Ghanaian Youth activist gets position on Commonwealth Youth Council

Ghanaian Youth Activist and Gender Advocate Abena Dugan has been elected the new vice chair in charge of Partnership and Resources of the Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC).

The council is the largest and most diverse youth-led organisation in the world, representing young people in 53 commonwealth countries.

Ms Dugan has thus been given the responsibility of engaging about 1.3 billion of the world’s young people on global issues.

Briefing the Daily Graphic on the appointment, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Mr Vincent Ekow Assafuah, said Ms Dugan had also become the first Ghanaian and the first female from West Africa to serve as the vice chairperson of the council.

Empowering commonwealth youth

She will team up with a nine-member executive with the responsibility of advancing the youth’s development agenda and engaging and empowering young people.

She won her elections in London as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 in a close contest.

She is a former Students Representative Council (SRC) Secretary of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and currently pursuing her Master’s in Development Finance at the University of Ghana.

Prior to her elections, Ms Dugan served as the financial coordinator for the Commonwealth Alliance for young entrepreneurs West Africa Chapter, a founding member of Climate Resilient Network and a member of the World Students Environmental Network.

Vision for the youth

Ms Dugan said she intended to seek for funding for entrepreneurship training and enterprise finance support to tackle unemployment and also initiate Commonwealth Art movement to explore young artists and support for building climate resilient communities.

She said she was grateful for the mandate to lead “this revolution, this crusade, this coming together of hands that will achieve a new order—one that shares a common commitment of building a better world on endless possibilities.”

She also expressed his appreciation to the Government of Ghana for the enormous support in favour of her bid.

Writer’s email: victor.kwawukume@graphic.com.gh