The President of Ghana has pledged his support for a Commonwealth initiative to boost the skill levels of university graduates.
The President of Ghana has pledged his support for a Commonwealth initiative to boost the skill levels of university graduates.
President John Dramani Mahama assured Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland that she can “count on Ghana’s support” for the 33Sixty initiative for young Commonwealth citizens. The Commonwealth-wide programme equips university students with the leadership skills, networks and opportunities to tackle economic and social challenges such as climate change.
Mr Mahama met with the Secretary-General in Ghana’s capital Accra, where she was attending the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) Conference of University Leaders. They discussed the “big challenge” facing young people in finding gainful employment. According to a 2015 report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), long-term youth unemployment remains at crisis point in sub-Saharan Africa, reaching 48 per cent in 2014.
President Mahama set out some of the ways in which his government is working to address the issue in Ghana, including youth internships schemes and investment of 10 million Ghanaian Cedis (USD 2.5 million) in a youth enterprise initiative.
“The reality is that three in five young workers simply do not have the level of education required to qualify them for jobs,” the Secretary-General said. “So I was really pleased to hear that this is a priority for the Ghanaian government. In addition to the initiatives in his own country, President Mahama is ready to stand behind a Commonwealth project that can motivate and empower students to make a difference in their communities.”
While in Ghana, the Secretary-General joined high-level speakers, including the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, to address leaders in higher education, government ministers, representatives from High Commissions, international organisations and students at the ACU conference.
She also sat on a ministerial panel to discuss the conference theme - Defining the responsible university: society, impact and growth. She spoke about the importance of ensuring that everyone, including those who cannot afford university fees, has access to higher education, and challenged universities to support the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellow Plan (CSFP) by making a commitment to offer more scholarships to Commonwealth citizens.
In addition to the issues around education and employment, the Secretary-General and President Mahama spoke about the impact of the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union and the benefits of the major Commonwealth anti-corruption conference she hosted in May.
Secretary-General Scotland also had official meetings with the country’s Speaker of Parliament, Edward Adjaho, Foreign Minister, Hanna Tetteh, Youth and Sports Minister, Edwin Vanderpuye, and members of the opposition. During the ACU conference she met with Mr Annan, university vice-chancellors, and the leadership of the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission.
