Africa: Muslims and Christians Fight Patronage to Secure Opportunities for Youth in Northern Ghana

In 2024, Lamin Amadu Adama volunteered to help build a multi-faith group in his village of Fian, in northern Ghana. Muslims, Christians, and followers of traditional religion joined together, along with youth, women, workers, and people with disabilities.

They listened to 350 families and held assemblies of more than 800 people. Their goal: a vocational high school, so young people could get jobs. They secured land from the chief and won the backing of regional officials.

Then the government changed, and the local MP moved the school to his own community, which already has two high schools. Lamin and his neighbors were angry but didn’t give up. They spoke out publicly, and now they’re negotiating to use the land for an agricultural college.

Fian’s story is playing out across Ghana. Through Multi-Faith in Action Ghana, communities are pressing the government to base public investment on what people say they need, not on political patronage.