Children in Ghana (including 9.2 million pre-tertiary and 500,000 tertiary students) are among more than 1.5 billion learners globally whose studies have been impacted by school closures. The Ghanaian Government indefinitely closed public and private schools within days of the country recording its first COVID-19 case on 12th March 2020, ultimately including final-year high school…
Equal access to quality education is crucial for addressing socioeconomic problems of poverty, unemployment and inequality (Reynolds et al., 2014; Browne & Barrett, 1991; UNESCO, 2017) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aptly captures this. SDG goal 4 proposes that by 2030, each country should “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning…
Transforming research into evidence-based policy and practiceHeld at Tomreik Hotel on 28th November 2017Executive Summary Recent reports from research findings stress that the social and economic wellbeing of the average Ghanaian child is dire. It is estimated that poverty affects more children than it affects adults in Ghana. Projections by UNICEF indicate that almost 3…
Farmers are aging but who will take their place when they retire? Although the aging demographic structure of farmers offers an opportunity for young people who are unemployed, only a few are willing to take up a profession in farming. Youth participation in agriculture has been inhibited by a myriad of reasons, including access to…
The global plastics industry presents a hydra-headed environmental challenge that has remained staunchly established despite insistent appeals from environmentalist and environmentally-concerned organizations over decades. Long accepted as a necessary evil, more plastic has been produced in just the past ten years than was produced during the whole of the last century (Plastic Oceans, 2016), and…
Filling stations are dying in advanced economies like Germany, Canada, Japan and China. This has been attributed to increasing sensitivity about environmental protection in these economies, leading to the rise of more sustainable vehicles or better alternatives of fossil fuel like compressed natural gas.Despite these developments, emerging economies like Ghana remain largely dependent on diesel…
Artisanal Small-scale mining (ASM), popularly known as ‘galamsey’ in the mineral-rich country of Ghana, is a fast-growing phenomenon that is present in several other countries with underground mineral resources. Coined from the English phrase, “gather and sell”, galamsey has become a subject of great concern for governmental agencies, the private sector, local community leaders, as…
Youth Forward focuses on economically disadvantaged young people, aged 15-24, living in Ghana and Uganda who are on a low income (living on less than $2 a day), out of school, unemployed or underemployed, and moving through a transition point in their life. Ghana has achieved significant economic growth and development since its transition to…
Ghana’s construction sector is a growth industry with potential to address youth unemployment. This paper identifies opportunities for young people to access jobs within the sector, as well as barriers preventing their participation. Low-cost housing is found to be the most promising sub-sector for young people to access employment. However, this requires government land and…
