50 Youth train in vocational, technical skills

The Deutsche Gesellschaft fur International Zusammenrbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in partnership with Crew House Consult has rolled out technical and vocational driven apprenticeship programme for 50 youth in Somanya in the Yilo Krobo Municipality in Eastern Region.

The programme, on the theme: “Providing an Alternative to irregular Migration in Eastern Region”, is a Programme for Sustainable Economic Development (PSED) to promote alternatives to irregular migration through fostering of entrepreneurship, self-employment, technical, vocational training, employment promotion and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) support.

The training programme, which would last for eight weeks, would benefit 15 of the beneficiaries in dressmaking, 15 in hairdressing, 10 in plumbing and 10 in electrical engineering.

Threatening

The Technical Advisor for GIZ, Gideon Manklalo, in his address at the launch in Somanya last Friday, said the issue of unemployment rate in the country and especially among the youth was still threatening to the survival and positive growth of Ghana.

He said existing data revealed that the proportion of the unemployed youth in the country was high especially among females.

“Most youths are not only confronted with unemployment or underemployment, but also with low incomes, especially for those engaged in private business due to lack of required skills as well as limited access to innovative financing models for enterprise start-up, growth and expansion,” he said.

Reduction in unemployment

The Yilo Krobo Municipal Chief Executive, Eric Tetteh, said even though the government was aware of the unemployment rate, it was doing what was necessary to reduce the situation and that was why the role of non-governmental organisations such as GIZ and Crew House Consult needed to be applauded as they had been supporting government in that direction.

The MCE said he was particularly happy the programme was taking place at the time Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) were poised to promote Local Economic Development (LED) as stipulated in section 12 (1, b) of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936).

Mr Tetteh asked the trainees to demonstrate commitment to the programme to pave way for the enrolment of other potential beneficiaries, adding “those who would not be serious would be changed”.

Jacob Kwesi Elikplim, the Chief Executive Officer of Crew House Consult, told the participants that the two organisations were implementing the programme in the area for them to get something doing in order to avoid bad company.

He urged them to be more serious with the training and also train other apprentices when they were done with the training and also pay their taxes as well to develop society.