Category: Ghana

Ghana/Namibia: Penplusbytes trains youth on Ethical Video Production under MiL Youth Project

As part of efforts to promote Media and Information Literacy in Ghana, Penplusbytes and DW Akademie is training some selected youth groups across the country on how to effectively produce videos to tell compelling stories.

The three-day intensive workshop which begun on October 16, is aimed at equipping young people with the prerequisite skills to produce and edit video contents that are ethical, well-informed and engaging using new digital technologies and software applications.

The workshop is being facilitated by experts from the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) and some top-notch broadcast media houses in Ghana.

Topics such as Planning for Video Production, TV/online News Gathering, Ethical Video Production characterized the first session of the training and they are expected to cover other areas such as Basic Camera Movements, Visual Communication Techniques as well as Video Editing with mobile phone applications by the end of the third day.

Prior to the video production workshop, Penplusbytes in partnership with DW Akademie last month, trained over forty youths in the Greater Accra and Eastern Regions on information verification dubbed ‘Fight the Fake!’The aim of this workshop was to expose the youth to the realities and the negative implications of fake news, misinformation, cyber-bullying and the need to critically assess and evaluate media content especially those online.

In addition, Penplusbytes and MiLLi Namibia on September 30, 2019 launched the “Ghana/Namibia Show and Share Video Competition” which requested the youth between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five to share their social media experiences in a one-minute 30 seconds video.

Three entries in Ghana and three in Namibia, judged to be the most creative and original videos will be awarded with iPhones and other mobile kits to enable them produce quality and exciting videos that speak to the needs of the youth in Ghana and Namibia.

According to the Executive Director of Penplusbytes Juliet A. Amoah, young people are faced with new realities when it comes to using and participating in media and social media hence, the need for Penplusbytes as a tech-based organization to help them navigate through this emerging area.

“Penplusbytes wants to be at the forefront of MiL interventions in Ghana because we believe that young people need to efficiently produce, consume and utilize media content,” she said.

Deputy Director and Head of Programmes, Mr Jerry Sam said that the Video Production Workshop, the Fight the Fake youth training and MiL experts’ round table discussions planned for the coming weeks are a precursor to the celebration of the Global Media and Information Literacy Week slated to take place from October 24 to 312019.

The theme for this years’ Global Media and Information Literacy Week is MiL Citizens: Informed, Engaged, Empowered.

Source News Ghana

3,200 Ghanaian Youths Trained in Entrepreneurship

Three thousand two hundred young Ghanaians have received entrepreneurship training covering areas such as product design, starting a business and financial management.

The beneficiaries were drawn from the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions

Mr Allan Rutt, Country Director, British Council Ghana who announced this at an SME trade festival dubbed ‘Jobs for youth’ held in Accra to enhance and sharpen the entrepreneurial skills of the youth.

He said after their training, the beneficiaries were inducted into the enterprise club, which organised business talks, facilitated networking and providing business information and support.

The Country Director said after the entrepreneurship training, 400 enterprises were selected from the trainings of British Council, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and NBSSI to receive three months business incubation services that enabled them to develop their enterprises and innovations into viable businesses.

He indicated that, Ghana had a young population and estimated that 75 per cent of Ghana’s population is under 35 years.

Adding that “considering the valuable potential of young people, this initiative presents a huge opportunity for Ghana to build and grow its developing economy”.

He stressed that, to maximise the potential of young people to contribute to the economy, they needed to be provided with the right skills, support and opportunities.

The project he explained was funded by the GIZ and implemented by the British Council, aimed to compliment efforts by the government and other stakeholders in providing sustainable support to young people to create jobs for themselves and other young people through skills development, business incubation and acceleration as well as seed funding, access to markets and networking.

According to Gideon Mankralo, Employment Advisor at GIZ, the organisation is dedicated to building a future worth living around the world and would continually act as a provider of international cooperation services for sustainable development and international education.

“Ghana’s economic growth rest largely on the private sector and regardless of the continuous effort by the government and other development partners in implementing interventions towards job creation, youth unemployment and joblessness was still high,” he stated.

