YHFG graduates 15 trainees under its STEP-UP Project

The first batch of 15 out of 25 trainees that underwent a year training course in

sewing and other entrepreneurial skills organized by Youth Harvest Foundation

Ghana(YHFG) at the weekend passed out at a graduation ceremony held in the

Bolgatanga Municipality.

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.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony the Financial Administrative Officer of

YHFG, David Ayine explained that the project among other interventions seeks to

offer opportunity annually for 25 seamstresses in the municipality to be trained

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

disclosed.

He explained that the strategy for adopting the STEP-UP project was to assist

the trainees set up their own businesses by training them on how to develop business

plans that would attract financial support from financial institutions to help them

set up their own businesses.

He explained that although the project did not provide money directly for the

implementation of the plans, they were in the position to link these plans to other

concerned organizations, particularly, the Local Enterprise and Skills Development

Program (LESDEP) and other financial institutions for consideration.

Mr Ayine, encouraged the graduants to focus on developing their talent and take

advantage of the project in order to prepare themselves adequately for the job

market.

According to him, the training offered to the graduants gave them the

comparative advantage over other seamstresses already on the job market and further

urged them to develop the right attitude towards work.

Mr Ayine expressed his outfit gratitude to LESDEP, UN-Habitat and the Municipal

Assembly for their invaluable support and anticipated more support in the ensuing

years.

The Regional Coordinator OF THE National Youth Council, Mr Daud James Abang-gos

emphasized the need for refresher training programmes for the graduants to sharpen

their skills and also encouraged the graduants to come under one umbrella to form

cooperatives.

This, he noted, would empower them to easily get support from organizations to

improve upon their businesses. The 15 graduants were later presented with

certificates of participation.