UNDP and partners consult stakeholders to develop Ghana’s National Human Development Report for 2023 to focus on the value of work

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in partnership with the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) engaged key stakeholders to solicit inputs and gather evidence for Ghana’s National Human Development Report (NHDR) for 2023. The 2023 NHDR titled “The Future Value of Work in Ghana: Pathways to Sustainable Jobs”, is seeking to address the issue of unemployment.

“We are building on the excellent research and analytical work that is currently being done by the Ghana Statistical Service and NDPC in the area of economic well-being, reducing poverty and inequality. From the recent statistics, we know that up to 1.7million Ghanaians are unemployed and beyond this figure, many are underemployed or discouraged workers. This is an important issue to be tackled in this decade of action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, noted Angela Lusigi, UNDP Resident Representative of Ghana.

The consultations were carried out in selected regions in the northern, middle, and coastal belts across Ghana and relevant stakeholders were consulted in Accra. The engagement sessions encouraged dialogue and knowledge exchange among key stakeholders including young people, community members, CSOs, private sector, research institutions and the media. This identified opportunities and challenges of work to enhance human development at all levels in Ghana.

At the consultation at Sefwi-Wiawso in the Western North region, Mr. Ebenezer Amoah, Chief Director of the Western Regional Coordinating Council noted that “the consultation offers a unique opportunity to come up with realistic solutions to create prosperity and equal opportunity for all“.

The discussions at the regional consultations with the various stakeholders focused on key areas including what work means to people, value society place on work and the rationale, how work contributes to human development, barriers to work for human development, implications of new technologies on work, importance of employment policies, and gender dynamics of work among others.

“Ghana is faced with high youth unemployment, and this is a threat to national security. Our youth must see agribusiness, tourism and sports as a means for jobs”, stated Honorable Yidana Zakaria, the North East Regional Minister during the consultation session in Nalerigu, the North East regional capital which drew participants from the five regions in Northern Ghana.

To ensure an inclusive approach, a technical workshop was organized for the core research team comprising the Ghana Statistical Service and the National Development Planning Commission in Ho. This focused on computing the Human Development Indexes (HDI) for all regions in Ghana, and related indicators including the Gender Development Index (GDI) and the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

The Ghana 2023 national HDR is motivated by progress and trends that the country has achieved and maintained in economic growth, governance, peace and security, improved public service delivery and the steady increase in human development in the last two decades. However, the story is different on the level and rate of employment/unemployment over the same period. To compound this further, the narrow definition of employment that does not recognize and value some form of ‘work’ because they are not ‘employment’, means a broader discussion is required on work. In this regard, this NHDR aims to analyze and provide evidence on the relationship between work, the value of work, the future value of work and human development and the impact. The conversations are important for groundbreaking policy options in addressing the persistent challenge of unemployment.

“For Ghana to achieve higher and full human development, it is important to address the issue of unequal human progress. This is why the Ghana 2023 NHDR seeks to provide in-depth analysis of the challenges related to unemployment and assess how this affects human development with a regional focus”, noted Fatmata Lovetta Sesay, Senior Economist at UNDP.

The findings of the Ghana NHDR process will inform policies and development programming to address the issue of unemployment to advance human development.