Collins Sefa The Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment (MYDE) has unveiled a centralised digital platform and mobile application designed to unify youth empowerment initiatives and expand access to national opportunities for young people.
Developed in partnership with AGRA, the African-led institution driving inclusive agricultural growth, the National Youth Tracker Platform and YouthXplore Mobile App aim to provide customised career pathways, scholarships, business funding and training recommendations using advanced data integration and artificial intelligence.
The Tracker Platform integrates datasets from the National Youth Authority (NYA), Youth Employment Agency (YEA), National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) and the National Service Authority (NSA). The unified dashboard is expected to streamline national planning, reduce duplication of programmes, and support predictive analytics for targeted youth interventions.
The YouthXplore Mobile App allows young people to input grades, certificates, skills, interests, ambitions and work experience. The system then provides personalised matches across government programmes, job openings, apprenticeships, entrepreneurship funding, scholarships, training opportunities, internships and national service placements.
Launch of AgTractive Campaign
Speaking at the launch in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo, also introduced the AgTractive campaign — a nationwide effort to rebrand agriculture as a modern, profitable and innovation-driven sector.
The campaign forms part of AGRA’s Youth Entrepreneurship for the Future of Food and Agriculture (YEFFA) programme, run in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.
Mr Opare Addo said AgTractive seeks to shift long-held perceptions of agriculture as low-status work and instead highlight its technological and entrepreneurial potential for young people.
Solving Fragmentation in Youth Programming
The minister described the digital platforms as a major step in addressing the fragmentation of youth programmes in the country. He noted that the current structure, where agencies work in silos, often leads to duplicated roles and inefficient allocation of resources.
He said the National Youth Tracker dashboard offers real-time visibility into ongoing initiatives while providing analytical tools to identify skills gaps, underserved communities and strategic areas needing targeted investment.
The YouthXplore app, he added, was intentionally designed to be inclusive, featuring screen reader support, voice navigation, high contrast mode, sign language interpretation, video content and simplified interfaces.
Mr Opare Addo thanked AGRA for funding and developing the YouthXplore app and the AgTractive campaign, and called on the private sector to advertise more opportunities on the platform.
Agriculture as a Driver of Youth Employment
AGRA’s Country Manager, Dr Betty Annan, said the Youth Tracker would serve as a central hub for accessing jobs, internships, training programmes and entrepreneurship opportunities within agriculture and related sectors.
Citing findings from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), she noted that every dollar invested in sustainable agriculture can generate up to $16 in returns across other sectors.
She added that a report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and civil society group Livelihood EU indicated that investment in agriculture is three times more effective at reducing poverty than investment in other sectors.
Dr Annan emphasised that the evidence shows strong potential for agriculture-driven employment and entrepreneurship to lift more young people out of poverty.
