Poverty reduction through skills training
Today, millions of people face insecurities in their everyday lives. Induced by violent conflicts and latent ones, the vicious circle of poverty has taken a toll on human beings in almost all corners of the world.
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International organisations and individual states are making worthy strides to reduce poverty levels. The current UNIDO project in Ghana, funded by the Government of Japan, is one of these skillful attempts to improve the livelihood of vulnerable populations.
The project is designed to provide vocational training to over 500 people in the Buduburam refugee settlement near Accra, consisting mostly of Liberian but also Ghanaian population.
This project is worth discussing as the driving force for the project is one of the contemporary guiding principles of international development projects, i.e. human security.
The undeviating correlation between poverty reduction and human security cannot be overemphasised, not to mention its nuisance for the issue of peace and conflict.
The underlining argument within the concept of Human Security stipulates that poverty is a threat not just because it induces violence and poses challenges to states and institutions but it is recognised as a challenge mainly because it rips off the dignity of people.
Not only is a society stricken by poverty highly prone to economic slump, its social status is also at the bottom pit. Japan’s support through UNIDO skills training for these vulnerable population is in due recognition of this harsh reality and set forth to add a positive value in their income earning capacity.
Inhabited by Liberian refugees mainly, Buduburam Refugee Settlement is the target recipient of the project. Located on the outskirts of Accra, the shanty settlement is no less deserving of such desirable and timely support than any other community.
One of the unique features of this project is that it encompasses the part of the refugee settlement community that was neglected in the past. Livelihood capacity building programmes run by UN organs or other recognised international organisations mainly focused on those who were registered by UNHCR as refugees. Those who were lucky enough to get their names registered before the deadline benefited from various programmes.
On the other hand, some, through no fault of theirs, were not able to receive assistance, mainly because they arrived in Ghana after UNHCR had closed registration for Liberian refugee seekers in 2002.
Despite their precarious situations and increased vulnerability, Liberians who were not registered as “refugees” had been excluded from receiving support until Japan, through UNIDO, launched the six-month basic skills training in October 2013.
Amanda Johnson is one of the the beneficiaries of the skills training programme. She is a single mother in her mid 50s. She never went to school.She neither knows how to write nor read.
Having given birth to 10 children, she is the caregiver and breadwinner of the family. Now, she is being trained to become a seamstress. Her lack of formal education does not matter; as formal education is not a prerequisite for the participation in the training.
As a result, people like Amanda are seeing their way out of poverty and improving their lives.
In terms of better recognition, the UNIDO skills training is favoured by almost all participants. At the end of the training, participants are expected to get an NVTI certificate which is not only the official certificate of technical skills in Ghana, but also widely recognised and appreciated back in their home country, Liberia.
In terms of its goal, the project is aimed at improving the income-generating capacity of the participants. The bigger impact is, however, setting the grounds for improving their socio-economic status.
This is also a value shared by most trainees, that after the training they want to see their social status improve and most importantly they will no longer feel dependent.
This task is however, far from simple. Challenges are many . Project staff of UNIDO say one of the biggest challenges the trainees will face after the project will be access to finance, which is especially necessary for setting up their own business.
One approach to address this particular problem is entrepreneurship training which will be provided to all the trainees to strengthen trainees’ economic viability. In the absence or limited access to microfinancing, the training is highly relevant for the students to know how they can set up and run their business.
On the other hand, keeping trainees in the centres for the entire programme is already a major task for the programme. Many of the trainees rely on petty trading and daily labour for livelihood.
They are concerned about reduced income as they now have to attend the skills training most of the day. They said now they had to wake up as early as 3:00 a.m. to do their petty trading and other works before school starts. The after school hours are also divided between running their business and managing their households.
Despite the challenges, many of the students say they are grateful for Japan’s assistance which provided them the opportunity for the multi-skills training and expressed their commitment to finish the training, which is a positive boost for the UNIDO and its stakeholders. Neetu Ross is one of the many young women trainees.
She says having a six - month old baby and managing school at the same time is “surly challenging”. Since she does not have anybody to look after her baby she brings him to school almost every day. Her determination is, however, written all over her face, and she says that ‘backing out is not an option’ for her right now.
Many of the trainees continue to make the best of effort to keep up with the training in the hope of receiving a “start-up kit”, comprising of tools and materials for making use of their skills at the end of the programme.
They are also hoping to get access to other financial loans and support, which could be one intervention area to be considered by both public and private organisations based in Ghana.
The UNIDO skills training received a fund of $1.5million from the Government of Japan in March 2013. From establishing the UN Trust Fund for Human Security in 1999 to unilateral support of projects geared towards reducing insecurities, Japan is at the forefront to support Human Security Initiatives.
For instance, in the recent past through this UN Trust Fund for Human Security, Japan supported the skills training by UNIDO in Buduburam as well as in Krisan Refugee Settlements, in the project that run from 2007-2011.
Even in the aftermath of a global economic recession, the devastating earthquake in 2011, and the ongoing nuclear contamination threat, Japan still stands firm in its commitments to support the cause. In fact, in its recent regular summit for African leaders at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in June 2013, Japan stepped up its support for Africa and made five years’ commitment worth $32 billion.