Skills development training centre inaugurated at Ziope
A skills development training centre has been inaugurated at Ziope in the Agotime-Ziope District in the Volta Region to offer training to women, single mothers, youth and school dropouts to empower them and reduce poverty in the area.
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So far, more than 600 people have been enlisted under the first phase of a skills development training programme to acquire skills in batik tie-dye, kente weaving and vegetable cultivation.
Agriculture component
The programme has also acquired 20 acres cultivated with a variety of crops such as maize, pepper, okra, tomatoes for learning groups to practise on the farm.
The project is under the joint auspices of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States of America (ELCA), the Good News Theological College and the Ziope Council of Churches.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, the regional representative for Madagascar, West and Central Africa of ELCA, Rev. Themba Mkhabela, said the project was a fulfilment of the vision of expanding partnership with the Lutheran churches to new areas in health, agriculture, carpentry and building technology to empower the people to produce and build their own economy.
He said the ELCA did not have the solutions for the development of the area and the nation but to help the people to put their talents together to improve living standards.
Member of Council of State
In an address, the Volta Regional representative on the Council of State, Togbuiga Binah Lawluvi VI, expressed gratitude to the ELCA and the Good News Theological College and Seminary for choosing Ziope as the first port to establish a skills development programme.
He said it was significant because the project had been expected for a long time and the inauguration was spectacular and that it would help to uplift the standard of most of the vulnerable people in the area.
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Togbuiga Lawluvi, who is the Paramount Chief of the Ziope Traditional Area, expressed the hope that the project would transform the lives of the people.
The President of Good News Theological College and Seminary, Rev. Dr Thomas Kofi Asante–Oduro, said the people must claim ownership of the project to generate income for sustainable living and to reduce poverty in the area.
He said it was expected to open up the area for micro enterprises to improve on their lives, and added that it was a neighbourhood and community project which must be owned by the people and not for any particular church, family or clan.
In a welcome address, the Chairman of the Ziope Council of Churches, Rev. Mawulorm Kofi Bebli, said the people had struggled over the years and that the project had been inaugurated at God’s appointed time to help them come out of their sad predicament.