The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who made the call, also advised the youth to register on the portal to facilitate the processes to match job seekers with providers.

YEA Job Centre

Known as the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) Job Centre, it has an online platform, a training hub and a physical walk-in centre, all directed at delivering employment services to the youth of the country.

It also has facilities such as an artisan directory, a regional farm-based flagship project and a work abroad programme designed to provide assistance for job seekers and employers under a common platform.

The centre also seeks to functionally align a wide range of publicly and privately listed employment training and educational opportunities and also provide high quality customer services for job seekers.

The centre, which was established by the YEA, will also offer training, career counselling, job listings and other employment-related services, as well as serve as a convener for state, regional and local partners to increase employment opportunities.

Objectives

The centre seeks to create sustainable livelihoods for the youth by leveraging the comparative uniqueness of Ghana’s regions and districts to the flagship project of agriculture.

Under the programme, about 10,000 people will be engaged within the first year of implementation to create self-sustained employments.

Presently, the YEA has a maize plantation in Wenchi in the Bono Region and an aquaculture facility in the Volta Region.

The Artisan Directory will also provide trained artisans with a ready market to sell their crafts and services.

It will also constitute an active database of trained and certified artisans and provide basic information such as company details, services and locations with respect to artisans.

Furthermore, the platform will serve as a market facilitator by connecting trained craftsmen and women to their prospective clients.

The work abroad programme, on the other hand, intends to create employment opportunities abroad for the youth, particularly nurses and teachers.

Launch

Dr Bawumia said “the YEA has taken a leadership role to ensure a one-stop shop for both job seekers and employers.

As a strategic convener, the job centre, through partnerships, will engage key stakeholders to deliver value to young Ghanaians”.

He said technology was core at the centre to create efficiency in the delivery of the programme, as well as improve job creation opportunities from across the globe.

According to him, the YEA would, in partnership with various artisan associations, train and certify young Ghanaians interested in learning trades in the technical and vocational space, after which they would be assisted with start-up tools and capital.

The Vice-President said it was important that as the government did its bid, the private sector would also support the YEA to deliver through its corporate social responsibility programmes.

He said the initiative underscored the government’s commitment to bring hope and relief to the teeming unemployed youth in the country and expressed the hope that through coordinated efforts with the private sector, the unemployment challenge in the country could be addressed.

Fulfilment of promise

The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, said the government had kept to its promise of job creation.

He said the recent Ghana Living Standard Survey revealed that some strides had been made in job creation, saying that per the International Labour Organisation’s definition of unemployment, people searching for jobs had dropped from 11.9 per cent in 2015 to 3.7 per cent.

The Board Chairman of the YEA, Mr Sammy Awuku, said the initiative was properly thought through after a comprehensive audit of all programmes of the YEA for proper alignment.

For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the YEA, Mr Justin Kodua Frimpong, said the agency had engaged over 600,000 youth since its inception.