The National Youth Authority, (NYA) has started engaging the youth across the country to seek their inputs and recommendations on the review of Authority’s 2010 National Youth Policy. In this regard a regional consultative forum has been held at Wa in the Upper West Region to collate views of the participants on the review.
The engagement is supported by Commonwealth Secretariat, (STAR) Ghana and ActionAid Ghana.
Speaking at the first of the Regional Consultative Meetings, Board Chairperson of the NYA and MP for Kwabre East, Madam Francisca Oteng Mensah, called on the youth to take advantage of the review process and make well informed inputs. This she said will make the new policy document a well-structured one without any political reasoning.
“At NYA, we needed to take the very important initiative of this National Youth Policy Review. We all have diverse ideas which we can all bring together and see how best we can push the youth agenda,” she explained.
The National Youth Authority in a bid to make the new policy document more comprehensive began the review process by engaging Persons Living with Disabilities, (PWDs) and some Gender groups. The Authority expects to engage the youth at the regional level on the conditions in society that guarantee the holistic development of the youth into worthy and responsible citizens.
The Board Chairperson of the NYA Madam Francisca Oteng Mensah stressed on the need to make inputs to the document without political lenses saying “I will be urging all of us that we should come out with ideas which are devoid of any political reasoning. We should come up with decisions that we think that ideally as a country we can rely on, because once this thing [new National Youth Policy] is done, it becomes and authority. And that is what we are all going to rely on.”
The Director in charge of Education and Training at the NYA Paa Kwesi Evans Nkum was optimistic that after the review process, the new document would be more responsive to the needs of the youth.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Alhassan Sulemana, in a speech read on his behalf said the 2010 document needs to be in sync with global trends and requirements thus the need for the review. He admitted that the youth need to be given a very conducive environment to develop in order to contribute to the national economy.
The Minister explained that “a cursory look at the document indicates that it is structured to empower the youth to contribute positively to their own development and to national development. The policy objectives and strategies are realizable provided that government and all stakeholders remain committed to the implementation of the programmes and activities of the policy when the document is finally completed.”
The meeting was attended by a number of youth groups in the Upper West Region, members of the Upper West Regional Youth Parliament as well as some Traditional rulers.
Story by Mark Smith
