The Ghana Women and Youth Employment and Social Cohesion (GWYESCO) Programme is targeting the creation of 22,000 direct jobs and support for 10,000 women and youth-led businesses under a US$71 million African Development Bank-backed intervention.
Chief Executive Officer of the Social Investment Fund (SIF), Lawyer Abass-Adams Nurudeen, said the four-year programme will also create about 6,000 indirect jobs and support 8,000 women and youth-led Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to access credit.
“In four years, the project is supposed to use the financial package granted by the African Development Bank, which is a $71 million facility, to create employment, or to create 22,000 direct jobs, 6,000 indirect jobs. Train 10,000 youth and women-led micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises. Actually help 8,000 of them get access to credit, and then build the capacity of seven institutions,” he said.
Official African Development Bank documents put the financing at US$71.55 million and the employment targets at 22,000 direct and 6,189 indirect jobs. The programme also includes business and entrepreneurship development training for women and youth-owned MSMEs and improved access to finance. (African Development Bank)
Mr Nurudeen was speaking at a stakeholder engagement in Bolgatanga on the GWYESCO Programme, which is being implemented by the Social Investment Fund, with the Ministry of Finance as the executing agency. (African Development Bank)
He said the intervention is intended to address youth unemployment and economic vulnerability, particularly in northern Ghana.
“This program is particularly important given the rising phenomenon of youth unemployment. Ghana has a very young or youthful demographic characteristics. More than 70% of our population is below the age of 50 years. And if you come to the northern part of Ghana, the statistics become even more troubling,” he said.
Mr Nurudeen said unemployment and the number of young people who are not in employment, education or training also present broader social challenges, including vulnerability to radicalisation and violent extremism.
“So the John Mahama-led administration thought it wise to roll out this project that has as its objective to empower women and youth and to also mitigate the drivers of vulnerability,” he stated.
GWYESCO focuses on three main areas: market-driven skills development and employment, access to financial and non-financial services for women and youth-owned MSMEs, and strengthening institutional capacity and systems. (African Development Bank)
Mr Nurudeen said the market-driven training component is intended to equip young people and women with skills that respond to opportunities in the labour market and enable beneficiaries to either secure employment or become self-employed.
The programme is also heavily focused on women and young people, as well as persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups.
“When we say youth and women-centered program, we mean it’s for the youth and the women. So the youth categorization ranges from 18 to 35, and the women 18 and above… This program is heavily skewed towards our mothers, our sisters, and our wives,” he said.
Beyond training, Mr Nurudeen said GWYESCO is designed to provide beneficiaries with additional support, including equipment, access to finance and markets, to improve their chances of building sustainable businesses.
“So this program is a compulsive program or an end-to-end program. Often you have programs coming to train people, and after training, they leave them on their own devices. But this program is a bit different, in that after training, some people will be equipped with the tools they need to go out there and survive on their own,” he added.
SIF will work with several institutions in implementing the programme, including the Youth Employment Agency, National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme, GRATIS Foundation and Northern Development Authority. The programme will also work with financial institutions to expand access to credit for beneficiary businesses.
The AfDB says GWYESCO will run through 2029 and will support employment, skills development, entrepreneurship, access to finance and social cohesion, with particular attention to vulnerable communities and northern Ghana.
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