Saying goodbye to KickStart Ghana

The two sides of Ed Sheeran’s development work

“White saviour”, “poverty porn”, “reinforcing negative stereotypes” have been some of the phrases thrown at Ed Sheeran in recent weeks after he ‘won’ the 2017 Rusty Radiator award handed out by Radi-Aid. This annual award, along with the Golden Radiator, highlights the very worst and best fundraising videos in international development. The judges criticise videos […]

A Ghanaian Summer – 2015

Despite it being almost two years it barely felt like I’d been away when I went through customs at Kotoka Airport in Accra. The same humidity, big queues for immigration and Dan being late to meet me. As always though my experiences in Ghana were huge fun and a lot of work was completed. I’ve […]

Volunteerism in Ghana: Alive and well

Volunteering in Ghana has been a big industry for a long time now. But when people think of volunteers in Ghana they often think of people flying from all over the world to work on a number of projects (some good and some not so good). However, over the last couple of years we’ve seen […]

Guest post – Charity PR: Stop the sensationalism!

Jen Wilkins is an LSE alumni and former LSE SU RAG president. She now works for PR agency PHA Media specialising in campaigns and causes. She’s particularly interested in mental health and women’s rights and is a member of Amnesty’s Women’s Rights Action Network connecting activists with their My Body My Rights campaign. Thank you to […]

DC does the London Marathon

Entering the London Marathon is one of the easiest things imaginable. I’ve done it the last six years, thus proving how easy it is. You complete a short online form in springtime and then wait for the ‘unsuccessful’ notification to arrive in the post in October, basking in the knowledge that you are a gallant […]

Volunteering with children: A game of double standards?

Let me ask you. How many times have you logged onto Facebook and been greeted with a newly-updated profile picture of one of your friends, volunteer-smile intact, affectionately cuddling a small, rather grubby-looking child, from an unknown African nation? Once? Twice? Too many times to recall?

David Thorp waxes his legs for KickStart Ghana

This Friday, at the KickStart Ghana fundraiser with Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, David Thorp will wax his rather hairy legs in the name of charity. “Whilst other members of the board have put their bodies on the line with tests of endurance and perseverance in the name of KickStart Ghana fundraising, I have decided to put […]

I love Ghana because…

One of my favourite projects in the summer was, with a lot of help from Coco, meeting people and asking what is was about Ghana that they loved so much. Patriotism certainly isn’t a dirty word in Ghana and the flag can be seen proudly flying everywhere you travel with the national anthem is sung […]

What’s it like to be a woman in Ghana?

Originally posted on Steph in Ghana: Tales from a Development Volunteer:
Now, when I say ‘Ghanaian woman’, what do you think of? For the next three posts, I’d like to introduce you to some women I’ve met here. Firstly, Mirabelle: Who are you, what do you do and how do you know Stephanie? It’s 2014. I’m Mirabelle…

Win a luxury holiday abroad fundraising for KickStart Ghana

KickStart Ghana are taking part in “The Great BIG Small Charity Draw” this year. Basically this means that if KickStart Ghana supporters buy a raffle ticket for a £1 they are in the running to win a host of amazing prizes including a luxury holiday, ipad minis, a UK weekend trip, a London Eye experience […]

Responsible volunteering at the World Travel Market

On 7th November I was invited to speak at the World Travel Market on the topic of overseas volunteering and how the sector can improve in this area. My speech focused on best practice when involving young (16-24 year olds) volunteers. You can view the slides and watch a recording of all the speeches and […]