The Charity Rock Foundation has made significant strides in unearthing young innovators within the Western Region as part of its efforts to drive economic growth and job creation through the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Young Africa Innovate Program.
Over the past three months, the foundation has been actively identifying and supporting young individuals who are spearheading innovative solutions to address some of the region’s most pressing challenges.
Speaking to Beach FM, the Project Manager for Charity Rock Foundation, Benjamin Turkson, highlighted the foundation’s progress.
“Over the past 3 months [from July], Charity Rock Foundation has been working tremendously within the Western Region to identify, young innovators between the ages of 18 to 35 who are, rolling out solutions that address the basic challenges of the Western Region. The good thing was we were able to identify about 239 young innovators within the region, in the sectors of transportation, agriculture, health. And today, we came to present the findings of how the entire exercise went and how the stakeholders were very supportive to the entire process and, to finally say thank you to them for the support that they rendered to us whilst we were engaging their various districts and communities.”
The primary objective of the initiative is to provide technical and financial support to these innovators through the UNDP’s Young Africa Innovate Program. The innovators identified during the project will be submitted to the UNDP for further screening, where the most promising candidates will be selected and matched with the necessary resources to scale their projects.
“Actually, the program is looking at supporting, young innovators, with technical and financial support. And the program is run by the UNDP called the Young Africa Innovate Program. The good thing is the innovators that we’ve identified have been submitted to the UNDP who will screen and then select the best ones out of them and match various forms of support to them”, Mr Turkson explained.
The long-term goal of the project is to foster job creation within the Western Region and, eventually, across Ghana. Turkson revealed that the initiative targets the creation of over 1,000 jobs. The long term goal of this project is to foster job creation within the western region and even across Ghana. I think there is a target of creating over 1,000 jobs. We believe that through the innovators we were able to identify within the western region, when they are able to get the necessary support that they need, they will be able to create jobs within the region to, reduce unemployment.”
Although the foundation has officially concluded its scouting activities, Mr. Turkson emphasized that the program remains open to additional young innovators. “While we have drawn the curtains on the scouting process, we are still open to receiving more submissions because we want to make the initiative as inclusive as possible,” he noted. “Any young innovator from the Western Region—or even outside of it—who wants to be part of the Young Africa Innovate Program can still reach out to us through our social media platforms or visit africayouthinnovate.org to submit their innovations.”
The Charity Rock Foundation’s initiative has drawn praise from various stakeholders and is expected to significantly impact economic growth and innovation in the Western Region by empowering young people to develop and implement solutions to the region’s unique challenges. The initiative is poised to reduce unemployment, enhance productivity, and drive the creation of new industries across Ghana, providing a model for other regions to follow.
