By Dennis Peprah
Abesim (B/R) Aug. 04, GNA – The Manna Education Development Foundation (MEADF), a non-profit organisation is implementing an employable skills training programme to empower vulnerable young people nationwide.
Currently, the NGO is piloting the project in the Bono and Ahafo Regions and has spent GH¢870,000.00 to enroll, particularly teenage and single mothers as well as school dropout girls, between 18 and 35 years, to learn catering, body makeups, electricals, dressing making
and hairdressing trades.
The Foundation has so far paid apprenticeship fees for 88 beneficiaries selected from deprived communities in the two regions and had also provided working tools and start-up capitals for some of them to establish and expand their businesses.
They were selected from Abesim, Yawhima and Kuotokrom in the Sunyani Municipality as well as Adongo in the Tano North Municipality of the Ahafo Region.
Other modules of the training include welding and fabrication, masonry, mechanics, ICT, carpentry and joinery as well as plumbing, tiling and bakery.
According to Mrs Esther Obeng Takyiwaa, the Director and Chairperson of the MEADF, the St. Pancras Church and the Doctors’ Clinic in the United Kingdom (UK) are funding the project implementation which would be extended to other regions in the country.
The Foundation was set up by Dr Janet Baah, an International Education and Development Consultant, an astute politician, and a UK-based Ghanaian Councilor at the UK’s Lewes Council, in 2022 and it focuses on three employability themes – apprenticeships, small scale business start-ups and return to school programme.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of a presentation ceremony held at Abesim, near Sunyani, Mrs. Takyiwaa expressed worry about rising cases of teenage pregnancy which was impeding girl-child education in the country.
Besides, she noted teenage pregnancy was also inimical to the growth and development of girls, saying, the menace had become a societal problem which had driven many teenage mothers and their innocent children onto the streets.
In all 34 teenage mothers, and other vulnerable young people at Abesim, and its adjoining settlement, received apprenticeship training tools worth GH¢60,000.00.
They received sewing machines, laptop computers, electrical and mechanical training tools, as well as dryers and quantities of hair rollers.
Mrs Takyiwaa said already, the foundation has paid the apprenticeship fees to enroll 54 young people, mostly girls, into the artisanal trade to fetch those decent jobs so they would live exemplary lives.
“We believed that supporting the beneficiaries to start their business was not only creating employment opportunities but contributing immensely to the socioeconomic development of the nation,” she stated.
In line with the foundation’s vision of empowering young people to become self-reliant and productive members of society, Mrs Takyiwaa said the project would provide the beneficiaries with mentorship, coaching, networking, opportunities, access to finance and market linkages.
Throwing more light on the small business start-up module of the programme, Dr Baah, the founder told the GNA in a telephone interview the MEADF was collaborating with the Bono Regional House of Chiefs Credit Union where the union provided financial training as well as
inspired the beneficiaries to adopt good saving practices.
“Each of the young person’s accounts for depositing a small amount of money depending on their agreed saving arrangements. They would also have the opportunity to borrow money from the credit union to expand their businesses, once trust and credibility is established”,”she
stated.
Dr. Baah said her foundation launched the apprenticeship training project in 2022, saying under the project implementation, the beneficiaries were being mentored and supported by queen mothers, the project coordinators, and volunteers in their respective communities.
Mr Kingsley Kusi Appiah, a Programme Director of the MEADF appealed to the beneficiary communities to help identify deserving people to benefit from the project, saying the success of the project depended on the communities.
He emphasised the government alone could not shoulder the responsibility of tackling the youth unemployment situation in the country, and expressed the hope that the project would create more jobs and take away particularly teenage mothers and their children from the streets.
GNA