UCC Wins Community Service Award

The University of Cape Coast, UCC, has won the 2017 Community Service Award. The award scheme, initiated by the Osei- Kusi Foundation (OKF) and Selfless for Africa, was aimed at providing financial support to students to help them undertake developmental projects in their communities. The University was represented by a team of five (5) students with a code name “Team Solutionists” at the competition. They were Messrs Osei Emmanuel, Danso Tony, Godswill Hygienus,and Miss Adeisu Diana Vigah and Miss Adjoa Owusuwaa, all from the School of Agriculture under the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences. Briefing the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, on the Community Service Award (CSA), the Executive President of OKF, Dr. Kofi Osei-Kusi, said the scheme had been opening participation for interesting students in tertiary institutions to form a team of three to five with a code name to compete for the award. Afterwards, he said, the scheme tasked participants to select a deprived community, research on it and present a proposal with an action plan to better the lives of the people in that community. According to Dr. Osei-Kusi, the scheme received tons of applications from students in all the public universities, including the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. At the end of the fiercely contested competition, he said, Team Solutionists won the community project, which was to build a modern fish smoking device for fish mongers in a community called Duakro, near Cape Coast in the Central region. At a ceremony held at the Accra International Conference Center, Team Solutionists was presented with a seed capital of 10,000 Cedis to implement the project, Dr. Osei-Kusi added. Dr. Osei Kusi said the gesture was OKF’s widow’s mite to encourage young people to cultivate the spirit of volunteerism, community service and patriotism. For his part, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, commended the participants for making their School and the University proud. He assured the participants that the University would support them in the execution of the project. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor thanked Osei- Kusi Foundation for the initiative to whip up the interest of the youth into volunteerism, which he said “is sine qua non for rapid economic development”. Dr. Osei-Kusi was accompanied on the visit by Mr. Prince Dwomoh, the Finance and Administrative Manager of Osei-Kusi Foundation. The Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Prof. L.K Sam-Amoah, Prof. Okae-Anti of the School of Agriculture, and Mrs. Georgina Asi Owusu, the Senior Assistant Registrar at the Vice-Chancellor's Office, were present at the meeting, which was held at the Council Chamber.