60 youth in the northern part of the country have trained in domestic electrical installation and beekeeping to equip and empower them with employable skills to improve their livelihoods.
The six month-long training involved four months of apprenticeship where the trainees were attached to master craftsmen, one week of entrepreneurship training and six weeks of other support training packages.
It formed part of the Project to help strengthen social cohesion in strategic cross-border areas (PARCS), which is funded by the French Development Agency, and implemented by Acting for Life, a French organisation, and its partners in Ghana; Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) and Changing Lives in Innovative Partnerships.
PARCS is a three-year project, which began in December 2022 with the objective to strengthen social cohesion in strategic cross-border territories and to support an inclusive socio-economic development of the territories.
Dr Osman Al-Hassan, Board Chairman of GDCA, speaking during the graduation of the trainees (30 in domestic electrical installation, and 30 in beekeeping) at Dalun in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region, said the project, apart from providing employable skills to young people, was also to ensure that gaps in technical services badly needed in growing communities were being filled.
The trainees, who constituted the first cohort of the beneficiaries under the project, received certificates of completion from Ghana TVET Service as well as starter kits to help them in their work.
In all, a total of 240 youth will be trained in organic poultry production, agroprocessing, organic vegetable production, tiling, plaster paneling, and plumbing as part of the project.
Dr Al-Hassan said, “The strategic location of the project in cross-border areas is also helping to avert the conscription of young people by terrorist groups, who may operate across the borders of the country.”
He said the trainees in beekeeping had started to reap the benefits of their skills as they had begun making income from harvests of honey from their beehives after only six months of training and internship.
He appealed to District Assemblies implementing the Gulf of Guinea Social Cohesion project to integrate young people into the project to engage them productively to help them earn incomes.
Alhaji Osman Abdel-Rahman, Executive Director of GDCA, said the graduands would be supported to write national proficiency and professional examinations to improve their skills.
Mr Issah Musah, Northern Regional Director of Ghana TVET Service expressed gratitude to GDCA and its partners for their unwavering empowerment of the youth in the country, which was in line with government’s efforts to address unemployment.
Mr Musah said the skills imparted to the beneficiaries would help to create a better future for them.
Mr Tahiru Issahaku Ahmed, Bawku West District Chief Executive, expressed gratitude to the GDCA and its partners for practicalising the government’s TVET Policy and advised the beneficiaries to make good use of the skills they acquired.
Yakubu Mohammed, a beneficiary from Bawku West District, who learnt domestic electrical installation, said the training meant a lot to him as he would no longer sit idle in the house but would work and be useful to society. Gloria Jabon, a beneficiary from Tatali-Sangule District, who learnt beekeeping, was happy about her skills, saying it would help her to take good care of herself and her family.
