Stakeholders validate Draft Youth Policy Statement
The Reverend Frank Lartey Junior, a Member of the Technical Committee for Review of the National Youth Policy, has said it was important that stakeholders took seriously the on-going validation of the Draft Youth Policy Statement.
This is because their input was vital to fashioning out a comprehensive national youth policy to stand the test of time.
“It is a necessity that we take critical look at emerging youth development challenges and how best they could be addressed holistically,” Reverend Lartey Junior told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Kumasi.
This was on the sideline of a day’s workshop to validate the Draft Youth Policy Statement, in Kumasi.
The programme, organized under the auspices of the National Youth Authority (NYA), had in attendance youth leaders and youth-based organizations, youth activists, civil society organizations and Members of the Technical Committee for Review of the National Youth Policy.
The workshop discussed the seven main thematic areas of the Statement, including economic empowerment of young people, youth health and wellbeing, education, skills development and innovation.
The rest are youth participation and governance, institutional framework for youth development in Ghana and major youth development programmes.
The Statement was drafted, following a consultative meeting held throughout the country to review the 2010 National Youth Policy.
Rev Lartey Junior indicated that the existing National Youth Policy in its current form was not consistent with relevant international development protocols and frameworks such as the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It is, therefore, important for the nation to work assiduously to bring about the needed changes and reforms in her youth development policies for accelerated growth.
Mr George Orwell Amponsah, Ashanti Regional Director of the NYA, advised the youth to strive to own development programmes and projects designed for their wellbeing
They should be actively involved at all stages of their implementation in order to achieve the intended purposes.
Mr Amponsah assured that the Authority would not relent in its advocacy for an empowered youth, saying this was the only way the nation could achieve prosperity.
Source: GNA