Youth Employment Programs in Ghana: Options for Effective Policy Making and Implementation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christabel E. Dadzie ◽  
Mawuko Fumey ◽  
Suleiman Namara
2021 ◽  
pp. 074355842110432
Author(s):  
Jordan Greene ◽  
Kristin Seefeldt

Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) help connect youth to opportunities for career exploration, skill development, and mentorship. Despite heightened investment in SYEPs, research regarding positive impacts is limited. Most of the common SYEP evaluation strategies are rooted in deficit thinking and focus on outcomes such as reducing violent crime, risk behaviors, gaps in unemployment, and increasing educational attainment. Despite recent shifts toward approaches that acknowledge structural oppression in adolescent research more broadly, evaluations of SYEPs often perpetuate a discourse of deficiency about marginalized communities by emphasizing disparities without acknowledging the systemic forces that create them. In this article, we utilize the Five Cs of Positive Youth Development to present an alternative set of outcomes identified from focus groups and surveys with youth ages 16 to 24 who participated in SummerWorks, a 10-week SYEP located in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Specifically, we find that SYEPs may help youth make the transition to adulthood, build community and increase their social capital, and access knowledge, resources, and opportunities. Through this approach, we hope to expand the literature on the impacts of SYEPs and encourage antiracist evaluation strategies that build on these findings and challenge deficit thinking.


1981 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew W. Cox

This paper looks at the question of whether or not political parties in Britain have autonomy in drawing up legislation when in office. Using the development of party and governmental policies for land values problems since 1947 as case study, the paper assesses the relative merits of various explanations of policy making. While it is true in this particular case that adversary party politics and relative governmental autonomy in decision making does exist, the paper concludes by assessing the consequences of this for effective policy implementation. It is argued that policy formulated primarily on the basis of ideology and dogma leads to policy failure and, ultimately, the generation of pluralistic and/or corporatist tendencies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 711-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley Pruitt

Abstract For decades ‘youth bulge’ theory has dominated understandings of youth in mainstream International Relations. Youth bulge theory has also become part of some public media analyses, mainstream political rhetoric, and even officially enshrined in the foreign policy of some states. Through the ‘youth bulge’ lens, youth—especially males—have been presented as current or future perpetrators of violence. However, this article argues that the youth bulge thesis postulated in mainstream IR is based on flawed theoretical assumptions. In particular, supporters of youth bulge theory fail to engage with existing research by feminist IR scholars and thus take on a biological essentialist approach. This has led to theoretical and practical misunderstandings of the roles youth play in relation to conflict, peace and security. These partial and biased understandings have also resulted in less effective policy-making. In critically reflecting on the ‘youth bulge’ thesis, this article argues that applying gender analysis is crucial to understanding the involvement of young people in general—and young men in particular—in conflict. Doing so will contribute to advancing more accurate analysis in scholarship and policy-making.


Subject The impact of recent by-elections and an ongoing corruption scandal. Significance Lee Wan-koo resigned as premier on April 21 after just two months in post. He and seven other associates of President Park Geun-hye were named in an interview and suicide note by Sung Wan-jong -- former head of a construction firm -- who hanged himself on April 9. All deny taking money from Sung, but Lee's position became untenable. In better news for Park, her Saenuri Party won three hitherto opposition-held seats in by-elections on April 29. Her approval rating as of May 1 was 39%, up four points in a week. Impacts Park's personal popularity is holding up, but this does not imply effective policy-making ahead. The main opposition, which lost all four by-elections, is in turmoil and may split. Park may try to regain popularity by easing policy toward North Korea.


Author(s):  
Aditi Munmun Sengupta ◽  
Diptendu Chatterjee ◽  
Salil Kumar Bhattacharya ◽  
Rima Ghosh

The review was aimed at understanding the immune dysregulation by the novel virus, COVID-19. The review also highlighted the major findings that have been published in the previous studies through secondary research about the mechanism of immune dysregulation, transmission and progression of the virus across the globe. Adults above the age of 60 years and with co-morbidities such as cardiac and renal dysfunction, hypertension and diabetes are predisposed to greater risk of COVID-19 infection. The virus impairs the physiological, psychological and metabolic functioning of the patient. The paper gained an insight into the need for immunization priority for the Indian population and recommendations for the effective policy making in vaccine development and distribution.


Author(s):  
Stephen Woolcock

This chapter examines the decision-making process in the European Union’s trade and investment policy following the changes brought about by the Treaty of Lisbon. It shows how EU policy competence has been extended progressively over many years due to internal institutional developments, but also in response to demands made upon the EU by external drivers. It also considers the respective roles of the EU institutions and argues that effective policy-making requires that all of the major actors have faith in the decision-making regime. Such a regime involving the European Commission and the European Council was developed by the EU over many years. The challenge for decision-making is for the European Parliament to be integrated into this regime. The chapter explains how the EU has shifted to a policy that includes the active pursuit of free trade agreements in parallel with efforts to promote a comprehensive multilateral trade agenda.


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