She said, the youth must remember that human values made the nation special and making changes  wherever they found themselves was the surest way of bridging the gap between those who considered themselves as having opportunities and vice-versa.

"AYGC is something the continent needs especially when there has been a vacuum of leadership.

"Is not just about infrastructure, is about the people, the capacity building of one another," Dr Rawlings said this at the Banquet of the 10th AYGC held in Accra over the weekend.

AYGC is the convergence of a four-tier transformational leadership programme for leadership grooming, cascade of mentorship, community impact, and networking for African and Diaspora youth.

Organised annually by the Youth Bridge Foundation (YBF), a Non-Governmental Organisation focused on creating supportive platforms to challenge the creativity of the Youth, and to make available critical information and resources needed for total development.

On the theme: “Mobilizing Africa's Youth to Build a Continent Beyond Aid" , this year's agenda had youth from 25 African Countries, 30 from the Diaspora and seven coaches from Canada.

Dr Rawlings observed that the delegates represented the future and it was incumbent on them to change the discourse and make impact in their countries following the grooming and knowledge impacted into them throughout the eight - day engagement adding that "Feel as one people and build a better continent, by looking to the medium and long term" she said.

Mr Seth Oteng, the Executive Director of YBF, hailed delegates for their intellectual discourse throughout the conference.

"The sleepless nights and the hardwork you put in, demonstrates that we are building and investing in the human capital today, that the entire world will benefit from to change lives, communities and the World we live in," he said.

The Alumini of AYGC thanked Mr Oteng for his selfless contribution that had helped to shape their lives across the globe.

At the end of the eight-day conference, certificates were presented to delegates, coaches and executives of this year's AYGC, with resource persons drawn from Cornell, Dalhousie and McMaster Universities joining other Ghanaian resource persons.

The theme emphasised the critical need to pull resources of young people to transform the continent and strive towards Africa’ aspirations ‘beyond aid’.

The conference which is targeted at creating the platform for African youth to analyse policy documents and discuss issues affecting the development of the continent has been in existence since 2009 and had successfully organised the AYGC since 2009 with the main focus of grooming the African youth.

YBF, initiator and convenor of the annual leadership grooming programme, is a Non-Governmental youth-focused organisation accredited with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

As a youth-focused educational organisation, it has the goal of bridging the gaps of the youth for positive youth development.