A group of students from the University of Ghana, collectively known as “Team Beta” have emerged victorious, at the UG Edition of StatsBank Hackathon. Out of five groups that made it to the finals, Team Beta was selected as the best, with its research findings on youth unemployment, particularly at the district-level.
In an interview with Univers News, Team Lead for “Team Beta”, Abena Fosua Koranteng, pointed out some factors leading to high rates of youth unemployment in communities. According to her, some of the major factors contributing to this menace were poor educational background and internet access, coupled with other technological challenges which often serves as a barrier for the youth in gaining job opportunities, especially in remote districts.
We looked beyond the regional to the district level, to find out unemployment rates of young people between the ages of 15-34 years and inform policy interventions. For our variations used, thus, education, internet access and ownership of technological devices. After our regression, we realized that education really played a role in unemployment rates. She said
She further tasked the government to invest in its human capital, by intensifying skill training in both the formal and informal sectors, to make the youth more attractive for the job market.
The UG Edition of the StatsBank Hackathon was a two- day competition which commenced on the 28th of August, 2023, was climaxed by an awards ceremony for the winning teams.
The event, organized by the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS) in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and Statistics Denmark, was aimed at raising awareness of the GSS StatsBank and also to promote the use of census data for relevant policy research.
The hackathons are being hosted by other Universities such as the University of Cape Coast, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Development Studies, where Team Beta will be expected to compete with winners from the other universities at the National Hackathon scheduled for 5th to 6th October 2023.
About the GSS StatsBank
The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), for the first time has developed an online database for accessing disaggregated census statistics. The StatsBank is an innovative and user-friendly results dissemination method which allows users to generate customised tables and maps at the national, and sub-national levels at no cost. The StatsBank is also a repository for macroeconomic indicators and, in the long term, will provide data on other censuses and surveys. The StatsBank is accessible from: https://statsbank.statsghana.gov.gh.
Story by: Adwubi Wiafe Akenteng
