Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the Skills Training and Employment Placement (STEP) Programme in leveraging participants’ entrepreneurial skills. It focused on the perceptions of the youth about the programme. The research design used for the study was evaluative. The stratified random sampling technique was used to select 152 respondents out of a population of 200 youth who participated in the programme in some districts in Northern Ghana from September to September, 2005. A questionnaire and interview schedules were used to gather the data for the study. The findings indicated that the programme helped the respondents to acquire the necessary skills for personal growth and development. It was, however, revealed that proper recruitment procedures were not adhered to. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that, in order to sustain youth development intervention programmes, the Ministry of Manpower Development, Youth and Employment should: forge partnerships with small-scale businesses and micro enterprises that are interested in youth development programmes and come out with a comprehensive youth development policy to serve as a blueprint for competency-based training in the country.
Highlights
All over the world, youth unemployment has been a major concern
An evaluative research design was used because the study employed the survey strategy that sought to determine whether the skills training did bring about the desired change in the lives of the youth who participated in the training programme, and the extent to which the observed change(s) as a result of the training could be detected
The discussion of the findings has been grouped into five sections, namely: categories and procedures of recruitment; types of skills and micro financial assistance; extent to which the Skills Training and Employment Placement (STEP) programme helped to reduce youth unemployment; major problems encountered under the STEP programme; and extent to which the STEP programme helped in sustaining youth development interventions
Summary
Youth unemployment has been a major concern. Recent literature, including a review by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) of fifty years of its Youth Employment Programme, has shown that the youth employment challenge is nothing new. We have a large number of unemployed and underemployed youth all over the world, in the developing countries. As a result of this, there have been many interventions put in place by both governmental and non-governmental organisations to empower these unemployed youth either to get employed or be self-employed to enable them to contribute to the developmental programmes of their countries. It is worth noting that the youth are full of potentials which, if properly harnessed, could be channelled for the development of the youth themselves and for sustained socio-economic development of the country
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