By Eunice Tekie Tei
New Abirem (E/R), Oct. 9, GNA – Newmont Akyem Development Foundation has trained over 150 master craftsmen as apprentices to assist them in maintaining their businesses and improve the livelihoods of young people in the mining company’s catchment areas.
The training, which is under Akyem Soft Skill and Sustainability Training (ASSIST) and the GIZ programme, aims to raise the skill levels of beneficiaries, provide them with job opportunities, and help them improve and sustain their enterprises.
The beneficiaries, who came from nine communities in the Eastern Region, received training in a variety of vocations, including auto electrical, tailoring, hairdressing, fabrication, masonry, carpentry and joinery, general welding, aluminium fabrication, steel bending, and motor vehicle mechanic.
Mr. Paul Apenu, the Executive Secretary of the Newmont Akyem Development Foundation, during a ceremony to hand out the certificates to the recipients, said the gesture was to assist apprentices in their host communities who had finished their apprenticeship training but lacked certificate to obtain NVTI proficiency certificates.
Additionally, he stated that only 120 of the 224 master craftspeople who were expected to attend the training really did so. He pleaded with the youth to participate in the programme to advance their skill.
He said that since the programme’s commencement in 2021, over 500 master craftsmen in a variety of artisans had been taught, reducing unemployment in their catchment areas.
Mr. Apenu further stated that the initiative was made feasible with the assistance of the Sustainable Development Committee (SDCs), a body formed to plan the foundation’s operations and development to ensure that communities benefited from Newmont’s Akyem Mines activities.
As a result, he recommended the master craftsmen to take their respective skills seriously, as the foundation would be monitoring them from time to time.
Mr. Bright Boateng, speaking on behalf of the beneficiaries, praised the Foundation, SDCs, and GIZ for developing and implementing the initiative, which had improved the lives of community people.
GNA