The IMANI Centre for Policy and Education has punched holes in the government’s flagship youth job programmes, describing the current scale and delivery as woefully inadequate to tackle Ghana’s unemployment crisis.
The critique was contained in a report by Research Assistant Ransford Brobbey, after a strategic dialogue between IMANI and the Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment on September 2, 2026.
IMANI says the Adwumawura Programme’s current reach of 54,000 individuals amounts to just over 200 beneficiaries per district across Ghana’s 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
According to the policy think tank, this is not enough considering the high level of unemployment in the country.
The dialogue also criticised the practice where politicians share artisan tools to individuals rather than a cooperative enterprise model.
Under the model, IMANI said beneficiaries can be put together in shared mini-manufacturing hubs where they can have access to pooled machinery, reliable utilities and joint buying of materials.
The Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment [MYDE] said it is converting ten existing National Youth Authority [NYA] resource centres into light-industrial parks, adding that two have already been completed.
IMANI has urged the Ministry to use the parks to bring together indigenous crafts such as beadmaking, weaving and basketry to drive Non-Traditional Exports [NTEs] and protect rural artisans from middlemen.
Beyond the numbers, IMANI is pushing for proper tracking of beneficiaries. While the Ministry reported that 14,000 young people have been enrolled under the National Apprenticeship Programme, IMANI wants data on how many of them move into sustainable self-employment, pay taxes and contribute to SSNIT.
The Ministry on its part announced a centralised digital “Youth Tracker” to monitor beneficiaries across state agencies and prevent double registration.
The dialogue also pointed to challenges in the education-to-work system, noting that local contractors often bring in artisans from neighbouring West African countries not because Ghanaian artisans lack technical skills, but because of concerns about work ethic and honesty.
To address this, stakeholders are calling for a “TVET First-Choice” campaign with CTVET and DTI and the inclusion of applied AI literacy in training.
On public health, the report said survey data shows that 67 per cent of young drug users start before age 18.
IMANI has therefore recommended that the “RED MEANS STOP” campaign should be expanded through the DVLA to target commercial motorcycle riders and that Queen Mothers and the Christian Council should be involved to help with moral regeneration.
IMANI defends Youth Ministry over GH¢1.6bn budget; says GH¢1bn is for NSS allowance alone
