The Minister of Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo, has admonished churches to leverage their nationwide presence and influence to help bridge the growing gap between education and job creation opportunities in the country.
He said although many young people were pursuing formal education, a significant number of them lacked practical and employable skills, contributing to the rising unemployment and economic frustration they faced.
“A lot of our young people lack employable skills. The Church has the infrastructure and influence.
Together, we can prepare them for opportunities that will emerge in the next five to 10 years when the world looks to Africa for labour,” the minister said.
Mr Opare Addo was speaking during an engagement with the Christian Council of Ghana in Accra yesterday, as part of efforts to build partnerships under the ministry’s youth empowerment agenda.
Mentorship
The minister encouraged the introduction of structured career mentorship programmes by churches where professionals in various congregations would guide young people in career planning, entrepreneurship and workplace readiness.
He also called for collaboration where church social centres and community facilities could serve as vocational training hubs in areas such as ICT, tailoring, carpentry, electrical installation and agro-processing.
“The government alone cannot do it all, that is why we need the churches on board.
Beyond formal education, we must expand vocational and technical training.
The church is present in almost every community in the country; that reach is powerful,” the minister said.
Mr Opare Addo added that empowering the youth through practical training and leadership development would not only reduce unemployment, but also strengthen the country’s long-term economic resilience.
Support
The Secretary-General of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev. Dr Cyril Gershon K. Fayose, said the church had historically played an active role in addressing national issues and would intensify its focus on youth-related concerns.
He cited the example of COVID-19, when member churches of the council consistently dedicated time during worship services to educate congregants on health protocols and safety measures.
Rev. Dr Fayose said that the same approach could be adopted to address youth challenges such as substance abuse, unemployment and skills development.
“Now that we are highlighting the problems of our youth, we can send a circular to all churches to mainstream the challenges in their worship services. Every worship service can highlight it. We’ve done that on several issues in the past,” he said.
Interventions
The Secretary-General added that beyond awareness creation, the council, as an ecumenical body, had already been undertaking interventions targeting young people.
“We have been doing a lot of work on youth issues, including substance abuse.
We recently organised skills training programmes, and we have had initiatives on anti-corruption for the youth as well,” he said.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh