Aspirations matter: what young people in Ghana think about work

Organization(s): ODI
Author: Ethel Seiwaa Boateng; Alexandra Löwe
Regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa
Country: Ghana
Year: 2018
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Aspirations play a vital role in shaping young people’s life choices, particularly when it comes to making decisions about education and jobs. However, youth employment programmes – which seek to provide young people with the skills and opportunities needed to secure employment and achieve higher living standards – rarely take young people’s aspirations into account.

This research published by the Youth Forward Learning Partnership explores the aspirations of young people in rural and urban Ghana, to understand their aspirations and how they are formed, and what this means for youth employment programming and policy.