The government is targeting 10,000 young people and businesses every year through the Adwumawura programme, Vice President Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has said.

She said the programme provides entrepreneurship training, business development support and access to funding as part of efforts to expand opportunities for young people.

Prof. Naana Jane said creating opportunities for the youth was important to addressing some of the challenges facing Ghana and the wider West African region.

“Our education must open doors to opportunity. Those who want to learn a skill must be able to do so, and hard work must offer a credible path to a better life,” she said.

She was speaking at a gathering of Catholic youth in Accra on the theme “Take courage: Catholic youth as actors and agents of peace, hope in West Africa.”

The Vice President said the responsibility to create such opportunities rests first with leaders.

“That responsibility first belongs to those of us entrusted with leadership,” she said.

She also highlighted the National Apprenticeship Programme, saying it is expanding opportunities for young people to acquire practical, technical and vocational skills and turn those skills into livelihoods.

Prof. Naana Jane further mentioned the One Million Coders programme, which she said is aimed at equipping Ghanaians with digital skills needed for a rapidly changing economy.

“These are investments in young people, but they are also investments in the stability and prosperity of our country,” she said.

She acknowledged that government programmes alone would not solve every challenge facing young people.

“The work must continue to improve education, create more opportunities, support enterprise, and build an economy capable of creating decent and productive work,” she said.