The challenges of youth unemployment to the Church in Ghana: response of the Methodist Church Kumasi Circuit and Church of God Patasi District

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2013-08-01
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Abstract
Youth employment as a concept holds that young people are an important resource and key to the growth and development of any nation. Youthful years are with great strength and ability; therefore it is incumbent on the government and other stakeholders including the Church to harness this tremendous potential in a co-ordinated approach to enhance its growth and development. It is against this background that this research sought to review the main causes and effects of youth unemployment in Ghana as well as the responses that have been generated from the government, the Church and other stakeholders. The research looked specifically at what Methodist Church Kumasi Circuit and Church of God Patasi District perceive as causes and effects of youth unemployment and assessed their efforts at addressing the youth unemployment challenge. Effort by government and suggestions by private sector to address the youth unemployment challenge were also discussed. The research revealed these as the main causes of youth unemployment; lack of skills by the youth, low investment and low economic growth, slow growth of SME and a lack of comprehensive strategy to deal with the problem. Some of the major effects were that, the youth may be prone to deviant behaviours as a result of frustration, hopelessness and desperation borne out of continuous unemployment. Unemployment could result in tension and conflicts in the family and as such breakdown of social network and family cohesion. In the Church, it could hamper the spiritual and physical growth, as a result of low attendances and reduction of church finances. Unemployment could affect the national economy and pose a threat to peace, stability and development of the nation as the youth fail to contribute to the growth of the GDP and resort to deviant behaviours. The research further revealed that although the churches have a lot of programmes designed and planned for the youth, few of such programmes were targeted to address the unemployment challenges. The research recommended among others that christian attitude and for that matter the church attitude towards the unemployed youth should be that of sympathy leading to assisting them out of the situation and not seeing them as worthless and downtrodden. Pastoral care therefore becomes paramount as leaders of the church have the greatest responsibility in finding solution to the youth unemployment challenge. It is the firm conviction of the researcher that the findings as outlined in this study will be of benefit to all stakeholders whose duties and responsibilities are to ensure the empowerment and development of the youth in Ghana.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Religious Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Philosophy,August,2013
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