The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved a $71.55 million grant to Ghana to finance a new programme aimed at creating jobs and strengthening social cohesion among women and youth, particularly in the northern parts of Ghana.
The four-year programme (2026 to 2029) is expected to support the training of 28,000 people and generate 22,000 direct jobs and 6,189 indirect jobs. The program targets women aged 36 and above and youth aged 18 to 35 in Ghana.
"This programme will contribute to Ghana's efforts in turning its demographic bulge into a dividend by equipping women and youth with market relevant skills, access to finance, and livelihoods opportunities that collectively advance peace and conflict prevention, especially in northern parts of Ghana," said Ms. Eyerusalem Fasika, the Bank's Country Manager in Ghana.
In line with the Bank's Country Strategy Paper for Ghana, it will contribute directly to the Government's Big Push plan for accelerated infrastructural development to drive job creation, and to the 24-Hour Economy agenda aimed at tackling youth unemployment.
The initiative's deliberate focus on women and young people, and in regions with structural socioeconomic vulnerabilities, aligns with the Bank's preventive approach that emphasizes early action to protect and strengthen livelihoods. This approach will contribute to tackling the root causes of recurrent communal tensions, farmer-herder clashes, vulnerability to climate induced droughts, and exposure to the spillovers from insecurity in the Sahel.
The programme will modernise technical and vocational education centres, training 28,000 people, half of them women, in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, digital skills, creative industries, coding, and generative artificial intelligence. An additional 5,000 women and youths will receive agrobusiness training in poultry, fisheries, beekeeping, and responsible mining, with climate adaptation, peacebuilding and financial literacy mainstreamed.
Business-to-business linkages, and a micro-credit financing facility for women and youth-owned Micro Small and Medium Enterprises will be established under the programme. Additionally, the initiative will also strengthen institutional capacity of the implementing agencies and train selected district assembly members on conflict prevention, and prevention of gender-based violence and early marriage.
Delivered through a Results-Based Financing (RBF) instrument, the first of its kind in Ghana's Bank portfolio, the programme will also strengthen institutional systems for more efficient implementation and accountability.
