Youth Development Programmes for employable skills in Ghana: a case study of Kumasj Metropolis

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Date
2001-12-19
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Developments in the labour market as a whole affect the position of young people employed and unemployed alike, which must often compete within the employment market on adult terms. The youth labour market thus occupies a symbiotic position with the adult in the world’s economies (ILO, 2001). Such developments have been triggered by technological changes on production and service industries, increased participation in education and training, as well as the impact of SAPs in most developing countries. Nevertheless, full employment is not attainable without reorienting the objectives of training to furnish technical and management skills and help develop appropriate attitudes for specific occupations and jobs. In Ghana, there is an overwhelming number of youth training programmes, which count up to 1000, or more with the ultimate goal of imparting to the youth employable skills, as part of strategy to generate employment. The providers of the programmes are both the public and private sectors. But since then these programmes have made little impact in bringing about the changes expected due to poor training system that produced unappreciable skills. This study was conducted to assess the impact of the training on the youth, its relevance to current employment needs in Kumasi Metropolis. Three vocational training institutions, 47 ex-trainees and 20 employers were selected as cases for the study using semi-structured questionnaires. Each institute represented different orientation such as state, commercial and non-profit making. The results confirmed the stated problem in the study namely: poor support services including attachment to facilitate skill acquisition, weak inter-linkages, out-dated training facilities, and dwindling public confidence in the vocational skills. Finally, the study suggested strategies aimed at alleviating the problems, which require the involvement of Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly. One major strategy is a call for an establishment of NACVET branch at local level with responsibilities including co-ordination of training activities in the Metropolis.
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A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Development Planning and Management, 2001
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