YEEP project initiated by MTN Foundation transforming lives in Suhum, Nsawam

The MTN Ghana Foundation is making an impact with the Youth Employment and Empowerment Project (YEEP) undertaken in collaboration with Plan Ghana.

A year after graduating close to 100 youth from Suhum and Nsawam in the Eastern Region trained in phone repairs, lives have been transformed and changed for the better.

Last year the MTN Foundation and Plan Ghana partnered to equip out-of-school young people with skills in mobile phone repairs.

The Project named YEEP for short covered several areas during the training including Repair and Rectification of faults of mobile phones, how to maintain a safe and secure work environment, introduction to Mobile Phone Technology, Basic Customer Service, and Front End Repairs.

At the end of the training in Suhum and Nsawam, the beneficiaries received certificates of participation, start-up tools, and kiosks to start work and improve their livelihoods.

Today after a tour to Suhum and Nsawam to visit the beneficiaries, it has become clear that the expected impact of the project has been met.

Engagement with some beneficiaries:

Awatey Derrick – Suhum”

During the tour today, the team from MTN Ghana Foundation visited the shop of Awatey Derrick at Suhum. Opening up on how the intervention had changed his life, he said “If for nothing at all I’m now able to get something to eat.”

Young Awatey Derrick added, “I’m saving a lot of money and I have now been able to rent. I’m living a comfortable life and it’s all thanks to MTN. I want to say a big thank you to MTN Ghana.”

Awatey Derrick

While revealing that he has started training others to also benefit from the skills he acquired from the YEEP project, he called on the MTN Foundation to continue the project to change the lives of others.

Enoch Ofori – Suhum:

In an engagement with the media, one other beneficiary of the YEEP project at Suhum, Enoch Ofori was full of praise for MTN, insisting that through them his struggles as a young boy are no more.

He shared, “The work has been very beneficial. Right now I’m able to save and do things for myself. Before this, I struggle to pay my rent and take care of things that I needed. But through this work, I’m able to sort all these things out. Right now I have four people I’m training and I hope very soon they can also be on their own. This has only been possible because of MTN and I say a big thank you to them.”

Ohene Ansah Diana:

For determined Ohene Ansah Diana, she said she will forever be grateful to MTN Ghana Foundation. She explained that thanks to her acquired skills, she is not at the mercy of men looking at taking advantage of needy and vulnerable ladies.

“So far the work has been very helpful. At first, we were sitting at home. Now we can come to work and get something to take care of ourselves. At first, I used to worry my parents but not anymore. Now I save and sometimes even support my family. If not for this work I would have maybe been depending on a man.

Ohene Ansah Diana

“So it has really helped us and we are very grateful to MTN. They have really changed my life. I will urge them to continue doing this for the youth, especially the underprivileged,” Diana Ansah told the media.

Luis Boateng – Nsawam:

At Nsawam, a beneficiary of the project who has now become a trainer himself with as many as 11 people under him shared that his life has changed since the encounter with MTN Ghana Foundation and Plan Ghana.

“First of all, I will like to say thank you to God. I will also express my appreciation to MTN and Plan Ghana. I was a phone repairer but I didn’t know much. So when I received the training from the YEEP programme and passed, it changed my life.

Luis Boateng

“Now thanks to MTN I have my own container and I can now take care of myself. Now I don’t face any challenges. Things are going very well and I have a lot of people coming to me to also teach them,” he explained.

Rosemary Mensah:

Sharing her story, Rosemary Mensah, a trader at the Nsawam Market who took advantage of the training said she is now doing very well for herself.

She said unlike before, she is now living a comfortable life and is able to take care of her younger siblings.

Rosemary Mensah

“This business has helped me a lot. At first, things were very hard for me because I only went to the market on market days to sell. But the money I was getting was as not enough. Now with this business thanks to MTN, I have another source of income which helps me to even take care of my younger siblings,” Rosemary Mensah said.

Engaging the media on the sidelines of the engagements with the beneficiaries of the Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship Project, Mrs. Cynthia Mills who is the Economic Empowerment Advisor of the MTN Foundation said her outfit is satisfied with the impact of the project.

“We are happy about the way they are going about their work because the majority of them are using the skills that we have given them and some of them have even gotten apprentices which is very good. It tells us that our money hasn’t gone down the drain and the youth are hungry to learn skills so when you make that provision for them they will apply their minds to it,” she indicated.

Cynthia Mills

Scale-up:

Mrs. Cynthia Mills further disclosed that there is an ongoing engagement between MTN Foundation and Plan Ghana to scale-up the project to benefit other people from other regions.

“This year is almost gone. This is a project between us and Plan Ghana. We are in the process of discussions to scale up to other regions. Definitely, there will be a scale-up to other regions of Ghana,” she shared.

According to her, the scale-up will in addition to phone repair training also offer training in tablet and laptop repair training.