This research project is part of the INCLUDE programme Youth in Just Food Systems Transitions. The research programme is supporting five country case studies to analyse the drivers and barriers of “just” food systems transitions in Africa, specifically zooming in on strategies to create decent livelihoods for young women and men.
Project Summary
The project Youth Engagement in Ghana’s Just Food System Transition: From Policy to Practice examines the (dis)connections between policy ambitions to advance just food systems transition and youth employment initiatives in Ghana, and the lived realities of young people. The study investigates how Ghana’s policies related to food systems transformation translate into practice by examining both government (top-down) and private (bottom-up) interventions and their impact on young Ghanaians. In particular, the research looks at how existing gender and spatial inequalities, North-South and rural-urban, have been addressed.
Methodologically, the study combines policy and literature analysis with labour market data analysis to map where young people are situated within Ghana’s food systems, disaggregated by gender, location, education, and food system segment. This quantitative foundation is complemented by qualitative fieldwork, including key informant interviews and focus group discussions with government officials, farmer organisations, civil society actors, donors, and private sector actors, as well as young farmers, processors, and traders themselves. Fieldwork has so far concentrated on Northern Ghana, working closely with agroecological organisations and community-based partners, and will later extend to Southern and urban contexts.
Why This Project Matters
Despite numerous public-, private- and donor-funded programmes, the study starts from the observation that these efforts often operate in parallel and fail to address structural barriers that inhibit the potential of food systems transformation to support young people, particularly young women.
The country continues to grapple with high rates of youth unemployment and underemployment, with young women being especially affected. Structural inequalities between Northern and Southern regions, low youth participation in agriculture, and high levels of malnutrition and obesity persist. In addition, government programmes often struggle with delayed input delivery, underfinancing at district level, political interference, and weak market integration.These challenges highlight the limits of current approaches to food systems transformation that prioritise production gains without adequately addressing equity, resilience, and decent work.
This study fills an important research gap by examining how government and private food systems initiatives interact with these structural challenges. Understanding the disconnections between policy and practice provides insight for improving inclusion, gender equity, and the integration of climate considerations within Ghana’s just food systems transition.
