OIC Trains Anlo Beach Women In Dressmaking

 

Thirty women from Anlo Beach, a coastal community in the Shama District, have completed a six-month skill training programme in hairdressing and dressmaking at the Opportunity Industrialization Centre (OIC).

The training was meant to increase the sources of income to the participants and make them financially independent in view of the dwindling fish catch in the area.

The training was facilitated by the Coastal Resources Centre (CRC), otherwise known as Hen Mpoano in collaboration with the Shama District Assembly and OIC, and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Speaking during the graduation ceremony at Anlo Beach on Thursday, Mr Kofi Agbogah, Director of Hen Mpoano, entreated beneficiaries to be creative in utilizing the skills acquired in order to alleviate poverty in the area.

Mr. Agbogah said:'Our motivation to be part of this exercise is for us to demonstrate to the community that fishing and the fish trade is facing challenges'.

He said the skill training would build resilience against both climatic and non-climatic stressors-like sea erosion, flooding, low fish catch, declining fisheries economy, as well as population and health issues, which continued to render coastal communities vulnerable thereby increase poverty.

Hen Mpoano is a USAID-supported initiative started in 2010 to improve governance in the coastal areas and fisheries sector in the Western Region.

Mr. Agbogah said the programme was meant to increase food security and helped reduce poverty through the acquisition of skills by vulnerable groups in coastal communities in the Region.

Mr. Enoch Kojo Appiah, District Chief Executive for Shama, said the training was in tune with the Assembly's development plan of achieving sustainable development for the people in the area.

He entreated the town folks to be time conscious following the late arrival of participants to the ceremony and asked them to change their attitudes if they wanted to make any meaningful impact in life of the society at large.

The beneficiaries exhibited some of their handiworks after which certificates were presented to them.

GNA