The third edition of the free youth empowerment conference has taken place in Sekondi-Takoradi, with the youth being encouraged to be advocates for environmental sustainability.
Dubbed “Youth-Konnect with Padmore-Othniel (YKPO)3.0”, it was initiated by a youth advocate, Padmore O.Y. Amati, with some friends who are also volunteers, to equip young people to become proactive contributors and positive change-makers within their communities, across their generation and beyond—ultimately guiding them to become all that God has purposed them to be.
The Youth-Konnect with Padmore-Othniel (YKPO) is a high-impact youth development initiative established to educate, inspire and empower young people to discover their purpose, build strong character and pursue personal and leadership excellence.
3rd edition
This year’s edition focused on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with an emphasis on how young people can strategically position themselves to align with these global goals for personal, national, continental and global development.
The conference attracted a diverse audience, including Senior High School students, university students and young professionals from various industries.
Participants were also taken through sessions on the importance of character building, highlighting how strong values and discipline contribute to developing an excellent personality and enhancing overall performance in any field of endeavour.
Achieving SDGs
With less than five years remaining to achieve the SDGs by 2030, the programme explored global trends and progress on key goals such as SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 4 (Quality Education).
Emphasis was placed on the urgent need for young people to rise as solution creators and active contributors in addressing the challenges of declining progress and stagnation in SDG attainment.
In addition, participants were introduced to Ghana’s Sustainable Development goals voluntary national review (VNR) and encouraged to leverage opportunities within Ghana’s Energy Transition agenda, including its commitment to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2070.
This positions Ghana among nations taking deliberate long-term climate action.
Participants were encouraged to adopt and actively contribute to at least one SDG, and were challenged to play meaningful roles in their homes, schools and workplaces toward community development and nation-building.
Commitment
In an interview, Mr Amati said the YKPO remains committed to its mission of educating, inspiring and empowering young people, with plans to extend its impact through subsequent conferences across other regions of Ghana.
He emphasised that real change starts with daily action and stressed that every small, intentional step toward any of the 169 SDG targets contributes to the bigger picture.
“When individual efforts are aligned with strong national policies and infrastructure, Ghana moves closer to achieving the SDGs, and that is part of our goal at Youth-Konnect with Padmore-Othniel.”
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh