By Patrick Biddah
Steven Nhyira Odarteifio, a contender for the position of National Youth Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), says he intends to draw on his experience in agribusiness and youth development to create employment opportunities for young people in the party if elected.
He says his ambition is to transform the NDC Youth Wing from an organisation primarily focused on electoral mobilisation into one that actively connects young people to jobs, enterprise, skills, capital and markets.
Mr Odarteifio made the commitment as he announced his candidature at a press conference on Monday, September14 , 2026.
He argues that political leadership must ultimately translate into improvements in the lives of ordinary people.
Central to his proposition is his previous work in agriculture, enterprise and youth development, which he says has helped create opportunities and improve livelihoods for more than 100,000 young people across Ghana.
He cited interventions involving agricultural economic enclaves, the deployment of thousands of pieces of agricultural equipment, support for local artisans manufacturing agricultural machinery, opportunities for women processors and young farmers and efforts to strengthen agricultural education.
He said the experience had convinced him that agriculture could be deployed on a much larger scale as an engine for youth employment within the party.
His proposed approach would seek to replicate the principles behind those interventions by organising young people around productive agricultural enclaves, connecting them to equipment, finance, skills, technology and markets and creating opportunities across the agricultural value chain rather than limiting support to primary production.
The proposal forms part of what Mr Odarteifio describes as a broader agenda of “economic mobilisation”.
He says, if elected, he would seek to help the Youth Wing economically impact one million more young people before the end of President John Dramani Mahama’s administration.
The ambition would include connecting young party members and other young Ghanaians to capital, enterprise development, agriculture, technology and skills, while supporting productive ventures capable of generating employment on a sustained basis.
He believes the NDC Youth Wing should therefore become an active bridge between young people and the opportunities being created under the Mahama administration. Programmes including Adwumawura, the National Apprenticeship Programme and the One Million Coders initiative are already designed to expand entrepreneurship, technical skills and digital opportunities for young Ghanaians.
The National Apprenticeship Programme, for instance, provides technical and vocational training, certification and start-up support, while Adwumawura targets the creation and growth of 10,000 businesses annually.
For Mr Odarteifio, however, the existence of government programmes is only the beginning.
He argues that young people must be made aware of the opportunities, helped to access them and organised around them.
His proposed Youth Wing would therefore focus not only on political mobilisation but also on ensuring that young people can translate government initiatives into businesses, jobs and incomes. “Programmes alone do not change lives,” he said,
