This documentary follows the lives of five beneficiaries (3 male and 2 female), of the Youth Empowerment for Life’s (YEfL) Youth-Led Initiatives for Employment (Youth LIFE before the project and how the project has transformed them. The documentary extrapolates their future given the skills and the ancillary packages they received while recording project successes in the area of gender, as both young females and males chose perceived male or female dominated vocations.

The Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Tamale and Youth Empowerment for Life (YEfl) implemented the Youth-Led Initiatives for Employment (Youth LIFE) Project to facilitate an enabling environment, technical know how and life skills development to connect underserved youth to a sustained income stream. The project provided beneficiaries with vocational/technical skills in domestic electrical installation, cell phone repairs, fabric weaving and carpentry.

Youth LIFE marked the second phase of CRS Ghana’s youth programming to follow the 2016 Peace building in Northern Ghana Project, which successfully mobilized youth in three Northern Dioceses to become agents of peace ahead of the 2016 Parliamentary and Presidential Elections. Youth LIFE seeks to address youth disenfranchisement linked to unemployment and is structured as a pilot program to gain experience in Tamale. It is anticipated that in 2018 the program will scale up to include other urban centers in
Northern Ghana.

An estimated 98 youth have successfully launched their own businesses with the help of the start-up packs provided them, and 21 youth obtained formal employment through the private sector. Youth LIFE is therefore not just a youth training project, but rather guarantees an estimated 119 vulnerable youth start their own businesses or begin jobs.