Youth Related Issues and Youth Leadership Skills

The political, economic and social implications of demographic trends in Africa as a whole and Ghana in particular have not remained unnoticed.

Ghana is heading towards a future where almost two-thirds of the population will be 25 years of age or younger. Obviously, this is causing huge challenges on all economic, social, educational and political fronts, including the increasing relevance and impact first-time-voters will have in upcoming elections.

Against this backdrop, working on youth related issues and training young Ghanaian political talents, has become more and more relevant for FES in Ghana over the years.

Youth Leadership Training

The Youth Leadership Training has become a major component of FES since 2003 where concentrated support for youth related issues in general and intellectually equipping young future leaders in particular is identified. For a period of 11 months, carefully selected nominees from Political Parties, the Trades Union Congress, Student Organisations and a few other relevant organised interest groups, undergo a 14-module training programme on political, social and economic related topics, practice leadership skills and are generally encouraged to reflect on leadership attitudes and attributes.

Training for Youth and Women Wings of Political Parties.

Due to numerous demands and requests, FES is currently running two similar training programmes for the youth and women wings of political parties respectively since 2005. These trainings extend over a period of six months each and have been structured to accommodate six modules.

Training and conflict resolution and reconciliation with Political Youth Groups in Northern Ghana

Unfortunately, in some "hot spots" of the country peace and stability remain rather volatile. Particularly notorious in this regard are the three northern-most regions of Ghana, which may be described as very rural, statistically very poor and rather torn between modern and traditional practices, allegiances and social fabric. Obvious social tensions in the Northern Region gained sad national and international prominence in 2002 when a traditional king was murdered. The resulting traditional-leadership crisis remains unresolved up to date, with occasional bouts of violent clashes particularly amongst certain youth groups. A noticeably strong military presence in the region, has led to a tendency to politicise the ongoing conflict.

Upon request of the leaderships of Ghana's four main political parties, FES in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) embarked during the election year of 2004 on a programme that attempted to reconcile particular identified youth groups and their leaderships in a number of regions.

In 2005, following the elections, the programme is still running but remains focused on youth groups of the Northern Region.

For information about other youth related issues within the FES Headquarters please click here.