Developing key competencies, skills and character of the youth for transformational leadership in Ghana

Abstract

Leadership has become a critical domain in developing countries as individuals and governments have realized that without the harnessing the critical resource of the youth as future leaders, accelerated development will be a mirage. Crises such as unemployment, civic disengagement, youth riots, fraud, robbery with violence and the threat of HIV/AIDS have reinforced the need for a different pedagogy and content of leadership development programmes for Ghanaian youth to be able to compete with their contemporaries in the development and some developing countries in the 21st century. The paper argues that leadership development programmes of the youth must go beyond training them to be good managers. Curriculum of schools, universities and leadership development programme must include topics such as visioning, critical thinking, communication, and empowerment skills to imbue in the youth skills such as emotional intelligence, inspiration, compassion, encouragement, motivation, shared vision, empowerment, coaching, and vision, which are key characteristics of transformational leadership.