A European Union funded project dubbed “No Business as Usual (NBU)” has commenced in the Asokore Mampong Municipality to harness the ideas and energies of the youth of Asokore Mampong for the economic development of the relatively young Municipal area.

It is also to engender a better interest of all stakeholders in demanding accountability from their local authorities in budgeting, revenue mobilization and execution of projects.
The maiden stakeholder event code named “Ideonomics” coined from ‘ideas’ to run the local ‘economy’, brought together heads in local government to draw the attention of the youth to ideas, various employment options and business funding opportunities available to them.

The panel which addressed the youth were the Asokore Mampong Municipal Director of the National Youth Authority Mrs Alice Anthony, the municipal director of the National Youth Authority Jalel Mohammed, the municipal director of Social Welfare and Community Development Mrs Esther Apraku Nyarko and the Municipal Planning Officer Mr. Collins Ohene Gyan who represented the Municipal Chief Executive of Asokore Mampong.

Speaking to Ultimate News on the sidelines of the conference, Manager of the No Business as Usual Hub Samuel Aboagy indicated he is confident the initiative will help empower young people to contribute meaningfully to the development of the Asokore Mampong municipality.

He explained that “The program has two broad objectives. One has to do with developing the local economy of Asokore Mampong through joint stakeholder collaboration between the municipality and some key stakeholders in areas of revenue mobilization, budget tracking and accountability.”

“The other is to develop the youth of Asokore Mampong with skills and we are looking at both employability where we find them internships and permanent jobs and entrepreneurship training which take place in the NBU Hub, the nerve centre of all activities that the project undertakes.”

He also outlined that The “No Business As Usual hub” is recruiting five hundred youth over a four year period for both hard and soft skills training in modules that align with the objectives of the project.
Some of the participants of the maiden “Ideonomics” forum shared with Ultimate News how useful such programs can help them contribute their quota to community development in Asokore Mampong.

A participant Owusu Kwarkye Daniel told Ultimate News’ Ivan Heathcote Fumador, “This event that we had has opened our minds to understand the ways we can network with our Municipal Assembly to identify areas we can be supported as youth to develop ourselves and the community.”

The Member of Parliament for the Suame constituency in the Youth Parliament Nazir Zuberu who also attended the “Ideonomics” forum admitted several insights that were shared was an eye opener and a springboard for him and the other participants to move to higher heights.

He indicated, “The youth in this country are struggling seeking information and assistance. Most of us are only trained to be employable with little energy for entrepreneurship so I believe these are the kind of programs that the youth of the country need.”

The Project targets three categories of youth. The Gama group comprise tertiary school graduates with diplomas and degrees; the Beta Group who have appreciable levels of literacy and the alpha group who are youth with little education background but with promising talent and commitment to do something meaningful.

Source:Ghana/Ultimatefmonline.com/106.9FM/Ivan Heathcote – Fumador

Source: ultimatefmonline.com