Decent Work trains 400 association executives

Winneba (C/R), Sept. 13, GNA - A month-long two-phase training programme on "Association Building," initiated by the Ghana Decent Work Pilot Programme (GDWPP), with funding from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has taken off at Winneba.

Four hundred executive officers of various small-scale business associations in the Awutu-Effutu-Senya and the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam Districts would benefit from the programme.

Launching the first phase at Winneba on Monday, Mr. Kwamena Amoasi-Andoh, National Co-ordinator of the GDWPP, said the objective of the GDWPP/ILO training programme was to equip participants with the requisite knowledge to be able to impart same to their members to facilitate the growth of their respective associations. This would contribute positively to government poverty reduction goals because the small-scale entrepreneurs would be able to create employment avenues for the jobless in their communities. Mr Amoasi-Andoh reminded participants that money alone was not the answer to business establishment and promotion, adding, that the most important keys to business development were requisite knowledge, skills and experience.

The National GDWPP Co-ordinator therefore, charged participants to take keen interest in the training programme to enable them to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to promote their associations. Mr. Amoasi-Andoh announced plans to source financial assistant from donor organisations and the government to members of business associations in the two pilot districts of the GDWPP with the necessary business knowledge and skills to make good use of the loans that would be granted them after the training.

Mr Kwesi Esseku, the Presiding Member of the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District Assembly, spoke on the numerous benefits members of the various organised business associations in the district would gain from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

He advised them to embrace the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme and pay their premiums in good time. Mr Esseku told the participants that it was only when members of their respective working groups were physically fit that they could work hard to improve their individual economies and that of the nation.

The Presiding Member also counselled the participants against HIV/AIDS, saying that people who joke with the pandemic would regret in future if they contract the disease.

Resource persons of the course include, Ms Augustina Addae, Headmistress of Mother Teresa School for Girls at Senya-Beraku; Mr Francis Atoh Doughan, Awutu-Effutu-Senya District Co-ordinator for the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO); Mr Ambrose Entsiwah (Junior), District Co-ordinator for the National Service Scheme Secretariat and Mr Isaac Sam Mensah , an educationist.