The report further examined the implementation and the effect of such policies on the generation of decent employment in the six African countries. The six countries are Ghana, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Rwanda, South Africa, and Benin.

At the launch of the reports in Accra, the Resident Director of the FES, Johann Ivanov noted that looking at the number of graduates entering the labour markets yearly “ it is a modern-day tragedy that millions of young Africans will still not be able to find employment and have enough resources to support their families or to realize their potential. Mr. Ivanov called for inclusive designed and well-executed policies on employment generation to tackle the increasing unemployment rates.

He said this requires the involvement of broad societal coalitions of alliances who must be allowed to play key roles in the formulation and implementation of policies on decent employment.

All researchers from the six countries were present at the launch and shared their findings with participants. Delivering the keynote address on employment generation in Africa, Mavis Owusu Agyeman from the African Center for Economic Transformation, said Africa as a continent, is growing, changing, and evolving. She identified three megatrends digital, urbanization and climate change, these she noted is shaping the world.

Mavis Agyeman stressed the need for Africa to take advantage of these 3 major trends which offer real opportunities for transformation, and help generate the 1 million decent jobs per month needed to keep the young generation gainfully employed to contribute to their economies and societies.

Ghana‘s report was authored by Associate Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the Department of Economics of the University of Development Studies, Dr. Paul Kwame Nkegbe and Benjamin Musah Abu. Ghana‘s report admits the increasing unemployment rates in the country and how policies to reduce the increasing numbers have helped.

The report mentions the Nation’s Builders Corp and the Youth Employment Agency policies as being the two out of the lot that has yielded some results. The two policies, NABCO and the YEA were cited as been beneficial because of the opportunities it offered unemployed graduates, employment and a monthly wage for a period of three years.

Although the report mentions the positives of the two policies, it still concludes that unemployment is still a challenge despite the several policies and interventions to tackle the problem. The report recommends the institution of training programmes that aims to reorient trainees to seek self-employment in farming or non-farm household enterprises.

It further urges the government to stay committed to ensuring that policies and legislation for effective participation of women and the vulnerable are implemented to the latter.

A former Minister of Education and former NDC running mate in the 2020 elections, Prof Jane Nana Opoku Agyemang launched the six reports. She admitted that youth unemployment is a challenge and suggested a review of training offered in schools and universities.