Dr. David Ackah, PhD2. | Dr. Stephen K. A. Hammond, DBA2. | Amina Sammo, FPMP3.
1Faculty of Community Development, Akamia University,
2Project Management Office, GCB Bank,
3Ministry of Zongo & Inner City Development, Ghana
Email: drackah@ipmp.edu.gh | stepham_k@yahoo.com | minasammo@gmail.com
Abstract
This report identifies and responds to the demographic urgency for supporting long-term approaches that enable urban youth in marginalized communities to reach their full potential. The Global Culture Movement (GCM) has a history of reaching several marginalized and vulnerable communities and individuals throughout Ghana. In fact, the group has in very humble ways participated in mission programs in South Africa, Togo and California, USA. Despite all the victorious strides chalked over the years concerning the changing of individuals, GCM is yet to commit any of the above people groups into change that meaningfully affects the entire community. The marginalized and vulnerable communities in Ghana, full of filth and disease are filled with persons of all kinds of deviance including drug addicts, confidence tricksters, and workaholics among others. Such persons cause mayhem and havoc within and outside some of the communities. Other such communities perpetrate retardation and underemployment. The importance of changing these persons and communities cannot be overemphasized if Ghana wants to sustain the appreciable and relative measure of peace it now enjoys within sub-Saharan Africa. With particular attention given to addressing the structural effects of marginalization through youth leadership development initiatives, the report surveys current theories and evidence on youth leadership development which it draws on in order to determine key elements of an urban youth leadership development model. It suggests approaches to evaluating the outcomes and impacts of such a model, and identifies critical knowledge gaps where more research is needed.
Qualitative methods being face to face interviews, focus group meetings and questionnaires were employed among members of some marginalized and vulnerable communities of Kumasi and the Global Culture Movement of Kumasi as the primary data collection methods vis-à-vis literature review and other conceptual framework as secondary sources for the above study. It was discovered that the programs or strategies to arrest the unhealthy situation of the marginalized and vulnerable communities do not thrive there because of the absence of an effective leadership development program. However, it was also discovered that as indicated by a previous study, the Transformational Generative Prophet Leadership Development concept informed by mentoring relationships and the experiences of some strategists, theorists and organizations if applied within the communities will help change the situation of the communities for development, growth and peaceful coexistence within them.
Keywords: Leadership Development, Critical Youth Work, Positive Development, Community Development, Community Civic Engagement, Community Activism, & Community Organizing
