Ghana in Search of Regional Integration Agenda 98 In 2001, the Government of Ghana set up a nine member Youth Empowerment Committee under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Joe Aggrey. 124 The Committee recommended among other things, the review of the 1999 Youth Policy. Following the review, the draft policies bear indication of an even more pronounced role for youth and youth organisations in the regional integration process. It does this by aiming to strengthen networking and partnership among the youth organisations internally and externally. It further aims at promoting youth exchange programs on best practices in youth development as well as the extension of sponsorship to youth organisations to aid them participate in international conferences, workshops and educational/cultural exchange programs none the least of which would be those relating to regional integration in West Africa. Notwithstanding the contribution of the National Youth Policy in stating the role of the youth and youth organisations in accelerating integration in West Africa, it is clear from the onset, that such contribution is limited and consign, insofar as sub­regional integration is concerned, to a hypothetical level. Examining the youth organisations identified above, it became clear that the contribution of the youth organisations to sub-regional integration is insignificant. It was realised for instance that a significant number of these youth organisations consign themselves to their rather tapered objectives. It further came to light that knowledge about sub-regional integration among an overwhelming number of youth organisations does not go beyond a mere appreciation of ECOWAS as a sub­regional organisation. Thus, a good number of the youth organisations identified do not appreciate sub-regional integration as a development strategy. Related to the above, there was a general lack of interest in issues of sub-regional integration. Thus, of all the youth organisations identified, only the Debating Society of the University of Ibadan organised a debate with their colleagues from the University of Ghana on the relevance of the transformation of the ECOWAS Secretariat into a Commission. Related to the above is the realisation that youth organisations generally lack information on processes of sub-regional integration. These include decisions and protocols of ECOWAS. The situation is even worse towards the lower end of the age bracket and to youth organisations within the secondary schools. Naturally, with the lack of information very little can be done by way of contributing to the acceleration of the process of sub-regional integration. 124 www.modernghana.com/news/14965/1/veep-inagurates-youth-empowerment-commitee.html 23 June 2001