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13.10.2010 General News

Youth group entrenches education on the national budget

13.10.2010 LISTEN
By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Youth Bridge Foundation, an NGO is mobilizing the youth to be directly engaged in policy making, especially with the emergence of the oil industry.

Executive Director, Seth Oteng says it is necessary for the youth to understand the economic direction of the country, through an appreciation of provisions in the national budget.

He acknowledged the Ghanaian youth have not been interested in budgetary issues because the document has not been made attractive for readership.

He says the group is engaging the Ministry of Finance under the Economic Literacy Project to package the budget document for ease in accessibility.

The Youth Advocate says young people must lead the crusade for mainstreaming of youth-related policy issues in all sector of the Ghanaian economy.

“We did a baseline studies to check how many youth know about provisions in the budget and we realized that about 95 percent of those we interviewed never had even a copy of the previous budget, let alone reading to understand the budgetary allocation from development initiatives”, Mr. Oteng stated and questioned “how prepared then are we to understand the economic direction of the country? You can't talk about the oil if you don't understand the policy issues direction and the budgetary allocation”.

Mr. Oteng says training sessions are being organized for youth groups across the country to build capacity for a better appreciation of the economic trends, especially as it affects youth development.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

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