RURAL YOUTHS TO BE SUPPORTED BY NYA

By: Ryan Millward

The National Coordinator of the National Youth Authority (NYA) Sedina Tamakloe Attiona has disclosed that the authority aims at assisting youths in the rural areas to develop their potentials.



Sedina Tamakloe Attiona 



She made this known at the mid-year review of the authority at Elmina where the National Youth Policy was launched August last year.

 The NYA exists to implement the National Youth Policy put in place by the government and aims to provide ‘general empowerment of Ghanaian youth’. It’s role is to oversee, co-ordinate and organise activities and programmes that improve the social and moral fabric of young people in Ghana.

Evidently it seems that there is a lot of positive movement that the NYA is providing through it’s collaboration with youth groups throughout the regions of Ghana. In the mid-year review many groups presented their progress of the last 6 months identifying their successes in steering the Ghanaian youth toward a better future for themselves and the country.

The Center for the Development of People (CEDEP) reported that they had been providing activities for young people that included discussions about life planning, parent/child communication, provision of condoms as well as conducting meetings with people living with Aids. Agya Eshun, a 26 year old man from Bremang, said: “Through the activities of CEDEP I now live happy together with my wife”.

The organisation Theatre for a Change (TFAC) also reported positive news in their activities with young people throughout Ghana. They told how they had provided 246 workshops to over 800 people where they taught them how to benefit the community and decrease Aids and violence.  They also added that a massive 3,819 people had witnessed HIV prevention messages through their interactive theatre performances.

Whilst this may all sound like positive news, it became clear at the meeting in Elmina that the Central Region of Ghana faces a more uphill task in providing an empowerment of Ghanaian youth than others. The NYA is here to get more young people into schools, lower HIV cases, decrease violence and stop teenage pregnancies amongst other things – however, while statistics show that nationally these things are slowly improving, the Central Region of Ghana still displays poorer results in statistics released by Dramani Maha, the regional population officer.

The Regional Population Officer then under-went a speech that revealed some damning statistics for the Central Region. Dramani Maha first mentioned the National Population Policy that was put in place in 1994 to lower fertility rates in Ghana as to avoid an influx of children that the country could not cope with. It is designed to achieve the following fertility targets; by 2000, 5%, 2010, 4% and 2010, 3%.

However, compared to the national fertility figures of Ghana, the Central Region has gone the other way and shown an increase in the latest surveys. The total fertility rate of the central region according to the GDHS, 1998 was 4.8%, GDHS, 2003 was 5.0%, and GDHS, 2008, was 5.4%. This is of obvious importance to the NYA who feel that an increasing young population will shake the structures of the socio-economic services. This is something that the organization now look to address in the future.

Some speakers argued that economic activity was limited to Kumasi and Accra making the surrounding areas in Central Region poorer with more bad trends in the youth such as the aforementioned fertility rates and school dropouts – which is over 10% in some districts. Certainly it seems that some areas need more concentration by the NYA than others – a concern met by the National Co-ordinator of the NYA, Sedina Tamakloe Attiona.

She stressed: “We need to concentrate more on the rural areas – those who are out of school and at high risk. Let’s go to the places outside the main cities so they experience what the National Youth Authority does.”

However, as more groups came forward to document their success in the meeting, it became clear that it isn’t all bad news for the region as many groups look to the future to improve statistics. The youth group SWAG reported on their work in three districts in the Central Region where they aimed to combat HIV in the young female communities. Their work included highlighting the dangers of unprotected sex, conducting HIV tests and helping with the supply of contraception – they reported that an impressive 2518 people had been reached by the programme.



Donation of Computers to NYA C/R Office

 The youth group Curious Minds reiterated the need to improve reproductive health by revealing their work in 4 outreach programmes across three districts in which large numbers attended – including the Ghanaian Municipal Director of Education himself.

The idea of looking to the future was recognised further in the meeting where the Deputy National NYA co-ordinator Prince Derek Adjei handed over six computer sets to the NYA Regional Co-ordinator William K.Atikese so that some NYA offices were better equiped. Atikese said on receiving the computers that: “More internships, projects, summer camps, information and networking could be arranged via the computers and new media.”

As is evident, it emerged in the meeting that there is a lot of radical work and ideas occurring to help improve the quality of life of young people throughout Ghana. In doing so, these groups, activities and partnerships, are now helping the NYA to achieve their mission and install empowerment amongst the country’s youth. Again, there is still more work to be done with members of the National Youth Authority stressing the need for better funds and a more organised authority. As the youth groups look to expand, they will need a stronger, more organised and funded NYA – something that at present looks to be a big hill to climb.

Still, in a developing country the NYA remains crucial toward providing Ghana with a healthy working population for the future. The meeting in Elmina showed a reassurance that there is a lot of hard work being done and that many people do care about the youth. Although it still remains that there is much vital work to undergo in improving the lives of the Ghanaian youth, the NYA is certain that results will improve. As the National Co-ordinator said herself: “The youth are the future of this country and we will not be ignored.”