Source Ghanaian times

Ghana: Youth urged to challenge status quo.

By Ghanabusinessnews.com

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Rescue Mission International, a youth advocacy NGO, has urged the youth and all youth-led organisations to take up innovative and complementary training programmes to empower the youth to challenge the status quo for better transformation of the education sector.

According to the organisation, this would effectively contribute to the sustainable development of the country, for the benefit of both the current generation and those yet unborn.

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This was contained in a statement issued by Rescue Mission International signed by its Co-founder, Mr Abdul-Raheem Ibrahim Tuzee, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale.

It is in commemoration of this year’s International Youth Day, which is on the theme: “Transforming Education.”

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The International Youth Day, marked on August 12, every year, recognises the role of the youth in national development.

The statement said inclusive and accessible quality education was crucial to achieving sustainable development as it played a vital role in preventing conflicts.

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It, however, added that political instability, labour market challenges and limited space for political and civic participation have led to increasing isolation of youth and youth unemployment in society.

It, therefore, emphasised that “It is time we the youth took our destinies and those of generations unborn into our own hands and stop depending on politicians for opportunities.”

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The statement called for a collective effort from youth-led organisations, individual youths, together with various stakeholders and government, to concretely transform education for sustainable development and for the full inclusion of various social groups.

Ghana Youths, Awake!

By Modernghana.com (Richmond Anane-Simon)

According to the population structure by the Ghana Statistical Service, the youths dominate. Out of an estimated population of 26,902,628 Million people, 57% are under the age 25. It clearly indicates that Ghana has a very youthful population.

Aside that, those within the ages of 25-54 constitute 34.05% and other age groups contributing minutely to the total population. This ought to have reflected the fact that the state of this country is of utmost relevance to the vast majority of Ghanaian youths. However the convex rather reign.

In their slumber, they trade the destiny of our country and hand over the future of unborn children into the hands of some revaneous and self-seeking politicians who can afford the luxury of travelling to foreign countries for their health care, sleeping in mansions but don’t know a thing about the trauma that the average Ghanaian youth goes through.

In their slumber, they trade the destiny of our country and hand over the future of their children unborn to some mischievous individuals claiming to be Religious leaders and sent by God. They render the youth unproductive by engaging them in fruitless and unprofitable ventures to the relegation of national development. The Good book makes it clear that nobody works harder than God, for he worked for six days and rested for just a day. The Christian youth of today wants to work for a day and rest for six day. Hmm such an irony.

In their slumber, they study so hard, but know absolutely nothing, because they study just for examination purposes but not for life. ‘’ The average Ghanaian student is extremely hard working but not life working.” The knowledge acquired ends only in the classroom and scarcely applied.

If Ghana would become a developed nation then, there should be an intentional approach to developing its youths. If the youths of this country have no future then Ghana has no future.

I dare all the youths of our dear country reading this to awake from their slumber! The future of this country is largely dependent on you. Your knowledge acquired is relevant, your skills are relevant and most importantly your integrity is superbly relevant towards building our beloved county Ghana.

I dare the Ghanaian youths not to be apathetic towards the things of Ghana because they know that they may be largely affected if any mishap should occur.

I dare the Ghanaian youth to take responsibility of the future of this country and not blame others for their maladies.

Finally, I dare the Ghanaian youths to know that there is no elevator to success, they have got to use the stairs.

Awake! Ghana youths Awake! God bless our homeland Ghana and make our nation great and strong.

BY: Richmond Anane-Simon
Youth Activist, Thinker and founder, Rassam Initiative Team

Ghana: Platform To Equip Youths With It, Media Skills Launched

By Modernghana.com (Yaw Agyemang)

Youth unemployment and joblessness together constitute a major socio-economic and political problem in Ghana even though Ghana’s growth performance has been quite impressive. With the exception of 2014, when growth fell below 4 per cent, the country’s GDP growth has been remarkably high, ranging between 4.3 per cent and 14 per cent, according to official figures.

And, while unemployment is a challenge among all age groups, its impact is particularly severe among the youth. Young people tend to have higher rates of unemployment and to engage in vulnerable and informal employment.

