Story by, Paul Mensah Nsor
The Social Investment Fund (SIF) has launched the GWYESCO program, describing it as a “national commitment” to tackle youth unemployment and women’s economic exclusion through jobs, entrepreneurship, skills training, and direct access to finance.
SIF Chief Executive Officer Abass Adams Nurudeen, Esq., said the initiative goes beyond a typical development intervention and is designed to improve resilience and living conditions while promoting economic inclusion and social cohesion.
“This program is more than a development intervention. It is a national commitment to our young people and our women,” Adams said at the launch. “It is designed to enhance their resilience and living conditions by promoting economic inclusion and social cohesion through job creation, entrepreneurship, access to finance, and skills development.”
Adams noted that youth unemployment and underemployment remain among the greatest threats to economic progress and social stability across Ghana and Africa. He said the number of young people not in education, employment, or training is rising due to a lack of market-relevant skills, while many women entrepreneurs still struggle to access finance, technology, and markets.
“In fragile and underserved communities, economic exclusion often fuels frustration, migration pressures, vulnerability, and social tension,” he said. “The GW ESCO program responds directly to these realities.”
SIF, the implementing and coordinating agency, was established to support Ghana’s efforts to reduce poverty and promote inclusive development. Adams said GW ESCO represents a major step forward in that mission by directly supporting thousands of women and young people with skills, resources, and opportunities to become economically independent.
The CEO outlined the program’s strategy around three core pillars:
Market-driven training, for women and youth with industry-relevant skills
Expanded access, to financial and non-financial services for women and youth-owned MSMEs
Strengthened institutional capacity, and incentive systems for sustainable delivery and accountability
Under GW ESCO, beneficiaries will acquire digital, technical, vocational, agribusiness, and creative industry skills. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) centers will be renovated, built, and equipped. MSMEs will also receive entrepreneurship support, business development services, and access to financing facilities.
By 2029, the program targets transformational outcomes: equipping 22,000 women and youth for wage and self-employment, constructing or renovating TVET centers, empowering over 28 million women and youth in STEM, digital, and creative industry skills, training 10,000 women and youth-owned MSMEs in entrepreneurship, and giving 8,000 women and youth-owned businesses access to finance.
“What makes GW ESCO particularly different is its results-based financing mechanism,” Adams explained. “Under this approach, financing is linked directly to measurable results and verifiable outcomes. This means that investments are not tied merely to activities conducted, but to real impact achieved.”
He concluded: “When women and young people are empowered with skills, financing, and hope, nations thrive.”
