A total of 60 returned migrants and unemployed youths in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region are to benefit from a skills training and startup program.
It is dubbed the Migration and Employment Promotion (MEP) project, is being implemented by the Africa Skills Hub, and the GIZ, and seeks to provide employable skills for youths to discourage irregular migration.
The Project is a five year, started in 2017, in three Regions, is benefiting the Volta Region in an extension that also serves the Eastern and Western Regions.
The North Tongu District is piloting the project in the Volta Region. The 60 direct beneficiaries would be trained in tailoring, hairdressing, and ICT, and would receive startup tools and other entrepreneurial support upon completion.
The project would also enhance the business skills of some 500 young entrepreneurs and startups in the Volta Region.
Gideon Mankralo, the GIZ’s Lead on the Project, at the launch of the training at Battor, said migration remained a major issue, and that the project hoped to provide soft employment opportunities that would help plug the flow of the Nation’s youth to Europe and the Gulf States.
“The project has a migration undertone, and it will capacitate the youth to seek greener pastures here in Ghana,” he noted.
The training will run for two months beginning in the month of August and will feature a series of workshops.
Trainees would be played with placed into apprenticeships with master craftsmen as their training progressed and would also be supported with stipends.
Mr Daniel Amoako-Antwi, Executive Director of the Africa Skills Hub, said the project said the implementation would ensure all six traditional areas in the district benefited, and would have a 60 per cent female beneficiary representation.
He advised the trainees to commit to the course and participate fully to reap the benefits
The Executive Director asked beneficiaries to maintain the right attitude, which he said remained a prized trade secret, and key to their successes on the program.
Mr Amoako-Antwi thanked the GIZ and the Offices of the Member of Parliament and the District Chief Executive for facilitating the training and supporting its success.
Mr. Osborn Fenu, the District Chief Executive, said the program complimented the Government’s efforts at providing skills training for the people, and would have long reaching effects on crime and migration reduction.
Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, MP (Member of Parliament) for the area called the project “the most significant” of all interventions ever rolled out and said it had become crucial as the nation grappled with the crisis of youth unemployment.
He said graduate unemployment also remained high, and that the initiative would provide automatic jobs.
The MP commended the resolve to provide stipends and remuneration for master craftsmen and said the project could go a long way to help the Region regain its place in the world of artisans.
He maintained that dignity distinguished the prized artisan, and asked beneficiaries of the program to seek attitudes of truthfulness, honesty, and decency.
Mr. Gideon Amuga, an established mechanical engineer, who had prioritised skills training, was at the launch to encourage the youth to consider skills acquisition as a highly rewarding investment.
Traditional leaders of the various communities were present at the launch and appealed for the program to be extended to benefit the entire district.
