Forty-one (41) young girls have graduated from an eight week intensive hands-on training at the Dabokpa technical Training Institute in Tamale.
The girls are part of 90 girls in the Northern Region, selected for the skills acquisition programme in non-traditional trades, otherwise referred to as; “male dominated jobs.”
WEE-North, an NGO offering the platform to empowering women in industrial trades in Northern Ghana, made it possible with funding from Global Affairs, Canada.
Described as a successful training programme, where the beneficiaries exhibited their handiworks on the sides, it was all joy and fulfillment as the girls graduated with competences in bricks-laying and tiling, electrical installations, carpentry and woodwork.
Alongside the practicality of the project, the young beneficiaries were taken through gender perspectives, personal development, health screenings and counseling. The girls will also be linked to industry for practical attachment, having completed the course.
At the graduation ceremony, where they were presented with certificates, parents, guardians, instructors’, officials from the education directorate as well as a team from the WEE-North project, heralded the event.
The Northern Regional Director of Education, Dr. Peter Attafuah in a message read for him by Lawyer Alhassan Mumuni, the Head of Legal, at the Regional Education Office, who is also a former MP for Salaga, said giving equal opportunities to all is a sure way to promoting sustainable development.
He said government was in the process of decoupling Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) from the GES to give meaning and attention to technical and vocational training of the youth.
Dr. Attafuah, thereby, encouraged the young female trainees to be disciplined and focused saying “stigma in a male dominated job will come, however you have to gather courage and face the future,” he stated.
The field Manager, Alinea International, implementer of Wee-North, Nancy Drost said her organization is interested in pushing women out of housekeeping courses and the idea is to look into the future where females can equally take on tasks and vocations that would make them independent, socioeconomically.
She said the training has taken place across the North in Bolgatanta, Bawku, Wa, and Tamale.
The Executive Director of Songtaba, an NGO, Madam Lamnatu Adam, who helped groomed the girls, encouraged them to build on their new networks and relationships, but cautioned parents and guardians not to rush their girls into marriage since that would defeat the purpose of the training.
On behalf of the beneficiaries, Charity Abugri, thanked their benefactor and the instructors from Dabokpa Technical Institute for exposing them to the world, especially in areas been described as “male dominated jobs.”
She said through their training, their confidence levels have been boosted and they hope not to idle-by, but being independent with more prospects for the future.
The Principal of Dabokpa Technical Institute Madam Mariama Mahama in a welcoming address read for her by a vice principal, was grateful that the institute was chosen as one of the centres to train the girls.
She stated that the trainees had been well equipped to match others with an assurance that they would do better with future endeavors.
The Dabokpa Institute Principal was also grateful that the partnership with Wee-North has helped in repairing some of the Institute’s training equipment that were non-functional.
Story by: Nelson Adanuti | www.diamondfmonline.com
