United Nations Youth Ghana gets new country head

The United Nations (UN) Youth Ghana has inducted Miss Rita Siba Opare as its new country head to promote youth development and empowerment.

The induction of Ms Opare makes her the second woman to occupy the office after Ms Lilian Sally Addo, who was at the helm of affairs of the UN Youth Ghana for four years, 2017-2020.

The induction ceremony, which took place in Accra last February 13 at the Ghana International Press Centre, was attended by some young men and women activists and some young journalists.

Mr Kwadwo Amankwa, Legal advisor to UN Youth Ghana, swore Ms Opare into office.

Youth Involvement

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of UN Youth Ghana, Mr Firdaus Mubarak Yussif, said the youth had been left out in decision-making processes and called for their involvement in decision making.

He urged the new country head of UN Youth to champion and promote the involvement of the youth in decision making as means to changing the narrative on issues affecting the youth.

“We are going to get rid of the negatives, change the narrative and make history,” he said.

Mr Yussif said the UN Security Council Resolution 2250, which is the first resolution on youth, peace and security adopted by the UN in 2015, states that the youth must be involved in decision-making since they are agents of change when it comes to maintaining peace and security.

“We need to engage young people not only as people who derive advantage but as equal partners in preventing conflict and building peace,” he said.

He further called on the country’s youth to join the in-coming Country Head of the UN Youth Ghana and her team to make the voice of the youth heard.

“I want all the youth in the country to take active interest in the UN Youth and collaborate with Ms Rita Siba Opare, to take us safely to our destination,” Mr Yussif said.

Vision 2020

For her part, Ms Opare, pledged her support to efforts to push the UN forward and also get the youth involved in nation building.

“The youth are a powerful force and even though we are from diverse backgrounds we have the same aim to be of relevance to our nation,” she said

She said she would work with her team to champion climate change issues and educate people to come together and tackle them.

She said there was need to get everyone on board, unite and take a bold stance on climate change.

“We need to start a new conversation on climate change and come up with policies that will shield us from harsh weather conditions,” she said.

She said the UN Youth Ghana had listed a number of programmes towards making sure that young people received the right exposure to make them relevant in building the nation building.

Ms Opare said the youth were capable of managing their own affairs, adding that “we are the driving force for development and that cannot be underrated”.