Faith-Based Organisations Charged to Invest in the Youth 

Over 80 Youth Leaders of four different faiths in the country at the weekend converged to deliberate on some pertinent topics they believe will set the right tone for responsible leadership among the youth in the country.

The selected topics included, Honesty and Integrity, Agency and Accountability, Dress and Appearance and Physical and Emotional Health. The rest were Education, Media, and Entertainment.

The discussion took place in Accra at the 2018 Youth Leadership Conference jointly organized by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through its National Public Affairs Council and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana.

The conference theme: “Equipping Today’s Youth for Responsible Leadership,” was also aimed at providing the needed assistance to youth leaders to aid them effectively inculcate good social and religious morals in the youth they lead.

Participants, drawn from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Evangelical Lutheran church, Muslim community and Living God church, were taken through six topics selected from the FSY (For the Strength of Youth) program of the Church.

Speakers were offered the opportunity to talk on diverse topics as participants were put into groups to discuss the various topics and also share their thoughts on how they were going to help their youth appreciate the importance of leadership.

In his welcome address, Dr. Paul Fynn, Chancellor of Wisconsin University who doubled as chairman for the occasion, noted that the current trend of indiscipline among youth in the country was a wake up call on all stakeholders to intensify teachings at all levels to nip the phenomenon in the bud.

He further explained that the forum was not meant to discuss matters of spirituality, but particularly to deliberate on the falling standards among the youth and to develop strategies that could be adopted to remedy the situation.

Dr. Fynn said, “If we don’t straighten up these children, they will blame us in future. This is a social problem we are having and all people no matter your religious background should get together and get to the bottom of this and help our people; otherwise we will have problem upon problems.”

Dr. Osei Agyeman Bonsu, National Public Affairs Director, in his remarks expressed gratitude to the participating churches for their support to the program, and said subsequent youth programs will be broadened to involve other institutions to deliberate further on the right standards to be exemplified by the youth.

Mr. Bom Kofi Dy-Yaka, Former District Chief Executive (DCE), Lambussie District in the Upper East Region, in his presentation on Dress and Appearance, explained that most youth were refused jobs because of how they dressed for job interviews. He added that the youth needed to groom themselves appropriately in order to gain society's respect.

The two other speakers, Blessing Ngozi and Faustina Otoo each spoke on education, agency and accountability.

Mr. Adu Darko, a participant sharing some insights with Mormon Newsroom Ghana said, “The notion that the training was religious and intended to coerce people to change their religion, was clearly defined.

"We have been impacted and I am going back to teach my youth how to dress appropriately,” he added.

Another participant from the Lutheran Church, Ms. Jennifer Obirih-Opareh said, “This session has been insightful as I have learnt that leaders ought to be accountable for their stewardship. I am also going back to encourage my youth to commit to their education to help them have a brighter future.”