Youth Development and Empowerment Minister George Opare Addo says one of the biggest obstacles to tackling youth unemployment was not the absence of government programmes, but the
The report indicates that youth Development and Empowerment Minister George Opare Addo says one of the biggest obstacles to tackling youth unemployment was not the absence of government programmes, but the failure to coordinate them effectively across ministries.
It further notes that speaking on Wednesday, July 8, the minister stated the government spent its first year and a half trying to understand the real causes of youth unemployment before rolling out interventions.
“Within the last one year and six months, it’s been very tough. That I must admit, it’s been very difficult, and it’s been very challenging,” he said.
According to him, addressing youth unemployment requires long-term planning because investments in young people do not produce immediate results.
“The problem with youth or youth unemployment is that youth issues – I call investment in young people an investment, and you reap the dividends with time.”
Mr Opare Addo stated the ministry commissioned a series of surveys to gain a clearer understanding of the challenges facing young people.
“In the last one and a half years, we needed to understand what the real issues were, and so we commissioned a few surveys.”
He stated the findings have now given the ministry a clearer direction.
“And God has been so good. At least today, I’m able to tell you that I have a very good appreciation of what the issues are, and based on what the survey told us, what the research told us, we are using it to tackle our problems.”
The minister stated the research also uncovered a major structural weakness within government.
“What I also saw at the ministry was that it was not that we lacked programs; there were more than enough programs to fix the problems.”
Instead, he said, implementation and coordination were the biggest challenges.
“The challenge was implementation and how we are able to coordinate these programs effectively.”
Mr Opare Addo explained that youth-related interventions had become scattered across different government institutions, leading to duplication and inefficient use of resources.
