GrEEn project in Ashanti, Western region creates six thousand jobs for women, youth
About six thousand self-employed jobs have been created for women and the youth in the Ashanti and Western Regions through the Ghana GrEEn project implemented by SNV, a Netherlands not-for-profit international Development Organisation.
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The project which started in 2019 and ended on March 15, 2024, was aimed at enhancing employability, entrepreneurship opportunities and the development of climate-resilient local economy in the two beneficiary regions.
Additionally,6,214 people have been trained and coached to acquire employable and entrepreneurship skills in the beneficiary regions.
The European Union in Ghana and the Netherlands Embassy co-funded the project with support from the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development.
The Managing Director of SNV, Megan Ritchie, who made these known at a closing session of a meeting in Accra last Friday to highlight the achievements of the project, further revealed that 4,031 people have created or developed self-employment opportunities.
He further disclosed that as a way of supporting “these service recipients with access to finance, more than €160,000 was disbursed to 72 Micro businesses which include 14 cooperatives through the GrEEn Business Plan Competitions organised in 2021 and 2022.”
He said 819 service recipients were assessed and more than 500 beneficiaries have been issued with National proficiency and certificates by the Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) Service.
Mr Ritchie explained that “the primary objective of the GrEEn Project was to address the root causes of irregular migration by promoting green and climate-resilient local economic development.
It is also aimed at enhancing prospects for young women and men by creating employment and enterprise opportunities in selected sectors within regions of departure, transit, and return”.
Other achievements
The SNV MD said 1,571 service recipients were trained in five trade areas by 16 trained community-based master trainers while € 150,000 has been disbursed for the implementation of the National Green Jobs Strategy.
Furthermore, 125 Micro Small and Medium Enterprises have been supported to expand their business. Out of this number, 95 small and medium size enterprises have created 987 decent and sustainable jobs in the two beneficiary regions of implementation.
The SNV equally supported 26 small and medium sized enterprises to acquire Ghana Standard Authority and Food and Drugs Authority certificates for quality products and services.
The MD said the SNV awarded 72 Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) with grant amounts between €5,000 to €25,000 through the GrEEn Innovation Challenge in 2022 and 2023.
On the establishment of the Young Entrepreneurs and Startups Support (YESS) Fund the Mr Ritchie said a seed amount of €250,000 has been made available to the YESS fund by the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs.
Other speakers
The Director, Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development,Samuel Passah,, the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Jeroen Verheul, and the European Union Ambassador to Ghana, Irchad Razaaly lauded the efforts of the implementers of the GrEEn project for the successes chalked up so far and hoped that it would be sustained although the intervention had ended on March 15, 2024.
Background
The Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana (GrEEn) project is a four-year action initiative by the European Union, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).
The project was aimed at creating greater economic and employment opportunities for youth, women and returning migrants by promoting and supporting sustainable, green businesses and providing employable skills training to youth job seekers in two selected regions in Ghana: Ashanti and Western in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development.
GrEEn is implemented under the European Union Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa with a total contribution of €20.6 million.