But this may soon change following the opening of the Africa Institute of Media Studies (AIMS) in Accra recently.

AIMS, a subsidiary of the King Solomon Group, provides a practical-based knowledge acquisition platform in digital media that offers intensive practical courses to Ghanaian youths and others with the use of special techniques, learning practices materials and other specialized state-of-the-art equipment.

The school, which accepts Ghanaian and international students, offers courses in television production, cinematography, digital marketing, post production, film production and motion graphics.

“ AIMS training and expertise is geared towards moulding today’s generation for a competitive digital and global marketplace. Our curriculum has been designed to adequately prepare students who enrol for a dynamic job market. – we bring out the professionalism in you through practicality. Our mission is to train with practical skill in digital media by utilizing ultra-modern equipment equipment and Africa’s top-notch tutors to produce competent individuals for the job market. We offer intensive practical course work with the use of special techniques, learning material , specialized learning center and well equipped media lab,” according to the institution’s website.

Strategically located on Spintex Road, Accra, AIMS campus is a dynamic imaginative studying space, strategically boasting such broad assets a well stocked library, modern digital lab, standard multimedia studio, well-furnished accommodation and large lecture halls.

AIMS’ digital labs are completely outfitted with Laptop and desktop computers and introduced with industry-standard software, including final cut, Protocols, Davinci Adobe Premier, Autodesk suite, Avid Composer and some more.

The Student Multimedia Studio (SMS) provides currently enrolled AIMS students with a wide range of multimedia equipment, software, and support.

While unemployment is a challenge among all age groups, its impact is particularly severe among the youth who also tend to have higher rates of unemployment and to engage in vulnerable and informal employment, according to the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), an Accra-based economic policy think-thank supporting Africa’s long-term growth through transformation.

According to ACET, young people between the ages of 15 and 35 make up about a third, 33.5% of Ghana’s population. They enter the job market with different levels of education and with limited or no work experience, which tends to impede their chances of securing productive and/or formal sector jobs. The difficulties in securing adequately paid and productive jobs after school tends to increase the vulnerability of young people and can make them susceptible to social vices as well as a source of conflicts and civil disorders.

But management of AIMS says a certificate from the school offers the school’s products a chance to make a difference in their lives life and the lives of people in their immediate communities. “Throughout our history, we have continued to help our student realize their dreams, whilst providing job opportunities for them to fulfil their personal and professional potential. Our lecturers are professionals in their respective fields. They deliver exceptional lectures for deep understanding of the students.”

An intriguing aspect of Ghana’s youth unemployment patterns is that youth unemployment appears higher among the educated than the less educated, said a report by ACET. Unemployment rates are highest among young people aged 29 years and below with bachelor’s degrees. They are lowest among those with no formal education or basic education. Also, the unemployment rate is estimated to be higher among young females than young males in Ghana.

Every human being needs diverse kinds of skills to live a meaningful life. Skills are required both for individuals to live meaningful and successful lives as well as to develop nations. Unfortunately, many people and countries do not place a lot of emphasis on skills acquisition leading to failures in life, mediocrity and underdevelopment.

Ghana: About 1,083 youth employed in Nsawam-Adoagyiri

Over 1,083 youths in the Nsawam- Adoagyiri Municipality have been employed under various government programmes including; Youth in Police, Sanitation, Afforestation and Education.

Over 459 students from the Municipality also benefitted from the government’s free Senior High School policy.

Mr Isaac Kwadwo Buabeng, Nsawam-Adoagyiri Municipal Chief Executive said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency after a town hall meeting where he addressed about 300 participants.

Participants included; traditional rulers, Assembly members, Unit Committee members and traders organised by Ark Development Organisation, a Non-Governmental Organisation and the Municipal Assembly and sponsored by Star Ghana under the Local Governance Project at Hebron, Ankwa Dobro near Nsawam.

The project is aimed at promoting citizen participation in local governance to promote accountability and revenue mobilisation through workshops and townhall meetings.

Mr Buabeng said, over 500 youth in the municipality had the opportunity through the Planting for Food and Jobs to work on a 182-acre maize farm at Okobeyeyie near Nsawam.

