President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has launched the new policy framework to guide the implementation of interventions geared towards youth development for the next decade.
The National Youth Policy 2022-2032 provides the government’s strategy to harness the value of the country’s youthful population to provide opportunities for young people in the country.
It is a coordinated framework that has been formulated to guide the implementation of projects and programmes to develop the youth in the country.
President Akufo-Addo said the policy would serve as the principal reference document for state institutions, private sector, and foregin partners to support the development of young people in Ghana.
The policy was launched at the close of a two-day national conference to mark the International Youth Day at the Anagkazo Bible and Ministry Training Centre at Akwapem Mampong in the Eastern Region.
President Akufo-Addo said the National Youth Policy had human rights, gender equality, development of human capital and dignity at the centre of all the interventions to develop the youth.
The National Youth Development Policy is on the theme, ‘Benefit for youth involves youth; together for a prosperous future.’
President Akufo-Addo noted that his cabinet’s adoption of the new National Youth Policy was evidence of the government’s acceptance of the global shift in attitude towards youth policymaking.
He said cabinet’s adoption of the policy was a statement of government’s understanding that the myriad of challenges that the youth faced would not be solved for the youth but in collaboration with the youth.
President Akufo-Addo said the government’s approach towards building a prosperous future for Ghanaians was to harness the skill and potential of the country’s youth and create opportunities for them to develop those skills.
He said the current generation had the potential to build the best years of the country in future if they had the support to harness their creativity and potential.
The President pledged the government’s commitment to continue developing initiatives to educate the youth and create opportunities to support their development.
He outlined the numerous measures his government had in place to develop the youth in the country including jobs through the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) which had a line-up of projects.
In addition, the President said the government would soon roll out the YouStart programme which aims to develop a million entrepreneurs within a period of three years.
President Akufo-Addo declared the month of August every year as the youth development month for a national discussion of issues concerning the youth in the country.
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, said the government’s policies and programmes such as the Nation Builders Corps had prepared many young people to integrate into the job market.
He said the government had prioritised youth development by implementing policies to promote technical and vocational education by making education affordable and accessible to all Ghanaians.
BY YAW KYEI