The Government has injected ?50bn into a Youth Fund set up by the Minister of Youth & Sports to train and offer start-up capital for young men and women of this country.
The scheme, which has already kicked off is part-fulfilment of the New Patriotic Party manifesto pledge to create employment for the youth and train the nation’s human resource.
The ?50bn Youth Fund, which was approved by Cabinet on 5 December 2002, will be managed by five ministers including, Edward Osei-Kwaku of Youth & Sports, Baah-Wiredu of local & Rural Government, Apraku of Trade & Industry, and Quarshiga of Agriculture. The Minister of Finance to kick-start the project has released an initial amount of ?10bn.
“The objective is to assist young men and women to acquire employable skills from the Youth Leadership Training Institute such as computer literacy, masonry, carpentry, dressmaking, catering, plumbing, electrical-writing, etc., “says the force behind this innovative project, Edward Osei-Kwaku.
To access the fund one has to apply through the Regional Minister of one’s area to the Board of Trustees of the Youth Fund in Accra who would then process the application. The presence of the five-sector ministers on the Board is to infuse greater scrutiny into the scheme and mechanisms are being put in place to avoid abuse.
But, the Youth Fund is not only meant to offer training, it also seeks to assist those who have acquired blue-collar skills to establish themselves in their trade.
The Youth Leadership Training Institute was first established in 1978. These are currently seven of them nationwide, but the Government is embarking on instituting three others in the remaining regions, namely Central, Northern and Western. The last one was launched at Fawohodi near Goaso in the Brong Ahafo Region.
“On my assumption of office,” says Osei-Kwaku, “I noticed that after a tow-year course at this institution the graduates were left to fend for themselves, with many of them finding themselves unemployed.”
This situation has made the institute unattractive to many youths. Plans are already afoot to expand and improve the facilities of the youth training institutes. The Government will encourage the graduates of the different but complementary disciplines to team together and provide them with starting capital to go into the building industry.
“We want to bring them together to form a construction unit,” according to the Minister for Youth & Sports. He also indicated that the Government is willing to offer them a percentage of government contracts to assist the growth of their small enterprises and, also, in the payment of the loan, which will attract negligible interest rates.
Leaving no stone unturned, they will be taught managerial skills by a national programme ran by the National Youth Council in conjunction with EMPRETEC.
Explaining exclusively to The Statesman as to how the whole idea came about, Osei-Kwaku revealed: “I travelled to South Africa last April when CAF was holding its annual award night.
“I took the opportunity to meet the opportunity to meet the Youth Commissioner of South Africa. In the course of the discussion one thing which made a very deep impression on me was the establishment of a youth fund which helps young men and young women to establish businesses of their own rather than depending on the State for jobs.
“The South African government has paid 1bn rand into that account.” The news in South Africa, a country with a population of 43.6m, is that the 1bn rand ($100m) is not enough. This was indicated by a South African representative at the Youth Conference in Alexandra, Egypt, last September.
The ?50bn start-up capital provided by the government for the Youth Fund would not mean the scheme would rely on the State alone. The loan aspect of it would introduce an essential element of self-financing.
“Also we want to explore other sources of funds,” the Minister of Youth & Sports disclosed. These may include appealing to the private sector to contribute into the Youth & Sports disclosed. These may include appealing to the private sector to contribute into the Youth Fund as it will serve as a convenient human resource pool for them, too.
“Other ideas include channelling one per cent of proceeds from football matches; appealing to Ghanaians abroad through our embassies to contribute. We will also appeal to traditional rulers, such as the Asantehene and Okyenhene to assist with this venture,” Osei-Kwaku gives notice.
With a touch of pride, he says, “Government has agreed to assist the youth to lead a meaningful life. ?10bn of the fund is readily available. We have work to do. There is a lot of education to be done to get the message across that the fund is there for the youth to access.” For more information on the Youth Fund you may contact (021) 662 794.
