National Youth Policy and Advocacy
I am Kafui Aheto from Ghana. I am an Educationist by profession and an Educational Advocate by passion.
Ghana has a national youth policy that came into being in was signed 2010.
Entrepreneurial development, among other factors, propels and accelerates socio-economic development. However, its development is limited to a small section of the youth. Government realizes the need to mainstream entrepreneurial development into school curricula to give it the necessary impetus. In Ghana, such entrepreneurial development is earmarked to be achieved through:
- integration of entrepreneurial skills into youth development activities.
- facilitation of access to credit for the youth.
- creation of corps of young entrepreneurs to serve as role models.
- celebration of successful young entrepreneurs.
(Source: National Youth Policy of Ghana,pg 11 & 12)--Kafuiaheto 21:32, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
Thanks Simon Peter for your response.
I should start by commending Ghana for enacting the national youth policy last year, I know it has provided a 'legitimate' framework for young people to pursue entrepreneurship with some support from Government and other key stake holders. I note that you mention the policy is limited to a small section of the youth and I believe that it may be worthwhile to explore how best a policy integrates a larger section of the identified population - food for thought.
I notice you talk about mainstreaming entrepreneurial development in the education curriculum as well as providing the necessary start up capital for youth - do we have a model youth credit facility in place? Creating young entrepreneurs to serve as role models should encourage peer learning.
I trust that other countries have similar or very different initiatives from Ghana, lets hear from others.
I would like to request that we introduce ourselves as we respond.
Nellie
Thank you Nellie.
I am not reliably informed about any model youth credit facility yet in place, but I am also not sure if we have something like that.--Kafuiaheto 06:48, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
Thanks Kafui Aheto, would you know how accessible the credit is to young people? The Commonwealth Secretariat has a youth credit model, the Commonwealth Youth credit Initiative (CYCI), it will be worthwhile to read about it and identify with some of the pillars that are recommended for a successful youth credit initiative. The CYCI has been tested and adapted in a number of countries in the Africa region
Thank you once again Nellie. Can you please make available to me the Commonwealth Secretariat youth credit model? It will be of great service to me.--Kafuiaheto 17:15, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
Nellie, Thanks for your moderation on youth policy issues. I am Ekanath. I have already shared my views on it. Regarding the special credit facility for youth, I could not find any special country specific module .There is lot of demand on it at policy level like Kenya National youth policy 2006 document talks about it , hopefully the recent credit IFC credit facility in general could be the outcome of this policy issues in Kneya. I am not so sure about it hope our colleague from Kenya will highlight this issues more explicitly
For Zambia case, for a good start we can take the example of the current CEEC approach for youth investment .The CEEC has already aside some special investment model for youth entrepreneurs in Zambia which eventually may grow in future.
Generally, the National youth policy should be aimed at creating opportunities that can explore the hidden talent of the youth force of the country and inspire them to develop their genius in their respective sectors. The youth policy should also centre on protecting and respecting the youths who could specialize in various market oriented entrepreneurial activities .
As per the he SEED Series on Youth and Entrepreneurship working paper 2006, the policy should explicitly address the issues of entry barriers by providing enough Incentives to Enterprise Start-ups by Young People" .
Nepal Government Youth policy 2006 ( draft) includes various subject matters on how to make the present education system technical and income-oriented and how to orient a larger number of productive youths to involve in development of the country and in positive works. The proposed policy also includes the career counseling and are engulfed either in insurgency or in educational unemployment focusing on producing innovative youths armed with skills and technology
Zambia has had a youth policy as far back as 1994 whose main interest was to take care of the young people's welfare and interests. for me the policy fails short of addressing main stake of the youth challenges that the youth of today are facing. We do appreciate the need to provide a policy that is more protective but then it should be very broad enough to address the needs of today's world. Many zambian youths will agree with me that there is no link between the Enterprenuership policy and Youth policy ...What is there is to day in Zambia is a fragmented piece meal that has been and is still failling the majority in Zambia(52%). Many Zambians who are enterprenuerial minded have been not until this year january very left in the dark. All the policy frameworks and iniatives including the implementation startegies does not support young people both at nation and community level. I will comment more letter. Zambian- BWALO
Thanks Bwalo for your contribution. I take note that you mention that the Zambia youth policy fails short of addressing the main challenges of young people - were young people consulted in the policy development process? maybe their participation would have provided a realistic check on what young people's challenges are. You have raised an important issue regarding the link between entrepreneurship policy and the national youth policy - without the synergy it becomes a huge challenge to coherently prioritise as well as maximise on use of resources on implementation of entrepreneurship initiatives that as well could address general youth development challenges. The debate can go further, how far have youth policies been integrated into national development policies/plans?
Isaac, most of our policies in Africa seem to always enjoy fine political will and the desire for its implementation by governments. Like in Ghana, I totally agree with you that there is no link between the Entrepreneurship policy and Youth policy. Personally and practically, there is a very natural dichotomy between the policy itself, and its implementation. --Kafuiaheto 17:32, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
Thanks Ekanath for sharing the Nepalese Youth Policy scenario, again I note that like in Ghana your country's Policy is attempting to utilise the education system to inculcate an entrepreneurship culture in young people - how has this approach worked in your situation?
Sorry, I didn't pick your name
Thanks Nellie for your respond,
Still this policy has not been institunalised at all level academic system . However, in boarder perspectives, education has been made qualitative, skill and vocational oriented and most the school have adopted the vocational skills curriculum as well. Right now most of the business schools/universities are also incorporating the minimum entrepreneurship skills development curriculum. For example one of the agriculture college (AIS, Rampur) has adopted the community development and entrepreneurship course as one of the mandatory course up to MSc level course.
Most important policy adopted is, free education up to Grade X under the theme “education for all “
Institutionalising entrepreneurship in the education system is a process. I note that entrepreneurship skills are taught at various institutions and levels which is a good practice in inculcating an entrepreneurial culture in the community. There are lessons here for other countries to emulate. Does the Government have a framework to follow-up/monitor how useful the entrepreneurial skills acquired at school come handy later on in life/after school - in essence what percentage of school leavers venture into entrepreneurship?
Peter, Congratulations! I can see, Ghana had just reviewed the Youth Policy and have considered entrepreneurial development into school curricul, my questiopn is: What about the Out-of- School youth that you have in the country? Is there a separate curriculum for them? Janet
Ubandoma, thanks so much. I will have to study the policy and get back to you. What I can say now is that the policy also seeks to facilitate access to credit for the youth. For now, this is the only thing I can say that the Out-of-School youth can benefit from. I don't know of any separate curriculum for them but I don't think such a policy exists.--Kafuiaheto 20:30, 18 February 2011 (UTC)