He said some of the yield from the farm would be exported for foreign exchange to support the development of the country.

He said Astek and Farmapine factories would soon be rehabilitated under the One District One Factory policy of the government to promote youth employment in the municipality and the Municipal Assembly also constructed schools at Panpanso, Obregyima, Asikabew and Bowkrom. Others are Ccommunity-based Health Planning Service (CHPS) compounds at Fotobi, Kofisah, Darmang, Ahwerease and introduced the School Feeding Programme in 42 basic schools in the Municipality.

Mr Emmanuel Kwaafo Mintah, the Director of Ark Development Organisation said the NGO was prepared to collaborate with the Municipal Assembly to organise programmes to motivate more people to pay tolls and rates to enable the assembly to mobilise more revenue for development projects.

Source Business Ghana

Ghana: Keep ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ In Nigeria, Don’t Implicate Our Youth — Ghanaian Actress, Haillie Sumney

By Dee Onne

Ghanaian actress, Haillie Sumney has advised Nigerians not to affect her country Ghana with their ongoing debate about internet fraud – also known as ”Yahoo Yahoo”.

Haillie Sumney made this known in reaction to a controversy sparked by singer Naira Marley who urged Nigerians to pray for Yahoo boys.

In her Instagram post, she wrote:

“Biko you ppl keep this your Yahoo Yahoo to yourself in Naija and not corrupt our Ghanaian Youths o.”

Recall that singer, Naira Marley sparked controversy on social media after he urged Nigerians to pray for Yahoo boys.

In a video, he said:

“All you guys, all the money in your pockets, all the money you spend, you think it’s the government that is making the money go round? You better sit down and pray for yahoo boys. If them stop yahoo, the money would not pass you guys”, he said.

Naira Marley concluded by saying that without the internet fraudsters, money will only be circulating in the circle of the elite whose names he mentioned.

“The money will go like this, from Obasanjo to Tinubu, from Tinubu to Mr Japa, you think me I need Yahoo?
I make money from my music.”

Meanwhile, barely 48 hours after Naira Marley received backlash for attempting to use slavery to justify internet fraud, the rapper is set to release a song to glorify the illegal act, known as ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ in Nigeria.

Source Within Nigeria

Ghanaian wins top ECOWAS youth award

Young Ghanaian Businessman and Country Manager for U-ton Engineering Ghana, Issah Abdulai Afugu has been adjudged the Most Influential Young Person of the year by the Confederation of West African Youth.

Mr. Afugu was awarded the Influential Young Person of the year for his enormous contribution to Ghana’s Fiber Internet space through his work in the industry.

He currently helms the affairs of one of Ghana’s largest Fiber infrastructure company; U-ton Engineering Limited as Country Manager, dealing with over 300 members of the workforce.

He possesses a strong business and leadership record as Country Manager and has a deep understanding of the consumer and business landscape in the African region.

Speaking during the ceremony Mr. Afugu mentioned how delighted he was on attaining the feat and reiterated the need for a consented effort amongst youth across the sub-region to alleviate the struggles and hardships of the people.

The Confederation of West African Youths is an all inclusive leading ECOWAS youth platform representing and safeguarding aspirations of millions of youth across our sub-region.

This year’s edition of the event was held in Sierra Leone.

The organization envisages becoming the single largest youth body representing over 200 million youth across ECOWAS by 2022.

Source Ghana Web

Shatta Wale is a bad influence on the youth – Akablay

There is no doubt that Dancehall artiste, Shatta Wale is one of the biggest musicians in Ghana and with a huge fanbase that is completely loyal and will do almost anything he says.

However, Highlife musician, Anthony Akablay, says Shatta Wale is having a negative impact on the youth.

“With his large fan base I don’t expect Shatta Wale to use certain words and engage in indecent acts. I know he has the largest fan base in Ghana at the moment but what impact is he making on them?

The youth are engaged in all sorts of bad activities because they see him as their role model and blindly copy what he does,” he told Showbiz in an interview on Saturday, April 13.

