The Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment (MYDE) has launched a centralised digital platform and a mobile app to unify the country’s youth empowerment programmes and expand access to opportunities for the youth.

Developed in partnership with AGRA, an African-led organisation, the National Youth Tracker Platform and the YouthXplore Mobile App are to provide an inclusive, AI-curated career pathway, scholarships, business funding and training for the youth.

The tracker platform is an integration of data from the National Youth Authority (NYA), the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) and the National Service Authority (NSA) that will provide real-time dashboards for planning, reduce chances of duplication, provide predictive analytics, and support equitable access to government youth programmes.

The YouthXplore Mobile App will allow young people to input not just their grades and certificates but also their skills, experiences, ambitions, and potential, and trigger the app to search across government programmes, available jobs, apprenticeships, entrepreneurship support, scholarships, training programmes, internships, and national service pathways to provide personalised matches.

At the launch of the event in Accra on Tuesday, the Youth Development and Empowerment Minister, George Opare Addo, also launched an AgTractive campaign aimed at shifting the mindset of the youth concerning agriculture while elevating the occupation as a modern, innovative and profitable career path.

The campaign is a nationwide movement under AGRA's Youth Entrepreneurship for the Future of Food and Agriculture (YEFFA) programme, a five-year youth-centred programme activated in partnership with the MasterCard Foundation.

The minister said the AgTractive campaign would challenge the narrative that agriculture was low-status work, and instead project the modern and innovative aspects of agriculture.

Explaining the objectives of the platforms, Mr Addo said the launch was a significant step towards transforming how the country supported and empowered its youth under the Reset Agenda.

He lamented the fragmented nature of youth programmes, with their agencies often working in silos, stating that the National Youth Tracker dashboard would integrate data and programmes from various agencies into a unified platform, providing real-time visibility and reducing duplication.

Mr Addo said the tracker dashboard supported analytical tools designed for local data, helping to identify skills gaps, underserved communities, and direct investment to areas of greatest impact.

He said the Youth Xplorer app, on the other hand, was designed to be inclusive with features such as screen reader compatibility, voice navigation, high contrast modes, sign language, video support, and simplified interfaces.

Mr Addo thanked AGRA for partnering with the ministry by funding and developing the AgTractive campaign and the Youth Xplorer app.

He called on the private sector to join the ecosystem and advertise opportunities on the platform to boost opportunities for young people.

The Country Manager of AGRA, Dr Betty Annan, reiterated that the youth tracker would serve as a central hub for young people to find jobs, internships, training programmes, and business opportunities in agriculture.

She stated that an analysis done by the International Fund for Agricultural Development had revealed that every dollar invested in sustainable agriculture could yield up to $16 in returns for other sectors.

She further stated that a report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and civil society group, Livelihood EU, had indicated that investing in agriculture was three times more effective in reducing poverty than in other sectors.

Dr Annan said the report showed strong evidence and opportunities for the agriculture employment and entrepreneurship in food systems to be more profitable in lifting more people out of poverty.