Youth and Sports Minister Edward Osei Kwaku on Wednesday launched in Accra the ninth Raleigh International (RI) expedition and asked young people to take up challenges that would boost their confidence and help them discover their true potentials.

In all, young people between the ages of 17 and 25, called "venturers," and staff of RI, numbering 140, are taking part in the three-month expedition, which runs between September and December this year.

Coming from Ghana, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Norway, the "venturers" would jointly work with a number of organisations in nine community, environmental and adventure projects in Ghana.

These include the construction projects of KVIP latrines and urinals in the Upper West and Northern Regions, and school construction and refurbishing projects as well as HIV/AIDS awareness programmes and nutrition workshops in the Afram Plains in the Eastern Region, and parts of the Greater Accra Region.

The "ventureres" would also work on traffic management in the Mole National Park to reduce harm to wildlife and analyse the density of the elephant population through studying their dung and build a camp site for tourists.

The group would also build hatcheries in the coastal areas of Benyin in the Western Region for turtles and work with the Ghana Wildlife Department to build a timber guest house facility at the Bui National Park.

The venturers would engage in trekking, climbing and canoeing selected hills, parks and lakes in the Eastern, Volta and Northern Regions. Launching the expedition, which is also the third and final for the year, Osei Kwaku said taking up challenges increased their education, and the confidence they built prepared them with particular abilities that were likely stronger candidates for employment opportunities.

He said since Raleigh International began working in Ghana three years ago Government had been able to support it closely and would continue to do so. He said as youth development organisation from UK, Raleigh gave people from around world a unique and tremendous experience through the many projects it ran during each expedition as hundreds of people came together to work on various social, health and environmental issues that were designed to assist Ghana's development.

Osei Kwaku praised Raleigh International on its achievements and urged business organisations to throw their weight behind it. The Youth and Sports Minister said for the past three years, more than 900 young people had taken part in the expeditions in Ghana and said everyone benefited because they worked as part of a cohesive team.

Ms Frances Bawden, Ghana Country Director of RI said current and long-term objectives continued to focus on giving young people around the world the chance to maximise their potential through expedition life. Barclays Bank of Ghana presented a cheque of 20 million cedis to the Ghanaians taking part in the expedition