The Executive Director of the Kandifo Institute, licensed operators of the Duke of Edinburgh International Awards Scheme operated by the Head of State Awards (HoSA), Palgrave Boakye Danquah has revealed that the construction of the Award House, which has generated a lot of controversy on traditional and social media, has several benefits for the country.
According to him, this initiative by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo led New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government is one of the best ways to curb the rise in youth misfits that is gradually creeping into the Ghanaian society.
Speaking on the reactions to the sod-cutting on Takoradi-based Skyy Power FM, Palgrave Boakye Danquah said the construction of the Awards House creates the opportunity for more young people to have free skills development which will go a long way to help them contribute their quota to the development of the nation.
“If you look at the Heads of State Awards (HoSA), which awards young people for their diverse contributions to the development of their communities, it means that young children who wish to volunteer or undertake skill development, will go to the Awards House.
“Every year President awards young people for their contributions to society. Because the youth are very important to the development of the nation, the President is looking at equipping about 500,000 youths through the awards,” he said.
He said once people are talking about the construction of this Awards House in the midst of hardship in the country, it is also important to note that this same Head of State Awards (HoSA) scheme has the potential of helping to reduce those same hardships of the youth who will be open minded enough to take advantage of the opportunities it presents.
“Yes, there is hardship, but as we always look at moving forward, if there are youth who are on the streets, we are inviting them to come to Kandifo Institute to take advantage of this Awards to develop skills that will help take them out of the street since she by their volunteering, they will build skills that will help them to do something meaningful wit their lives afterwards. So this is an incredible way to deal with reducing the number of youths on the streets of Ghana,” he explained.
Projects
Mr Palgrave Boakye Danquah stated that there are so many projects that the youth of Ghana can take advantage of this Awards House to undertake to help bring development to the communities and their own lives.
“The Head Of State Awards is one that rewards scheme is a project that gives opportunities to youth to undertake voluntary activities that will lead to the development of their communities,’ he stated.
He explained that each youth will have to decide what he or she is interested in doing as the project of interest.
“Every youth will decide what they want to do. For example, at Kandifo Institute now, some youths have come there to better their reading skills. We have over 3,000 books on various books. These youth come into our office, read the books and summarise them. Some of them say they want to become Secretaries. So we pair them up with administrative secretary at Kandifo for them to learn.
“Some are also interested in swimming, and we are taking them to University of Ghana. So it depends on what the youth wants to do to bring development into their lives and to their Communities. In Ghana, we have a lot of tourists sites that many youths have never visited before. They can take advantage of this Awards, and experience them. The team is only there to guide you through what you choose to do,” he explained.
