Youth homelessness and a lack of training and education for young people in the Upper East Region of Ghana is a big challenge, with many flow-on effects contributing to community disadvantage and poverty. Without the right skills and education, many young people in the region are unable to find employment. For young women, the situation is often worsened, and their health and development harmed, when they are forced into early marriage.

Addressing the youth skills shortage and helping to keep children and young people off the streets is an urgent need in the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese. Seeing this need, the Diocesan Human Development Office of Navrongo-Bolgatanga established the Youth Development Centre.

The Centre is not only a training facility offering courses in fish farming, piggery, poultry, general agribusiness management, entrepreneurship and hospitality, but it is also aiming to create employment opportunities for locals through setting up a restaurant open to the public. With a view to being self-sustaining, the Centre will generate further income by raising and selling livestock and fish.

The Centre welcomes young people from all backgrounds and of all abilities, delivering specialised training for young people with disability. Classes are facilitated by qualified instructors and are highly practical, focusing on developing skills and building capacity for self-employment. The Centre also organises quarterly youth council meetings in parishes, providing a platform for local youth to discuss issues affecting them and their communities and an avenue to engage actively in working towards addressing them.