Ghanaian youth have ideas to aid governance; they need a space to share it — CDD-Ghana

The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) is advocating for more youth participation in governance and decision making.

On Wednesday, September 4, CDD-Ghana partnered with the National Youth Authority to hold a workshop at the Tema Metropolitan Assembly that educated youth on their role in ensuring peaceful elections and how to get involved in the country’s decision-making process.

Speaking to ModernGhana News on the sidelines, Francisca Sarpong Owusu, a Research Analyst on Social Accountability and Gender at CDD-Ghana noted that Ghanaian youth have many valuable ideas that could aid governance if given the opportunity.

“There are so many ideas our youth have to support democracy, to support governance in our country. So we should just create a platform such as these, we should bring them together, because one thing we have noticed over time is that the youth have a lot to say, but they are given little space or limited time to speak about it,” she said.

She called on leadership to directly engage youth and provide avenues for their voices to be included in policy-making through town hall meetings and community engagements.

“We should educate them on the how. There are so many avenues. Local governments can leverage their information desk officers, they can leverage their client service units. They can leverage to educate the youth,” stated Miss Sarpong Owusu.

The workshop aligned with CDD-Ghana’s ‘I Am Aware’ initiative which seeks to promote social accountability, essentially within local governments.