The role of the youth has been pivotal in the globalization process. However, the preponderant growth in the number of unemployed and the seeming lack of attention to youth empowerment and development has become an issue of grave concern to the youth of Ghana. In fact, the issue of youth empowerment and development has remained a daunting challenge for most developing economies with a snowball effect on the developed economies and for that matter the quest for globalization. CAUSES . Several factors account for the vulnerable and an ineffective youth empowerment and high youth unemployment rate in Ghana. This vulnerability has made the youth gullible to the manipulation and machinations of various elements in society especially, politicians and factional leaders. Most notably among these factors is low economic growth which is manifested in low economic activity and low investment. This entails an over all low job creation. Given the sustained population growth rate with the population regarded as a young and growing type, labour markets are not able to absorb all the new comers resulting in scarcity of jobs which leads to a bias selection by education and experience as well as efficient social networks. Young people are at pains to position themselves in order to benefit from this regrettably unfair system. There is a disparity of skills in the youth labour market in Ghana, partly as a result of lower enrolment rates coupled with low completion rates, low quality of education and a failure to orient curricula with the needs of the private sector. Also, youth unemployment in Ghana has a geographical dimension. It is generally higher in urban areas than in rural areas. However, the lower youth unemployment figures in rural areas are likely to mask a significant amount of underemployment in low productivity smallholding agriculture. Ghana with a large agricultural wage sector has high youth unemployment in rural areas. COST . The consequences of youth unemployment are severe. Unemployment has social as well as economic consequences for young people and the society at large. Unemployed youth are forced to find alternatives to generate income, including activities in the survival-type informal sector like hawking and in the extreme, criminal activities. The lack of economic empowerment and active engagement in social development generally increases the vulnerability of the youth to social vices such as armed robbery, drug trafficking, teenage pregnancy and prostitution. According to Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General, rising unemployment takes a heavy toll among young people who are particularly vulnerable to shocks in the labour market. Lay-offs, restructuring and insufficient opportunities to enter the world of work condemn many to a life of economic hardship and despair. “We have seen, all too often, the tragedy of young lives misspent in crime, drug abuse, civil conflict and even terrorism” said Kofi Annan. Furthermore, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), “the cost of neglecting youth can be measured in terms of depletion of human and social capital”. In many cases there is a loss of opportunity for economic growth, which increases as this cohort ages without gaining experience in the workforce. More difficult to quantify are the costs of societal instability and endemic conflict. Politicians, traditional leaders and civil society in Ghana for decades, have paid lip service to the canker of mounting proportion of unemployed youths, the lack of quality youth development policies and low level of youth empowerment. It is my strong conviction that we ought to take the bull by the horns and begin to hold our leaders up to their words. Presidential candidates of the various political parties have begun feverishly their bids to lead the nation come elections at the latter part of this year. They have started making promises and drawing up nice grandiose as to how they intend to harness the potentials of the youth for a brighter Ghana. How committed are they to these promises. More often than not these grandiose remain political gimmicks. From the start of this current democratic dispensation up to date Ghana has not been able to formulate a realistic and an acceptable youth development policy. So why should we continue to heed to these promises from politicians who do not really believe in fulfilling them. I sincerely believe that the youths need to hold them to their words by signing a social contract with each one of the presidential aspirants before the general elections in order to commit them to fulfilling their promises to the youth in the event that they win. The youth of Ghana reserve the right to demand draft youth development blue prints from all political parties as part of their manifestos. Political leaders and civil society alike should be made to understand that; youth empowerment and development ought to be made a fact rather than an idealistic dream. Therefore, the need to identify its complex nexus and practical ramifications cannot be underestimated. Youth development when approached holistically by our political leaders and civil society can break the poverty cycle and even curtail the spread of diseases and could result in a more stable and prosperous society for the country. Ghana needs a youth development policy which will stimulate economic growth and development through churning out skilled labour, technical and managerial innovations which can lead to increased productivity and the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals. However, the road ahead for the youth in Ghana is riddled with challenges and as well replete with possibilities. Dramatic improvements are within reach and we could adopt effective reforms if the political will is strong. Youth empowerment is the next building block for the development of human resources for accelerated development in view of the saying that the youth is the most valuable resource to any nation. RECOMMENDATIONS Youth employment, development and empowerment policies must be mainstreamed. Job creation is essential to Ghana’s current and future generations. Investments in human capital have low rates of return if output growth and aggregate labour demand do not adequately expand. Youth unemployment is a component of aggregate unemployment and cannot be tackled unless economic growth is sufficient. Besides accelerating growth, mainstreaming youth aspects within over all development paths is necessary. The poverty Reduction Strategy Papers’ focus on employment creation as a way out strategy from poverty is a fundamental policy instrument for targeting young people. In the developing countries, youth unemployment has been highlighted as a crucial area requiring pertinent policy intervention. At the international level the urgency of the youth problem was recognized and clearly identified in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MDG target sixteen is to “develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for the youth. Youth idleness also implies missed opportunities in the use of human resources to produce goods and services. Tapping into the unused potential of unemployed young people could prove a crucial asset for economic development in the country. Rather than accepting unemployed young people as a burden to society, there is an urgent need to focus on youth employment or occupation policies and to mainstream those policies into a larger development strategy framework. Well targeted youth policies and specifically national employment policies like the National Youth Employment Programme; public spending directed at young people, projects to tackle rural employment and the creation of job centres should be an integral part of such a strategy. Public work programmes and internships through public-private initiatives aimed at young people can provide them with an entry to the labour market and improve access to and equity in education. Guided by the needs of the private sector, they can also enhance the quality, curriculum content and resource allocation of the educational system. Moreover, there is the fundamental need for Ghana to emphasize value-added education since better educated youth reduces the risks of civil conflicts and social vices such as drug trafficking, armed robbery and prostitution. Successful efforts at reform within the educational system in Ghana will rely on resource availability at the top and bottom levels and favourable legislative and budgetary allocations. Also, there will be the need for strong leadership in programmes at the national, regional, district and local levels. However, there will be challenges in programme evaluation, teacher education, and development of curriculum. CONCLUSION . It is significant to state without mincing words that the process of formulating a national youth policy has been very slow and needs to be sped up. However, the rapid turnover of ministers at the Ministry of Man Power, Youth and Employment ought to be checked by government in order to see a successful finish to fashioning out a national youth policy. There is also the need to institute a national forum involving all stakeholders to debate the issue of youth development. The government should also consider merging the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) and the National Service Scheme with a definite source of funding to curb the overlapping difficulties that the two bodies encounter in their operations. Finally, youth unemployment, youth development and empowerment must be tackled in phases rather than in the current adhoc manner. By: Muhammed Alhassan Yakubu A Youth Development Advocate. Accra.