The four-year programme is called Gha­na European Union-Germany Joint Actions on Jobs, Migration and Development.

It is being implemented by the Ghana­ian-European Centre for Jobs, Migration and Development, in collaboration with German Development Cooperation (GIZ) and Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.

The project is geared towards supporting skills and jobs creation for the youth and strengthen national, regional and local ca­pacity to promote employment and leverage the development potential of migration through regular migration, diaspora engage­ment and reintegration.

Co-funded by the European Union (EU), the project formed part of activities to mark the 2023 European Year of Skills.

The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, who launched the project, said it was meant to support development projects and create jobs for the youth.

He said the project was also to ensure regular migration among the youth and educate them on the appropriate means to travel.

“The importance of the project cannot be overemphasised since it forms part of the government agenda for job creation and development,” Mr Awuah said.

The minister noted that Ghana has a youthful population, and the economy was not much devel­oped like that of Europe to create enough jobs.

Mr Awuah said that while Europe had an ageing population with lot of jobs, the reverse was the case in Ghana.

He said in view of the inadequate jobs in the country, the youth preferred to travel to seek greener pastures.

Mr Awuah said some of the youth used inappropriate means to travel to Europe and became illegal immigrants and they could not secure good jobs.

He said it was to stem the tide of illegal migration among the youth that the Gha­na-European Union-Germany Joint Action on Jobs, Migration and Development sought to support the youth on regular migration, and create good conditions for them to stay in the country.

Mr Awuah appealed to EU to support investment programmes in the country and offer scholarship to Ghanaians to study abroad and return to their country to sup­port national development.

“Some European countries are estab­lishing their subsidiaries in Ghana and the country will need skilled people and expertise to work in such organisations, else experts will be brought from outside the country to work in such organisations,” he said.

The EU Ambassador to Ghana, Irchad Razaaly, said the project would help support regular migration of the youth to Europe, and that the project would help strengthen the relations between Ghana and the EU.

Mr Razaaly said the project, which was the first in the new EU development partnership with Ghana, which spanned 2021 to 2027, would help boost Ghana’s socio-economic development.

The German Ambassador to Ghana, Daniel Krull, appealed to the implement­ing partners to extend the programme to the rural parts of Ghana to the benefit of people at the grassroots