Participants at the Forum
Participants at a regional stakeholders’ forum to review the National Youth Policy of Ghana have called for a policy that will carefully engineer and transform the youth into assets and not liabilities.
The participants, who were mainly made up of young people, traditional leaders and other key personalities drawn from all districts and municipalities of the region, were unhappy with the state of the youth of today.
They therefore prayed that the technical committee and consultants who are supposed to work on the final review should ensure that the policy provides practical, specific, measurable and adequate resources to ensure holistic and relevant development of the youth.
The Review Forum, which was held in Ho, was chaired by Togbui Drake Tsigbe IV of Dorfor Traditional Area. It also had the Deputy Minister of Sports, Perry Okudzeto; the Deputy Regional Minister, Maxwell Blagogee; municipal and district chief executives and representatives of various political parties as participants.
The Ho West District Chief Executive, Ernest Victor Apau, observed that “it appears Ghana is suffering from a situation where instead of having a replication of improved youth and future leaders, the reverse is actually happening”.
He was worried that a good number of young people were not resilient, versatile and committed enough; hence, despite the huge amounts of investment being made by the state, parents and other organisations, majority of the youth are living with the mindset that without government they cannot achieve much. “That is a failure to start with,” he stressed.
Mrs. Marian Adzroe, an Educationist and Social Entrepreneur, observed that the new policy must consider parental involvement to ensure that the home reflects its true nature of being the first point of nurturing the youth.
Togbe Dzrake Tsigbe IV, who chaired the forum, also observed that the role of traditional leaders and cultural traditions of the people should be considered in shaping the youth for the future so that Ghana does not lose its identity and uniqueness in the world.
Madam Shalom Lumor, a gender activist, stressed the need for adequate provision of gender equality and equity in the new review.
All participants expressed disappointment in previous youth policies. They blamed the situation on an under-resourced National Youth Authority (NYA) which is the main implementing agency, as well as short-term programmes to deal with challenges facing the youth that require holistic long-term solutions.
The DCE of Krachi West, Douglas Osei Nti, said that in his district, a director and a secretary had retired; he therefore wondered how the policy would be implemented.
The Akatsi North DCE, Dr. Prince Sodoke Amuzu, observed that apart from adequate resources, the next Youth Policy should be measurable with clear timelines and specific actions to ensure realistic results.
The Director for Research, Monitoring and Evaluation at the NYA, Rev. Frank Lartey, expressed gratitude to government for making resources available for the review. He observed that the key issues in all the regions they visited bordered on education, unemployment, ICT, agric and poor content in media space which seems to be contaminating the youth.
The Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Perry Okudzeto, expressed gratitude for the brilliant inputs from participants, and was optimistic that their contributions would ensure that the Ghanaian youth are capable of competing with their peers across the globe.
From Fred Duodu, Ho (k.duodu@yahoo.com