The African Development Bank Group’s Board of Directors has approved a $71.55 million grant to Ghana to fund a new four-year programme (2026–2029) designed to create jobs and enhance social cohesion among women and youth, particularly in the country’s northern regions. The initiative aims to train 28,000 individuals and generate 22,000 direct jobs along with 6,189 indirect employment opportunities, targeting women aged 36 and above and youth between 18 and 35 years.
According to Ms. Eyerusalem Fasika, the Bank’s Country Manager in Ghana, the programme will help transform Ghana’s demographic potential into a productive dividend by providing market-relevant skills, access to finance, and livelihood opportunities. These efforts are expected to foster peace, prevent conflict, and strengthen community resilience in vulnerable regions.
Aligned with the Bank’s Country Strategy Paper for Ghana, the project supports the government’s Big Push plan for accelerated infrastructure-driven job creation and the 24-Hour Economy agenda aimed at addressing youth unemployment. The programme’s strong focus on women and young people in socioeconomically fragile areas reflects the Bank’s preventive approach, which emphasizes early interventions to improve livelihoods and address root causes of instability, such as communal tensions, farmer-herder conflicts, and the impacts of climate change.
The initiative will modernize technical and vocational education and training centres, equipping 28,000 participants—half of them women—with skills in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, digital innovation, creative industries, coding, and generative artificial intelligence. Additionally, 5,000 women and youth will receive agribusiness training in sectors like poultry, fisheries, beekeeping, and responsible mining, with integrated components on climate adaptation, peacebuilding, and financial literacy.
To promote entrepreneurship, the programme will establish business-to-business linkages and create a micro-credit financing facility to support women and youth-owned Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). It will also strengthen the institutional capacities of implementing agencies and train district assembly members in conflict prevention, gender-based violence mitigation, and early marriage prevention.
Implemented through a Results-Based Financing (RBF) instrument—the first of its kind in Ghana’s African Development Bank portfolio—the programme will enhance institutional efficiency, transparency, and accountability in delivering inclusive and sustainable development outcomes.
