Social justice and infrastructure approach to youth development in Ghana

Abstract

Ghana seeks to transform its youth to contribute to national transformation. unemployment among young people. Having defined youth as a social category that needs skills training and jobs to transform them into useful development that promotes social equity. Drawing on primary data obtained through qualitative interaction with 20 young people who participated in a Farafina Institute workshop in Ghana between 2018 and 2019, the paper contends that the existing utilitarian paradigm, skill training and merit-based access to resources are based on a neo-liberal individualist and meritorious approach that is at variance with social justice based on a collective benefit from state resources. The utilitarian and meritorious approach breeds social injustice against the many youth staggers. The proposed alternative paradigm of state support for youth transformation is founded on the framework of infrastructure for collective, social equitable benefit of all youth.