Reinvigorating the youth for development

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to invite members of the Youth Development and Peace (YDP) Network of Ghana to a conference call, taking place at World Bank offices here in Ghana, with members of the North American chapter who are just organizing a chapter of their own. An initiative of the World Bank, the YDP framework seeks to partner with regional youth development NGO’s to form regional networks to address global poverty. The Ghana chapter recently launched in August and I thought it might be helpful for both the North America chapter and the Ghana chapter to communicate on this conference call which was planned to include only YDP North America members.

So, the call went very well as the Ghana members certainly had a lot of experience with building networks. They recommended to the North America group that they give leadership positions not to their friends and loved ones, but rather to those who have the technical and specialized knowledge required for the position. They also recommended that the North America group must brand the YDP framework to make it appealing and unique. This brought up questions surrounding the affiliation with World Bank and the resulting impact that it would have. I recommended we emphasize the link to maintain credibility and prominence, yet we must specify the nature and role of the World Bank in the partnership as one of coordinator and resource provider, not agenda-setter. Most agreed, although Nii of the Ghana group mentioned that the affiliation with World Bank could discourage cooperation with some developing country governments (a good point).

The Ghana YDP group then invited me to a video conference the World Bank in DC was hosting regarding agriculture development. The West African Development Organization (WADO) is a group of youth in West Africa that advocates for youth in agriculture as an ideal. Over the video conference, several ministers of African nations and experts in agriculture participated, but the Ghana contingent was all youth which was impressive. There was even a practicing youth farmer there. They gave the youth perspective and were recognized by all the participants (Senegal, Nigeria, Liberia, Washington, DC). Big issues were: access to credit for land, land tenure, attractiveness of agriculture. Attractiveness of agriculture was particularly important for the youth because many youth frown upon the field as a dead end. But, the potential it offers is great both for the farmer and for economic development in Africa.

From these conferences, I learned that Ghanaian youth know the problems of development well. I found that not all youth are willing to do anything about it though—there is a lack of volunteerism here. Ghanaians will not sacrifice without compensation so readily as they want payment for work they do. It relates to that spirit of nationalism that remains dormant as Ghana still does not have a solid and unified national image. Hopefully that will change and private charity and volunteerism escalates. The United States is great because of that community service spirit- it really makes a difference because those that are willing to sacrifice make the greatest strides for national development. I am privileged to meet this group of Ghanaians who are inspiring others to follow in their steps.