Promoting Sustainable Livelihoods: Unpacking Possibilities for Empowerment with Young Migrants in Ghana

This project aims to generate new knowledge about the livelihoods of young migrants in Ghana and use this knowledge to 1) advance understandings of empowerment in youth-centred initiatives, and 2) inform the development of sustainable policy approaches that enhance positive youth futures. In Ghana, one fifth of the population are aged between 15-24 years, many of whom are migrants facing significant socio-economic inequalities.

Concern about young migrants has promoted a range of empowerment-based initiatives. Implicit within these approaches is the idea that young people view their livelihoods (and threats to these) in the same ways as conventional (adult-led) strategies. Empowerment is thus assumed to un-problematically translate into positive outcomes without understanding the perspectives and outcomes that matter to young people and how these perspectives are themselves shaped by socio-cultural inequalities. This interdisciplinary proposal provides a timely opportunity to develop imaginative policy responses directly informed by the experiences of young migrants.