Youth Alive Passes–Out 15 Trainees

21-06-2010
Narration: A passing out ceremony for 15 trainees has taken place at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region. The graduants comprising 5 males and 10 females underwent three year training in various employable skills such as dressmaking, carpentry, hair dressing, cloth weaving and car spraying among others. It is being spearheaded by Youth Alive, a local based charity Organisation working in the three Northern Regions. In attendance was a cross section of the public, beneficiaries, representatives of some local NGOs among others. Correspondent Isaac Asare and Afia Afrifa were present at the ceremony and have the rest of the story for Radio Ghana.
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Report
Established in 2003, Youth Alive, as a charitable NGO has an overarching aim of improving the lives and restoring the self esteem of street and vulnerable children to enable them integrate into the wider society and contribute to the development of their communities and the nation in general. Since its inception, Youth alive has been providing educational, health and vocational support for some street and vulnerable children living in deprived areas. They also advocate and champion the rights of children through the establishment of Child Protection Networks, which comprises of government agencies and other sister NGOs working for the interest of the youth. Currently, 139 children and youth are benefiting from the various outreach programme embarked upon by the organisation. There are 85 in the educational sector and 54 in the vocational skills training sector of which 4 of the beneficiaries are in the tertiary level under the program. The project also registers beneficiaries on the National Health Insurance Scheme and provides health information through health education programs. This year’s beneficiaries were presented with working tools including hair driers, car spraying machines, iron roofing sheets, plastic chairs, weaving machines and others as start up capitals for their personal businesses. Making the presentation, the Programme Manager of Youth Alive, Mr. Balig Conrad Said his outfit is poised at providing employable skills to the teeming unemployed youth in the three regions of the north. He said the greatest challenge facing trained beneficiaries is the lack of land and space to settle on. This sometimes compels beneficiaries to abandon their working tools to travel down south for other work alternatives. He, however, called parents and guardians of the graduants to help provide the necessary assistance they deserve release land for their businesses. He also appealed to chiefs and land owners to help in that direction. Mr. Conrad charged municipal and district assemblies, traditional rulers and opinion leaders to join in the fight against streetism, child migration and other child abuses in the region to ensure their normal growth and development. The Regional Youth Co-ordinator, Mr. James Aban-Gos on his part entreated parents to give priority attention to their wards education. This, he noted would contribute in achieving the universal primary education by 2015 enshrined under the Millennium Development Goal.