260 Kayayei returnees equipped with skills, start-up kits
Young ‘Kayayei’ (female porters) returnees in the West Mamprusi Municipality in the Northeast Region, numbering 260, have been equipped with entrepreneurial skills and start-up kits.
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The training and kits are to enable them to create decent jobs and generate income for themselves.
The beneficiaries were trained in electrical works, tiling, weaving, make-up, hairdressing, fashion design, bead making and soap making, among others.
Initiated by the Catholic Relief Service (CRS), under its Providing Livelihood Opportunities and Support for Kayayei Porters (KAYAPORT) project, the intervention seeks to empower the young females and prevent them from travelling to the south in search of non-existing opportunities.
The beneficiaries were selected from communities in the municipality where there is high rate of rural-urban migration.
The three-year project is jointly being implemented by the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese (NABOCADO) with a funding of $334,446.12.
Graduation
At the graduation ceremony in Walewale, the Senior Vice-President for Overseas Operations at CRS, Shannon Senefeld, said the young women had been equipped with valuable technical and vocational skills that would empower them to pursue sustainable and diverse livelihoods.
Hairdressing kits on display
"The KAYAPORT project aligned perfectly with one of our agency goals of empowering youth to thrive.
Migration, especially among young women seeking work as ‘kayayei’, presents several risks and vulnerabilities," she said.
She mentioned the pivotal role of the youth, particularly young women, in Ghana's transformation and called for collective investment to empower them and nurture their talents to create an equitable society.
Ms Senefeld advised the beneficiaries to put the knowledge acquired and support to good use to enable them to create decent jobs for themselves.
Commendation
For her part, the National Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Rev. Dr Comfort Asare, said "the interventions would impact the national development process in the aspect of entrepreneurship skills in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector.”
The Northeast Regional Minister, Yidana Zakaria, commended the CRS and partners for the intervention and said it would go a long way to improve on their livelihoods.
Some of the beneficiaries, who spoke to the Daily Graphic, thanked the CRS and its partners for the gesture and said they would put the skills acquired into useful ventures to create jobs for themselves.
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