A job fair has been organised by the Youth Advocacy on Rights and Opportunities (YARO) in partnership with the Friedrich- Ebert-Stiftung at Bole in the Savannah Region.
The fair which began on Wednesday 24th November 2021 will end on Saturday 27th November 2021.
The fair is to fill the information gap between government agencies implementing interventions to reduce unemployment and the youth in Northern Ghana.
The fair is also aimed at providing the youth with a platform to shape new strategies and reformulate policies to reflect their needs.
It also created a space for successful enterprises that have emanated from government interventions to exhibit their products and services to serve as reference points towards reducing North-South migration.
Speaking to Citi News, the programmmes Coordinator for the Friedrich- Ebert-Stiftung , Eunice Asiedu said there is an information gap between government policies on employment creation and the youth.
“Unemployment is on the increase, the government is trying its best to create employment for the youth, but the information dissemination of these policies has been lagging and when it comes to implementation as well, there have been some challenges. So we have created this platform for the youth to engage institution heads and policymakers on these policies, for them to understand the opportunities available to them.”
The Executive Director of YARO, Douri Bennin Hajei called on the youth in Northern Ghana to be creative in setting up businesses.
“For the young people up north I will want to urge them to be creative in setting up their own businesses, especially in the agric sector which has so much potential. The agric value chain is so good up north that our people can fit in, so they should look out for the opportunities in all these agencies that are supposed to create jobs for us and take advantage.”
Ghana is faced with 12% youth unemployment and more than 50% underemployment, both higher than overall unemployment rates in Sub-Saharan African countries.
This challenge persists despite major investments by both government and the private sector, and will intensify if job opportunities remain limited.