Twenty vulnerable girls in the Sunyani Municipality are undergoing employable skills training in pastries and to fetch themselves decent jobs.
On completion, the beneficiaries, mostly nursing and single mothers, between the ages of 16 and 24 years, would be supported to establish their own businesses to fend for themselves and their families.
The Resilient City for Adolescent (RCA) Project, being implemented by the Global Media Foundation (GloMeF) and its local partners, including the Indigenous Women Empowerment Network and Citizens Watch Ghana (CWA), all NGOs are training the beneficiaries.
Mr Simon Asore, the Executive Director of the CWA, in-charge of the employable skills training model of the RCA explained that the project implementation would offer employment skills training to about 100 vulnerable people in the Sunyani East and Sunyani West Municipality.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the day’s training held at Penkwase in the Sunyani Municipality, he explained that the three-year project, being funded by Foundation Botnar through Ecorys UK, under its Healthy Cities for Adolescents (HCA2) sought to improve adolescent lives.
He said the project had already supplied 15 girls with sewing machines who were also undergoing similar training in dressing making and fashion designing, saying very soon, some of the girls would also receive training tools for body makeup and hairdressing.
Mr Asore urged the trainees to take their training seriously and asked their masters to also ensure to shape their behaviours by serving as role models.
Miss Rafia Haruna, one of the beneficiaries and single mother, told the GNA that with the bakery, she would be able to provide the basic needs of her child and commended the project implementers for their assistance.
Another beneficiary, Ms Paulina Wepie, also expressed appreciation for the opportunity provided for her to learn employable skills training.
She noted that many of the adolescent girls and nursing mothers in the two Municipalities required such opportunities and appealed to the NGOs to extend the gesture to more of the girls who were doing nothing with their lives.
Ms Wepie appealed to the government to come to the aid of the vulnerable girls to find something to do and empower them economically to live decent lives.
For Ms Al-Hassan Amanda Sabina, another beneficiary, said many vulnerable girls were interested in engaging in employable skills training, however, they lacked the opportunity, and called for government intervention.
“In fact, I am extremely happy to get this opportunity, and I am pleading with the project implementers to do more vulnerable girls to benefit too,” Ms Sabina urged.
From Dennis Peprah, Sunyani
GNA
