Youth Harvest Foundation graduates 15 trainees under its STEP-UP Project

18-11-13     

The first batch of 15 out of 25 trainees that underwent a year training course in sewing and other entrepreneurial skills, have been honoured in a brief ceremony at Bolgatanga. The graduants who were offered the opportunity to develop and present business plans for consideration, were also taken through skill training in quality control and reproductive health under a special project dubbed: Seamstresses Training Enterprise Project in the Upper East Region (STEP-UP). The project is being spearheaded by Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana (YHFG) with financial support from the UN-Habitat. The project among other interventions provides the opportunity for 25 seamstresses in the municipality to be trained on annual basis with the aim of reducing poverty among the youth, particularly girls. Currently, four projects are running alongside the STEP-UP project with focus on equipping young people with entrepreneurial and employable skills for self- reliance and sustainability. The Financial Administrative Officer of YHFG, David Ayine, in his welcome address, explained that the strategy for adopting the STEP-UP project was to assist the trainees set up their own businesses and take advantage of the job market via the training they have acquired. To this end, the trainees  are taught  on how to develop business plans,  adding that such plans when identified as  viable are opened up for investment opportunities. He said though they do not provide money directly for the implementation of the plans, they were in the position to link these plans to other concerned organisations, particularly , the Local Enterprise and Skills Development Program (LESDEP)  for consideration. Mr Ayine, encouraged the graduants to focus on developing their talent and take advantage of the project in order to prepare them adequately for the job market. According to him, the training offered to the graduants gives them the comparative advantage over other seamstresses already on the market and further urged them to develop the right attitude towards work. Mr Ayine, showed gratitude to LESDEP, UN-Habitat and the Municipal Assembly for their invaluable support and anticipated more support in the ensuing years. The 15 graduants were later presented with certificates of participation. Speaking to Radio Ghana, the Regional Coordinator, National Youth Council, Mr Daud James Abang-gos emphasized the need for refresher training for the graduants to sharpen their skills. He moreover, encouraged the graduants to come under one umbrella and form cooperatives. This way, they would be able to present themselves as young people in business and  avail themselves as guarantee for loans to establish their own businesses.

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