The project, dubbed “Youth-Led Initiatives for Employment (Youth LIFE),” will not only provide technical and skills training for beneficiaries, but will also make available start-up capital for them to set up their own businesses after training.

 The Youth Life project is an initiative of the Catholic Relief Service (CRS), Ghana, and will be implemented in partnership with the Tamale Archdiocese of the Catholic Church, Youth Empowerment for Life (YEfL), the Tamale Technical University (TTU) and other private businesses.

Launch

At the launching ceremony last Thursday, the Head of Programming at the CRS, Ghana, Mr David Sombie, said the project sought to address the fundamental challenges of youth unemployment, which exposed many of them to social vices and the vulnerabilities of travelling to Europe across dangerous waters.

Mr Sombie said health, agriculture and youth development would be the focus of the agency towards helping to build a sustainable future.

“According to the 2010 population and housing census, about a third of Ghana’s population falls within the youth brackets.  This poses both risks and opportunities. If well nurtured, the youth could contribute immensely to the social, economic and political development of the country.

“But with the low level of education and the lack of employment opportunities in the north, this youth bracket could become a time bomb waiting to explode if targeted programmes are not designed to address these challenges,” Mr Sombie added.

He said it was against that backdrop that the CRS, Ghana, in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Tamale and YEfL, had come out with the youth life initiative for employment.

Youth-led initiative

The Youth Development Coordinator at the CRS, Ghana, Mr Mutari Mumuni, said the project was structured as a pilot programme.

He added that by the end of the project in 2018,  81 of the beneficiaries would have launched their own businesses while 20 others would obtained employment in the private sector.

In an address read on his behalf, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Tamale Technical University, Dr Abdul-Manan Dauda, said the partnership had more benefits for the trainees since they would be exposed to both theoretical and practical skills impartation.

The Northern Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Alhaji Razak Saani, who chaired the function, said government alone could not provide employment for all young persons, hence the need to encourage more youth to take advantage of the CRS Youth Life Project.