ActionAid Ghana has officially brought closure to its four-year project dubbed Providing Employment Opportunities for Young People in Ghana (PEOY).
The project worth Ghc 2, 755, 406, funded by the medicor Foundation was designed to empower young people with entrepreneurship and business management skills, support young people to improve their financial literacy and raise their awareness of available, and affordable, credit sources to support business start-ups and expansion.
The project has been implemented in three regions in Ghana including Talensi District in the Upper East Region, Mion and Sagnarigu in the Northern Region, and Asutifi North District in the Ahafo Region with each district getting 126 youth being trained except Mion which had 141 recruited to be trained under the three-year project. In the end, 515 youth are set to benefit from the initiative from the three regions and four districts.
The youth were trained in tilling, soap making, Leatherwork, Basketry, catering, weaving, phone repairs, satellite installation, phone repairs, beekeeping, and smock making among others at no cost to them.
At the end of the training, start-up support in the area of tools and materials was made available to the beneficiaries.
In March 2023, an exhibition exercise was organized in the Upper East Region and this saw beneficiaries of the project display various products they are making to sell as they expressed gratitude for the opportunity.
Speaking at a ceremony to officially close the project, the Upper East Regional Manager of ActionAid Ghana, Alhassan Sulemana, described the implementation of the project as successful.
“The project has actually achieved the simple objective for which it was set. That is, providing employment opportunities for the youth. The project was to complement the government’s effort in providing employment for the youth. So, it was apt for ActionAid through the Medicor Foundation to come out with this project to get an alternative that they can hang on to earn a living. We are very happy to have been part of the implementation of this project. I urge the beneficiaries to make good use of the knowledge acquired.” He admonished.
Upper West Regional Manager of ActionAid Ghana who doubles as the project officer, Terrence Tiana urged the beneficiary to continue to take advantage of the existing market to grow their businesses and employ more young people.
“There is the market opportunity and they can continue to take advantage of this market to grow the business, to employ other young people, and also train other young people. This will boost the local economy, reduce unemployment, and rural-urban migration.” She said.
Head of Campaigns, ActionAid Ghana, Justine Bayor, says closure affords the organization the opportunity to introduce a new and expanded project.
