Accra, Oct. 20, GNA- Mr. Isaac Kwame Asiamah, Minister for Youth and Sports, has inaugurated a ten-member technical committee, to review the National Youth Policy (NYP), aimed at engaging the youth for national development.
The committee, which would be chaired by Mr. Kwesi Evans-Nkum, Director for Education and Training, National Youth Authority (NYA), has been tasked to engage the youth and other stakeholders in a meaningful partnership to develop appropriate interventions and services for youth empowerment and development.
According to Mr. Asiamah, there was the need to equip the youth with skills to meet the job market, in order for them to contribute significantly to National Development since a greater mass of the country’s population falls within the youthful bracket.
« MoYS through its apex Agency for Youth development, the NYA, resolved to review the existing NYP in August 2010 and its accompanying action plan to meet the current global and national trends to reflect the current development needs of the Ghanaian youth.
« This would 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 added.
The Member of Parliament for Atwima Mponua constituency said, the terms of reference of the committee would include, have stakeholders’ engagements, carry out evaluation of the existing Youth Policy to identify a gap analysis report, develop a concept paper for the review and establish a National Technical Committee for policy implementation, also urged the members to take into consideration the needs of Ghanaian youth.
« Take into consideration the real issues affecting the Ghanaian Youth, like 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 ».
Mr. Evans-Nkum, on behalf of his team said « it was with great honor that the Committee accepts the responsibility of guiding and spearheading the review of the NYP launched in 2010. « The NYP is an important document that guides and shapes the development of young people and the development of the youth remains a priority as the nation strives to ensure, it gets all it wants in respect to socio-economic development. »
According to him, every policy has a review cycle and that the 2010 policy was due, hence the need to update on facts and figures as well as incorporating new trends to ensure its dynamism, noting that the committee would have a wider and broader consultation at the various levels (local, regional and national) to elicit inputs that would inform the review process as clearly streamlined by the terms of reference.
The other nine members of the committee were Rev. Frank Lartey Jnr, Director for Research, Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, NYA, Ms. Adjoa Yenyi, representative from UN System – UNFPA, Mr. Alex Bankole William, representative from the Ghana Federation of Disability Organizations and Mr. Emmanuel Papa Assan, Guild of Youth Development Practitioners, Mr. Ekow Eshun, Ms. Anita Abonyi, Mr. Solomon Mensah, Mr. Emmanuel Osei and Mr. Samuel Asamoah.
