Egyapa Care, the hope for Sekondi youth

Andrew Kofi Egypa Mercer, Honourable Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi Constituency, has not only demonstrated that he is the first term outstanding member of Ghana’s Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic, but has also made sure the standard of living of his constituents are steadily improving through the implementation of a number of career development programs for the youth within his constituency.

The project dubbed Egyapa Care is aimed at absorbing some of the young people who were not able to have access to the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) Program to undergo specific vocational training to equip them with skills in areas such as Hairdressing and Dress Making for the young ladies as well as artisanal fields such as carpentry and auto-mechanic for the young men.

Hon. Mercer said this initiative seeks to help alleviate the plight of many young girls and boys within the constituency who for one reason or the other missed out on advancing their formal education that the Free SHS policy provides to thousands of needy Ghanaians.

The Honourable MP indicated that as part of the program he has donated sets of dryers to some selected salons within his constituency to help train some of the ladies in hairdressing, while sewing machines were provided directly to some of the ladies for their training in dress making.

He reiterated that ordinarily these ladies would pay fees to enable them undergo such skills acquisition trainings, but in this instance the Egyapa Care Initiative has taken care of all those associated costs to ensure affordability as well as motivate them to work hard to learn the skills to improve their fortunes in life.

Hon. Mercer said there would be continuous support for the girls post the training period to make sure they are fully utilizing the skills they have acquired to help improve their livelihoods and that of their families.

The first set of girls were intensively trained for a period of six (6) weeks to ensure that they grasped all the basic rudiments they need to acquire to make them more qualified and competent to work.

Hon Mercer further stated that the program is gender inclusive, therefore the gentlemen would be trained in artisanal fields such as carpentry, auto mechanics, welding among many others.

He added that this initiative has so far trained a total of ninety (90) people who are all residents within the Sekondi Constituency comprising a first batch of fifty (50) persons and the second batch of forty (40) persons.

A cross section of some the ladies we spoke to expressed their utmost appreciation to the Honourable MP for putting their welfare at heart and they pledged to put the skills acquired into profitable use. They stressed that this initiative will make them gainfully employed and help avoid social missteps such as teenage pregnancy.