The Chief Executive Officer of the government flagship programme, the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO), Dr Ibrahim Anyars, has stated trainees of the employment scheme are now attractive in the job market after their value-added working experience in the past three years.
According to Dr Anyars, the policy was formulated to provide the needed working experience for the young Ghanaian graduate transiting from the academia to the working environment.
Speaking during a Consultative Breakfast Meeting on Harmonizing Policies and Programmes on Youth Development in Ghana organized by the National Youth Authority (NYA) last Friday, the NABCO Chief Executive, emphasized the beneficiaries are now fit and ready for every job opportunity in the labor market having acquired the requisite skills and experience under the various modules.
YouStart Programme
Dr Ibrahim Anyars indicated the government’s YouStart entrepreneurship initiative will provide the remaining 66,648 trainees from the scheme an immediate and ready resource to start their own businesses.
“This is in the light of their exit arrangements, but even more imperative is the quantum of investment that has been made already in these tertiary graduates” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Finance, Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta who was the Special Guest of Honor reemphasized that entrepreneurship must be at the centre stage of job creation for Ghana’s youth and the YouStart under the Ghana CARES Programme will be the platform to provide the needed capacity; Technology, required Skills Set and Capital.
The Minister for Public Enterprises and MP for Effia, Hon. Joseph Cudjoe in his closing remarks stated that Entrepreneurship create jobs and not the other way round, and therefore youth programmes in harmonizing should prioritize entrepreneurship.
For his part, Dr Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa, Director General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) who doubled as Chairman of the meeting, said the current older generation must stop encouraging the youth to go look for public sector jobs but go into entrepreneurship and drive value from private sector which has a much larger potential.
Representatives of The United Nations (UN) Systems in Ghana, Development Partners and Civil Society Organizations, other youth development organs were part of this meeting.
To conclude the consultative meeting, the youth-focused agencies agreed to the need for convergence, harmonisation and the coordination of their respective mandates for greater impact.
The meeting brought together The Nation Builder’s Corps (NABCO), the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Plan (NEIP), Youth Employment Agency (YEA), National Service Scheme (NSS), Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA), National Alternative Employment and Livelihood Programme (NAELP), Ghana Scholarship Secretariat (SCHOLSEC) among others who discussed the core objectives of their agencies and how to synergize to create greater impact.
