KAS Ghana
KAS Ghana
KAS Ghana
KAS Ghana
Supporting young people in politics, civil society, business and academia has been an integral part of KAS Ghana’s work for decades. Through political education, capacity building, mentoring and dialogue programmes, the Foundation seeks to equip emerging leaders with the knowledge, skills and networks they need to participate meaningfully in public life and contribute to Ghana’s democratic development. This is particularly important in a young society such as Ghana, where younger generations make up a large share of the population but often face structural, social and cultural barriers to political participation.
One example was the Women and Youth Democratic Engagement (WYDE) programme, implemented by KAS in Ghana within the European Union’s broader WYDE initiative. The programme brought together emerging political leaders from Ghana’s two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Through targeted mentoring, capacity building and practical training, participants strengthened the skills needed to navigate political structures, contribute to policy debates and take on greater responsibility within their parties and beyond. At the same time, the programme deliberately created a cross-party space in which young political actors could engage with different perspectives, discuss political ideas constructively and build relationships across party lines.
Several participants have since advanced further in their political careers and taken on positions of greater responsibility, illustrating the long-term potential of investing in emerging political leaders. For KAS, supporting the next generation is therefore not simply about individual capacity building. It is about broadening meaningful political participation, strengthening democratic political parties and helping ensure that a new generation is prepared to shape Ghana’s political future responsibly and constructively.
