Vocational training to fight poverty

ONE of the most important ways to help boost rural life and economies is by providing residents with skills and a chance to put those skills to work.

THIS is exactly what the Rural Enterprises Project (REP) of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has done.

FINANCED through the Business Advisory Centre (BAC) of the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) and supported by the Dormaa Municipal Assembly, the Project has trained and financed 450 unemployed youth since September 2003.

THE project trains the participants in various practical fields including hairdressing, tailoring, dressmaking, auto mechanics, welding, bicycle repairs, blacksmithing, carpentry, masonry, leather works, shoemaking, electrics and electronics.

THE Head of the BAC in the Dormaa area of the Brong Ahafo Region, emphasized that the project meant to target unemployed youth, specifically women.

THE most recent group of sixty people, including fifteen women, were each given packages worth about GH¢18,000 to start a business with their newly acquired skills.

WHILE the project is too young to have solid outcome figures, it is difficult to see how it would fail across the board.

NOT only will the new tradespeople be supported by their respective organizations, but the BAC also promises to provide technical and managerial advice free of charge.

WHETHER or not the beneficiaries of this program will find it workable, in theory, every system that should be in place, is. Not only are the participants taught the relevant skills for their chosen trade as well as generic record keeping and credit management, but they also have capital with which to get started in the industry, and the promise of support if they have difficulty launching their careers.

THE program intends to reduce poverty and there does not seem to be any reason that it will not succeed.

THIS kind of program model should be refined and employed throughout the country in order to help eliminate poverty. Not only should it effectively provide the unemployed with a steady income, but it will also bolster the national economy.

THE country cannot move forward by leaving the rural poor behind.