses on improving capacities and providing technical assistance to the third-country organizations selected to go through the certification process.

 The certification process also requires that selected organizations go through an assessment process and be assisted to improve on their systems and procedures to meet the EU volunteer management standards before the authorisation to send or receive volunteers under the EU Aid Volunteers initiative.

 Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), an NGO based in Tamale, and Asticude, an association based in Morocco, were the only two organisations selected in Africa under the EVA project.

 Alhaji Osman Abdel-Rahman, Executive Director of GDCA, in an interaction with the media in Tamale, was happy that staff members of GDCA participated in the first training under the project in Cantú, Italy in June this year.

 Alhaji Abdel-Rahman said training enabled partners to review their organization’s activities, get insights into the overall concept of EU Humanitarian Aid and Volunteers as well as the requirements for certification.

 He said after successful completion of the certification process by December 2019, GDCA would be able to receive and deploy EU Aid Volunteers and contribute to the reduction of suffering of victims of disasters and conflicts, especially women and children, who were mostly the victims.

  He said the project was an opportunity for GDCA to expand its scope of partnerships around the world.

 Alhaji Abdel-Rahman who spoke GDCA’s operations over the years said, “GDCA has a long history of humanitarian aid, dating as far back as the late 80s and early 90s, when the organization was involved with the NGO Consortium, helping communities and victims of disasters such as floods and drought, as well as conflicts in Northern Ghana.

 He said “In 2011, GDCA worked with the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation of South Africa to develop and support the Dagbon conflict through the Dagbon Peace Initiative project, with various partners including the Catholic Diocese of Yendi and WANEP-Ghana.”

 He expressed GDCA’s gratitude to ASPEm for the opportunity to collaborate on the EVA project.