Cape Coast, Aug. 25, GNA - Participants at a citizens’ deliberative forum on youth unemployment held in Cape Coast, has called for the establishment of youth employment and apprenticeship placement centres towards reducing youth unemployment in the Cape Coast Municipality.

The event that was organized by the Governance Issues Forum Network (GIFNet), a civil society organization on the theme: “Talking youth unemployment in the metropolis, which way forward”, was sponsored by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG).

The forum, attended by members of the Cape Coast Municipal Assembly, civil society organizations, educationists, members of the GIFNet and traditional authorities, sought to create a platform for citizens to influence policies that affect their development.

Mr Said Wahab, official of the GIFNet, who read the decisions of the forum, said participants suggested a private-public partnership in the funding of the centres with the seed capital being provided by the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly.

The forum recommended that community-based apprenticeship placement approach should be adopted to reduce cost and ensure that more people benefit from the project.

It also called for the engagement of the Metropolitan Education Directorate, the Universities and other tertiary institutions in the metropolis, the private sector, traditional authorities and the GIFNet in the institutional arrangement for the project implementation.

Mr Justice Amoah, the Cape Coast Metropolitan Planning Officer, said the Assembly welcomed the suggestion and would work with other organizations to help reduce youth unemployment in the metropolis.

Mr Kojo Impraim, Programme Officer of IDEG, said the GIFNet sought to provide an opportunity for citizens to deliberate on issues affecting them and to make suggestions towards the formulation of policies.

He said that the citizens’ deliberative forum offered the opportunity for policy makers to interact with the citizenry and to seek their views for the formulation of policies.