By Michael Kofi Kenetey
The Eastern Regional Leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association, GJA, has paid a courtesy call on the Eastern Regional branch of the National Youth Authority, NYA, in Koforidua, the regional capital. The courtesy call is to foster collaboration between the Authority and the GJA to help promote youth development in the region.
In an interview with GBC News during the visit, the Eastern Regional Director of the National Youth Authority, Evelyn Enyonam Lotsu, noted that the mandate of the NYA is to help facilitate youth development in the country.
She added that the authority is interested in anything that has to do with youth development in the country.
She noted that the collaboration between the GJA and NYA in the Eastern Region will help raise awareness about initiatives, programmes, and policies that the NYA is implementing in the region to aid the development of the youth in the region. Madam Lotsu emphasized that the collaboration will help the authority reach out to the youth in every corner of the region.
The Eastern Regional Coordinator for the National Apprenticeship Programme under the NYA, Emmanuel Asante Ofori noted that the current government decided to implement the apprenticeship programme thereby giving the apprentices allowance and also equipping them with skill to help reduce the unemployment rate among the youth in the country.
He noted that the programme started with the training and matriculation of the Master Crafts Persons, MCPs aimed to train them on how to handle the apprentices to be submitted to them for training. He noted that they are expecting to enroll over one thousand 160 apprentices in the programme during the piloting stage, which will commence in the upcoming weeks.
He mentioned the thematic areas that the programme will be focusing on during the training.
The Eastern Regional GJA Chairman, Stephen Ampem Darko-Koranteng, in his address pledged the Association’s commitment to collaborating effectively with the Authority to help promote the development of the youth in the region.
He urged the Authority to continuously organize capacity-building workshops for journalists in the region for them to be well-equipped with the required information to enable the journalists educate the public on the initiatives and activities of the Authority in the region.
Mr. Darko-Koranteng urged the Authority to always update the media on their activities to enable the media to also educate the public on the Authority’s programmes and initiatives.
