I strongly support the establishment of a Youth Fund which shall be administered and managed by qualified youth professionals.
In February 2007, I had the experience of participating in an African Union/ UNIDO/UNOWA/ECOWAS Conference on Youth Employment for the Mano River Union (MRU).MRU has more than 5 miilion unemployed youth majority of whom are ex-combatants and are jobless.
It became clear that most of the Ministers from the Region did not like the idea of creating youth led development projects and really opted for the integration of the proposed project for youth employment and empowerment into the already existing ones, which to me is unfortunate.Youth Led Development should complement existing structures and programmes.
However, I am of the opinion that all youth groups must synergise efforts so that we have a clear focus,purpose and direction in eastablishing a Youth Fund for youth empowerment.
Thanks for listenning.
Selorm.
[email protected]
[email protected],
Liaison Officer,
All Africa Students Union,
(AASU)
Accra.