The National Youth Authority, Upper West Regional Directorate, has organized an advocacy dialogue in Wa with policy makers and youth leaders to advocate for increased youth participation in programme planning, implementation monitoring and reporting for national development.
The forum was targeted at encouraging the youth to always take part in matters regarding national planning, implementation of policies and decision making. The occasion also creates an avenue for policy makers to interact with the youth and get them involved in programme planning and implementation.
Addressing the participants on Wednesday, May 26, 2021, Mr Archibald Donkor Junior, Upper West Regional Director of the National Youth Authority said the youth has a crucial role to play when it comes to programme planning and implementation emphasizing that the youth has greater potentials, when exploited, will inure to sustainable policy planning and implementation.
“As a youth development practitioner, I have come to the realization of the huge potentials of the youth in programme and project planning and implementation. They are indeed a critical factor in a sustainability plan of most projects,” he said.
The NYA Director noted that Ghana has a youth population of about 40% saying that, the population of the youth between the age brackets of 15-35 years constitutes 34.2% of the country’s population hence his conviction that the youth must not be ignored in any process of national development.
“In terms of demography, Ghana has a young age structure of almost about 40%. The population of the youth between 15-35 years constitute 34.2% of the population. The youth therefore constitutes a huge segment of Ghana’s population which cannot be ignored in any development process,” Mr Archibald stated.
He reaffirmed the commitment of the National Youth Authority to supporting and advocating for the youth to be included in every stage of programme planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting for concerted national development.
Various heads of departments, agencies and Civil Society Organizations presented before the youth participants opportunities and avenues created from which the can explore for substantial benefits. Some of them include Mr Salifu Issifu Kanton, Executive Director of Community Development Alliance (CDA-Ghana), Madam Maria Johana Yuorpor, Regional Coordinator for Northern Development Authority and CEO of Mara Foods, including officials and representatives from the Regional Agriculture Department, Youth Employment Agency, National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), et tal.