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Cabinet has initiated moves to provide a legal framework for the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) to make it an efficient and sustainable agency for coordinating all youth employment development activities in the country. Backing the programme with the needed legislation is expected to transform it into a better funded and a permanent agency with the capacity to meet its objective to support the youth to transit from a situation of underemployment to employment. The Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr Ben Eghan, said as part of the transformation the Cabinet sub-committee was proposing a change of name from NYEP to Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (YEEDA) to reflect its new status. Mr Eghan who was speaking at a stakeholders� forum on the re-branding and re-positioning of the NYEP in Accra Tuesday, said the proposed change of name was a reflection of the thinking of cabinet to enable it provide a dedicated source of funding for the programme. The two-day forum brought together entrepreneurs and other interest groups to brainstorm and proffer solutions to the challenges the NYEP was currently bedevilled with. The Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Clement Kofi Humado said the increasing number of persons waiting to be absorbed into the NYEP and the challenge of limited resources to absorb them, was a concern to the government. He disclosed that registered unemployed youth seeking support under the programme was more than two million. �In our bid to cater for the numbers of unemployed youth, the new policy direction of the NYEP seeks to move away from the over emphasis on the traditional modules which place a huge burden on the finances of the government,� he stated. In exploring other funding alternatives, Mr Humado explained that the programme was seeking partnership and grants from the donor community. He said the ministry had also established a Business Advisory Unit under the programme to identify business opportunities for beneficiaries. Earlier in his welcoming remarks the National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, Mr Abuga Pele said the programme needed to be properly repositioned with a widened scope and functions to enable it undertake carry through its task. �There must be a complete departure from being just a transient and provider of pay-roll temporary jobs with all the implications for government purse and become a permanent well structured agency that continuously deal with issues of youth unemployment,� he added.