The Deputy Minister of Local Government Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Madam Rita Odoley Sowah has called on stakeholders in the youth employment sector to initiate steps to address the rising unemployment among the youth across the country.
She said close to 75 percent of the youth are unemployed and described the trend as very worrying and urged players in the job space to rollout entrepreneurship programmes to create sustainable employment for the youth.
The Deputy Minister was speaking at the launch of Youth Economic Inclusive programme in collaboration with the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) in Accra themed, “Youth Economic Inclusion through the Next Generation Local Economic Development (NGLED) with support from INCLUDE Knowledge platform.
She said the programme is geared towards building capacities for youth in line with entrepreneurial skills which forms part of the effort to create jobs to enable the youth to become self-employed in their chosen carriers.
Madam Adoley Sowah however urged the ILGS to partner government to find innovative ways to unleashed potentials in the youth, adding that the programme ties into government flagships programmes such as Adwumawura and the 24-Hour Economy policy aimed at creating 10,000 jobs for the youths across the country.
She assured the youth of government support through the Metropolitan, Municipal, Districts Assemblies (MMDAs) to create more jobs of the respective District Assemblies Common Fund.
For his part, the Director of ILGS, Prof. Nicholas Awortwi commended stakeholders for initiating programmes in addressing youth unemployment for sustainable jobs through inclusive development.
“Government will continue to support youth entrepreneurs as part of the effort to address unemployment to enable them own their jobs,” he said.
Financial support ranging from Gh¢60.00 to Gh¢75.00 were given as start ups to youth entrepreneurs to run their respective businesses in area of poultry and livestock among others.
Report by Ben LARYEA
