IMANI Center warns of funding gap in Ghana's Youth Ministry

A strategic dialogue held in Accra on September 2, 2026, between Ghana’s Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment (MYDE) and the IMANI Center for Policy and Education has highlighted a significant gap between the ministry’s policy ambitions and its available funding.

While the ministry’s nominal 2026 budget is GHS 1.6 billion, much of this is already committed to statutory obligations. Approximately GHS 1.1 billion is ring-fenced for economic transition programmes, with nearly GHS 1.0 billion of that amount dedicated to National Service Authority (NSA) personnel allowances. This leaves very little discretionary capital for enterprise modules, apprenticeships, or youth-facing industrial programmes.

IMANI analysts described the situation as a “stark misalignment” between the ministry’s 2026–2029 medium-term goals and its fiscal realities. To avoid the historical pitfalls of bodies like the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), which faced significant arrears due to unbacked project allocations, IMANI recommended that the ministry pursue aggressive corporate co-financing and leverage corporate social investment from multinational firms.