To Akablay, because Shatta Wale has a lot of influence on the youth, he can push them to using their energies and time positively.

“I expect a lot from him as the leader he claims to be because the youths are going wayward and I will blame it largely on him,” he said.

Will he ever do a collaboration with Shatta Wale? Akablay said he does not think so because their because they have different brands.

Away from Shatta Wale, Akablay is not happy with the new crop of musicians because in his opinion they are indisciplined when it comes to the music business.

“Most of these young musicians are so indisciplined which gets me upset. You give them time for a meeting and they come at their own time.

“Others do not even regard their managers because they believe they are more famous than their managers. I have been talking to some of them and I pray they change,” he said.

Talking about profanity in music, Akablay, who is known for songs like Genesis of Life, Edoke, Taking Away, Life in The Pot just to mention a few, said he cannot understand why there so many swear words are being used in our music lately.

“I don’t allow my children to listen to particular songs when I am around. The other time my son asked me the meaning of Kwabena Kwabena’s Tokro Abodwese and I didn’t know what to tell him.

“I called Kwabena Kwabena on the phone and asked him what he meant by that because my son wanted to know and he could not explain,” he said.

According to him, musicians have a powerful tool which they can use to make an impact and it’s about time GH artistes took into consideration their choice of words.

Akablay has travelled around the world and played in different countries such as Germany, Denmark, Norway, France, Sweden and Italy.

For his exploits on the guitar, he was adjudged the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards Best Instrumentalist in 2009. He won the Best Guitar Player trophy at the 2014 Best Instrumentalists of Africa Festival in Cotonou.

Source Ghana Web

Entertainment: My love for Africa is deep – Fuse ODG

Nana Richard Abiona popularly known as Fuse ODG has said his love and pride for Africa has been profound.

The recording artist stated on Live FM that his level of consciousness and passion for Africa has been there from the get-go.

“My love for Africa is deep. It’s always been there since Azonto” Fuse ODG said.

The 30-year-old singer further stated that the proof of his love for Africa can be seen and heard in all his music because it is a strong message that he has preached for quite a long time.

“Every time I’ll be talking about my music, I’ll talk about how much I love Ghana, how much I love Africa. And this is new Africa: I’ve always been speaking about it. Except now on this album, you can hear it in the music as well. That’s the difference. It’s more infused into the music, so you can hear more of what the movement is about a lot more.”

Speaking on his plans to help improve Africa especially Ghana, the ‘Tina’ hitmaker publicly made known some of the exploits he is working towards concerning the provision of improving quality education for Kids in Ghana.

“We are building schools. So we are building a school in Akosombo, which is something I am very passionate about. That we need to have our own schools and give these kids who don’t have the chance to have a good and decent education.

Fuse ODG added that as an attempt to improve and build upon the perception of Africans, he has designed and introduced black dolls that have a historical background and effect, in order to not just create change, but also make the black individual feel loved and accepted.

“Yes they are Barbie dolls but this time they are black, and also they are based on historical African women, so it’s also educational. It’s about representation. A kid feeling like they are being represented in the normal world because they had this white blond blue eyed looking like queens and princesses and we didn’t have any for us. That’s how the self hate starts for our people. Wanting to look lighter and changing their hair making it straight.”

Fuse continued; “We didn’t realize when it was happening. And now years later we are fighting against hate and we are encouraging our people to love themselves. But with the kids, we are just teaching them to love themselves. With the older ones, we are teaching them to relearn to love themselves. And that’s the hardest. Teaching somebody whose mind is already grown. Whose personality has already been made.”

Fuse ODG officially released his second album on the 8th of March 2019 called New Africa Nation on which he has nineteen (19) tracks. He featured international artists such as Damien Marley, Simi, Stefflon Don, Ed Sheeran, Sarkodie, OT Woode and UK poet, Suli Breaks.

His album has since received major airplay in all of Ghana, Nigeria and the UK. Fuse ODG also described the New Africa Nation album as; “a very “Spiritual” album that I know Nkrumah would be proud of”. He is set to launch the album officially in Ghana very soon.

Source GhanaWeb