YAP trains 2,000 youth since 2003 from 7 regions

The Youth Apprenticeship Programme (YAP), an initiative that provides free technical and vocational training and entrepreneurial skills to the youth to equip them with employable skills to start and manage their own businesses, has since 2003 trained 2,000 youth from seven regions in the country.

The YAP is an initiative of Sinapi Aba Trust, a non-banking financial institution, in collaboration with Opportunity International Network, a global leadership organisation.

Tools and equipment

Youth selected for the programme are provided with tools and equipment needed for their apprenticeship training and are placed under selected trade masters in their chosen trades for a three-year period.

Sinabi Aba Trust registers the participants after their training to sit and write the terminal examinations of the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI).

The Programmes Coordinator of the YAP, Mrs Margaret Owusu Asare, who disclosed this, explained that the support extended to the youth was the company’s contribution towards developing manpower, as well as reducing youth unemployment in the country.

She was speaking at the launch of this year’s YAP initiative in Kumasi. On the occasion, 250 youth picked for the programme received tools for their training over the next three years.

Transformation

The launch was on the theme, “YAP: Transforming Lives” and was attended by relatives of the beneficiaries, master tradesmen and women and heads of departments whose jobs were related to youth activities.

In addition to receiving guidance in their selected trades the beneficiaries would also be taught business management, proper keeping of records, customer care and health education.

Mrs Asare explained that the training exercise was to ensure that the youth were able to operate their businesses smoothly and produce effectively, while having knowledge in health education would help them go through their training without hitches.

“It is hoped that the ladies would go through training without getting pregnant while the men would complete their training before thinking of marriage,” she said.

She hinted that there were plans in place to develop a farming module for the youth in the three northern regions that were currently not on the YAP initiative.