Promoting Sustainable Livelihoods: Unpacking Possibilities for Empowerment with Young Migrants in Ghana
- Project status
- Ongoing
- Programmes
- Youth Futures
- Departments
- International
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.