New Generation Initiative Will Benefit 2000+ Ghanaians in 2024 and 2025

Generation and Mastercard Foundation launch three tech employment programs in Ghana

More than 2000 young Ghanaians (aged 18-35) are expected to benefit from a new Generation initiative in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, and with MEST and Soronko Academy as local delivery partners. The initiative dubbed Ghana Remote and Online Work (GROW), will upskill unemployed and underemployed individuals, with a particular focus on serving women, to work in remote positions and support graduates to secure work and freelance opportunities.

This initiative marks Generation’s first program in Ghana and comes at a crucial moment for the country. According to the Ghana Statistical Services, 1.76 million people did not have a job at the end of 2022, with the number of unemployed females as high as twice the number of unemployed males. In addition, about a quarter of the population aged 15-35 was not in employment, education, or training.

Vandyck Lomotey, Generation Ghana Program Director, said: “Ghana is a youthful country, but our young men and women struggle with long periods of joblessness and poor quality of employment. This is why this project will not only support young Ghanaians to access the increasing online and remote job opportunities in the country — it will also drive economic mobility for hundreds of learners through promoting their access to life-changing careers.”

The programs will be based on Generation’s proven 7-step methodology which is currently used in 17 countries around the world. To date, Generation has graduated 100,000+ learners globally, 88% of which get a job within the first 6 months. The initiative in Ghana will combine this highly efficient approach with other local and international successful experiences in order to find the most innovative models to create scalable employment opportunities within remote work.

The initiative will in addition, select multiple job sets across a variety of sectors to be tested in the Ghanaian context. This will start by offering three free-of-charge programs in 2024: Digital Customer Service and Web Development, expected to start on January 29th, as well as Digital Marketing which is planned to begin on February 26th.

The initiative is currently building a coalition of mission-aligned partners which will be engaged to deliver systemic change in the country. It will include local training organisations, government agencies, regional employers, and global freelance platforms.

Rica Rwigamba, Country Director, Mastercard Foundation, said: “The Mastercard Foundation is committed to enabling young people in Ghana with dignified and fulfilling work opportunities. This project is especially exciting for us because we are not merely unlocking doors to remote work for young women and men; it is about giving them the keys to their own dignified futures and thereby fostering individual empowerment and cultivating a generation of leaders who will drive positive change and innovation in our communities and beyond.”