The Government of Ghana, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other partners are set to host the fourth edition of the Youth ConneKT Africa summit, the biggest youth platform that seeks to connect the youth of the continent for the socio-economic transformation of Africa.
Held under the theme “Africa Beyond Aid: Positioning the youth for Post-COVID Economic and Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCTFA) opportunities, this is the first time the event is being held outside the capital of Rwanda, Kigali.
Scheduled to be in attendance at this year’s event are President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the President of Rwanda, Paul Kegame. Also in attendance are ministers of youth from 24 other African countries.
Addressing a news conference in Accra, Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA), Mr Pius EnamHadzide, said this year’s event was expected to host about 17,000 participants.
He described the event as a Pan-African platform with the vision of connecting African youth for socio-economic transformation by empowering and enhancing their knowledge experiences and skills whilst investing in their ideas, innovations and initiatives.
The CEO explained that, the summit had grown to a network of 24 African countries with participation still on the rise.
Mr Hadzide said this year’s summit would deliver on five key objectives including a high-level inter generational dialogue for Africa’s youth which would enable the youth engage opinion leaders, policy-makers and decision-makers in starting Africa’s next level of growth beyond aid as well as explore youth inclusive interventions that could accelerate post Covid-19 in economic recovery.
He said the summit would also showcase tested policy mechanisms that support emerging youth employment pathways as well as identify the structures mechanisms and investments required to accelerate youth participation in regional trade supported by the African Continental Free Trade Area AfCFTA framework.