Statistics show that 50 % of the people on the planet Earth are 30 years or younger, and is expected to reach 57% by the end of 2030. 67% of people believe in a better future, with 15 to 17-year-olds being the most optimistic while 69% of people agree that more opportunities for younger people in policy development would make political systems better. Globally, only 2.6% of parliamentarians are under 30 years old, with less than 1% being women.
According to a United Nations (UN) Youth Report, there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24, accounting for 16% of the global population; hence making youth engagement in sustainable development crucial for achieving stable societies and addressing challenges like climate change, unemployment, poverty, gender inequality, conflict, and migration.
It is in line with this that the UN set up a day – International Youth Day (IYD), to address the issues of the world’s young generation.
International Youth Day is celebrated annually on 12 August to highlight youth issues and recognise their potential as partners in today’s global society. The UN established the day on 17 December 1999. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires empowering and working with young people as equals.
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A scary information from the UN is that worldwide, in education, 142 million youth of upper secondary age are out of school while 71 million young people are unemployed; and millions more are in precarious or informal work.
Disparities within and between countries in education and employment among youth are stark, with gender, poverty, rurality, disability, and migrant/refugee status all being major elements of disadvantage.
For instance, about 156 million youth in low- and middle-income countries are working poor (ILO), while almost 30 per cent of the poorest 12- to 14-year-olds have never attended school.
To advance youth development the UN identifies two main challenges:
” At the level of global policy, finance and measurement are major issues to be addressed as part of worldwide youth development efforts. At the national level, policy and programmatic responses to the Sustainable Development Goals have been slow and should be accelerated”, the world body says.
“Evidence-based youth policies, adapted to local contexts, ensure effective youth development. Key elements include strong political leadership, adequate budget allocation, timely data usage, youth involvement, policy integration, impact consideration, and transparent accountability”, according to the UN will bring the needed change.
Locally, the issues that affect youth development include: economic and financial exclusion, adverse socio-cultural practices, a mismatch between knowledge acquired and industry requirements, inaccessibility of education and educational facilities, minimal skills development, low participation in governance, limited access to health services, and weak development support services.
To address the issues, succeeding Governments over the years have embarked on pro-youth programmes like: Free Senior High School; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Programmes, Youth Employment Schemes, and financial support programmes for youth enterprise development.
Though these programmes are yielding the desired dividends, they seem inadequate for addressing the ever-increasing changing situations of the youth.
“To tackle this phenomenon and chart the path for sustainable youth development, Government is determined to spearhead and engender sustainable partnerships with all stakeholders to tap into the creative potentials of the youth”, according to Ministry of Youth and Sports sources.
There are various definitions of the youth:
To the United Nations; Youth is a person between the ages of 15 and 24 years; the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines an adolescent as any person between the ages of 10 and 19 and young people as individuals between ages 10 and 24 years; whiles to the Commonwealth, a youth is a young person between the ages of 15 and 29 years. The African Youth Charter describes the youth or young people as people between the ages of 15 and 35 years.
In Ghana in line with the National Youth Authority Act 2016, Act 939, a youth is defined as a person between the ages of 15 and 35 years.