The first edition of the Ghana Social Value Report, a research document on the economic impact of youth development programmes in Ghana, was presented to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in Accra on Monday.
The document, which was presented by the Board of the Head of State Award Scheme, assessed the impact of youth development programmes on the socio-economic development of the country to ascertain their benefits and shortfalls.
With the 2020 edition of the Head of State Award Scheme as case study, the report revealed that the economic benefit of every youth development programme to the nation is in five folds, for every investment made in such a programme.
It also revealed that the future economic value of participants of the award scheme alone stood at GH¢188 million and stressed the need for more investments in youth development.
President Akufo-Addo was delighted that management of the scheme had produced such a report to give real data on the economic impact of youth development programmes.
He was optimistic that the government’s vision of investing in the development of the Ghanaian youth would yield significant results in future.
The President commended the scheme for inculcating values of hard work, enterprise, self help, and voluntarism in participants of the programme, adding that such values were what the country needed to develop.
He also commended the decision to generate real data on the economic impact of the programme, adding that the data would help shape future decisions and investments in the programme
The Executive Director of the Head of State Award Scheme, Peter Akai Anum, said the research revealed that the award improved the earning potential and employability of every participant by 17 percent.
In 2020, young people contributed 18 million cedis to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through voluntary activities, he said.
He stressed the need for more investments to be made in youth development programmes like the Head of State Award Scheme and thanked the President for his support for the scheme.