Creating conducive environment for youth development: Private sector, state agencies partnership vital — Ussif

The Private sector has been encouraged to partner and collaborate with state agencies to foster an environment that propels the success of the youth.

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, who made the call highlighted the need for the two agencies to create a conducive atmosphere for youth development.

He was speaking at the Absa Bank Readytowork Mastercard Foundation Youth Forum 2023 dubbed "Empowering & Igniting Young Visionaries".

Consequently, he called on young people to get involved and participate meaningfully in climate change issues in the country.

He said the actions of the over 11.7million youth in the country contributed to environmental degradation and the depletion of the country’s natural wealth.

Mr Ussif said youth innovation and sustainable solutions would enable policymakers to involve the youth in policy and decision-making processes.

He, therefore, urged the young people to participate in the 13th African Games to bring forth their skills, passion and determination, saying, “this is a golden opportunity for you to showcase not only your athletic abilities but also your diverse expertise and trades.”

The two-day forum would ensure the Ghanaian youth is empowered to participate actively in economic decisions affecting their livelihoods.

The programme also would support young people with the necessary tools to stimulate the development of work skills, people skills, computational thinking, money skills and entrepreneurial skills.

Rationale

The Director, Marketing and Corporate Affairs of Absa Bank Ghana LTD, Nana Essilfuah Tamakloe, said the programme would provide young people with the skills needed to transit smoothly from the lecture room to the world of work.

She said the youth constituted a major asset and presented a continued existence of the society; hence, the forum would guarantee the continuity and the sustenance of the business.

“We at Absa see in them a very truism the future of our business, our employees, our customers, our business owners and suppliers, because the current customers that we have, obviously as we have an aging population move on and it's naturally the youth that will fill all these positions and rules,” she added.

Mrs Tamakloe said in the past six years, the bank had organised initiatives that recognised and empowered the youth as the next generation of leaders.

“We believe that the future looks more promising than ever for the countless young minds.

And investing in their dreams and aspiration will help to develop them into tomorrow's leaders as we can help them meet their own unique tapestry.

 Let's continue to work together to impart the future leaders by providing young people one story at a time,” she said.

Partnership

The Country Director of Mastercard Foundation, Rica Rwigamba, said the partnership had brought a record of accomplishment that fostered innovation, enabled young talent and empowered the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs.

“According to the World Bank, by 2014, the continent’s population is projected to rise to 45 million, with 58 per cent of its population under 30 years old; hence, the country’s unemployment was critical and a concern to all stakeholders committed to enabling work opportunities for young people,” she added.

Ms Rwigamba said the foundation was committed to working with partners to ensure that young people were prepared to access work opportunities and stressed the need to contribute to tackling the problem of youth unemployment.

She said the vision of the foundation by 2030 was “to see the country demonstrate a group of young people harnessing opportunities to shape the future of work and to create an inclusive economy with enhanced resilience for the most vulnerable.”