ActionAid trainees in Talensi District exhibit products

Tongo (U/E)-Ghana, March 15, GNA – ActionAid Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), has organised an exhibition to climax a six-week training programme for 132 youth in the Talensi district of the Upper East Region.
The training, which was part of a three-year project dubbed, “Providing Employment Opportunities for Young People in Ghana (PEOY),” was implemented in four districts across three Regions in the country, with funding support from the Medicore Foundation.
The beneficiary districts included Talensi in the Upper East region, Mion and Sagnarigu in the Northern region and the Asutifi North district in the Ahafo region.
The beneficiaries comprising 33 males and 99 females in the Talensi District, drawn from the Awaradone, Baare, Dapoore, Gbeogo and Wakii communities, were trained in soap making, smock and basket weaving, pastry making, tiling, mobile phone repairs, satellite installation and leather work.
Speaking at the exhibition programme at Tongo, Mr Alhassan Sulemana, the Regional Manager of ActionAid, said the training was intended to equip the youth with artisanal skills to create employment for themselves and others.
He said the training would reduce the over dependence on the government sector for employment, and indicated that the beneficiaries after the training programme, were supported with start-up tools to establish their own businesses.
He said youth unemployment posed a negative impact on the economy and government alone could not shoulder it.
“ActionAid as a Non-Governmental Organization is helping to complement the efforts of government to reduce youth unemployment,” he added.
On the quality of products exhibited at the programme, Mr Sulemana said ActionAid was impressed with the skills of the beneficiaries, “Looking at the products on display, you will have no reason not to be happy about the outcome of the training.
“We have certainly achieved the training objectives, as far as imparting the knowledge from trainers to the trainees is concerned. Per the exhibition, I can see that they are using the knowledge effectively for themselves,” he said.
Mr Sulemana advised the beneficiaries to put in a lot of efforts and commitments in their respective ventures as they entered the world of business, saying, “Your motivation should not be what you are getting now, but what you have budgeted for yourself in the future.”
Ms Dorcas Zoogah, a beneficiary of the training programme, said the training was impactful, and expressed gratitude to ActionAid for the initiative, “I acquired knowledge and now I produce shea-butter, shower gel and soap.”
She appealed for more of such training programmes, especially training on how to brand their products for the international market, saying “We should not limit ourselves to just our local communities and the Region. We are thinking nationwide, so we need more of marketing and branding skills.”