Committee Ready For Review Of Outdated National Youth Policy

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah, has inaugurated a 10-member national technical committee for the review of the country’s National Youth Policy document.

The committee has been tasked to engage with the youth of the country and other stakeholders to develop relevant interventions and services for youth development in the country, as well as highlight ways of including young people in national development.

The members of the committee are;

• Kwesi Evans-Nkum, Director for Education and Training of the NYA (Chairman),
• Rev. Frank Lartey Jnr, Director for Research, Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, NYA,
• Adjoa Yenyi, representative from UN System – UNFPA,
• Alex Bankole William, representative from the Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations,
• Emmanuel Papa Assan Guild of Youth Development Practitioners,
• Ekow Eshun,
• Anita Abonyi,
• Solomon Mensah,
• Emmanuel Osei
• Samuel Asamoah.

Isaac Asiamah said the potential of the country’s youth for the development of the country cannot be taken for granted.

He however said they must be equipped with the requisite skills to make contribute meaningfully.

Isaac Asiamah – Youth and Sports minister
He said the decision to review the August 2010 youth policy document and action plan was to ensure that it conforms to global and national trends for the development of young people, and harness their potential for national development.

“This will invariably accelerate the socio-economic development and realize the dream of a Ghana Beyond Aid as espoused by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.” he said.

The government has been impressed upon to review the 2010 youth policy document which is outdated.

Recently, YES-Ghana, an NGO championing the campaign for the review of the document wrote the National Youth Authority over the delay in the review of the document, but the authority in response said it “has initiated processes for the review of the National Youth Policy which was launched in 2010.”

According to the NYA, the review is to “make the policy respond to current youth development dynamics and also reflect current regional and global issues and their impacts on the youth.”

The Voices of Youth Coalition which is led by YES-Ghana, had also petitioned President Akufo-Addo over the matter, expressing regret that there was very little attention being paid to the development of young people in the country.

Ghana's population is made up of 60% youth, and about 35% of the number is between the ages of 15 and 35.

The situation presents many benefits as well as challenges, with the most notable among them being high unemployment and a resultant urban poverty. Other challenges include high rural-urban migration .

While the government has indicated its preparedness to address some of these prevailing challenges, not much has been achieved, and this has been largely blamed on the lack of a working policy document that captures the needs of young people in the country, and plans to address such challenges and make the most out of the country's large youth population.

The sector minister announced that the terms of reference of the committee include holding stakeholder engagements, carrying out an evaluation of the existing Youth Policy to identify a gap analysis report and developing a concept paper for the review.

The committee is also expected to establish a National Technical Committee for policy implementation.

The Sector Minister finally called on the Committee to take into consideration the real issues affecting the Ghanaian Youth, stressing on the Access to Education, Gender Inequality, Disability Mainstreaming, Unemployment, ICT, Promotion of Youth Entrepreneurship and Access to Health Care especially in the line of Adolescent Reproductive Health and Rights.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Committee, Kwesi Evans Nkum, said the development of the youth remains a priority as the nation strives towards holistic development.

He said the Committee will have a wider and broader consultation at the various levels (local, regional and national), to elicit inputs that will inform the review process as clearly streamlined by the Terms of Reference (TOR).