YIEDIE Gives 13,201 Youth Technical Skills And Grants

About 13,201 young men and women have been empowered with various technical and entrepreneurial skills to become sustainable economically and socially.

Aside from the free training, some of the trainees were given Gh₵5,700 each as a grant to establish themselves purely based on merit after going through a rigorous selection procedure.

The Youth Inclusive Entrepreneurial Development Initiative for Employment (YIEDIE) project which started in 2015 selected five towns such as Tema, Accra, Ashaiman, Koforidua and Kumasi especially in communities where the demand for the trade is higher and viable.

The youth were given six months free training in 16 trade areas in construction such as draftsmanship, painting, plumbing, metal fabrication, carpenter, aluminium fabrication, electricals, steel bending, POP, interior decoration, tiling of floors and walls, and others.

The target of the project is to reach 23,700 youth directly with training in technical, life and entrepreneurship skills leading to employment by 2020.

This is a major step in fulfillment of the SDG Goal 8 target (8.3) which ensures the “promotion of development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services.”

Speaking at the official launch of the YIEDIE Alumni Association in Accra, the Project Director for YIEDIE, Vera Mills-Odoi said YIEDIE is a five-year project to create economic opportunities in Ghana's construction sector for economically disadvantaged youth, implemented by Global Communities (formerly CHF International) in partnership with Mastercard Foundation.

She noted that the project applies an integrated, youth-led market-systems model to improve the capacity of youth and service providers across the value chain.

“It is training young women and men in technical construction skills and helping youth to grow and start small businesses. It is also increasing collaboration and support amongst construction sector stakeholders to improve their enabling environment,” Mrs. Mills-Odoi stated.

She noted that as part of effort to empower women, 60percent chances were given to females whiles the remaining 40percent were males which include persons with disabilities.

“What we looked out for is the fact that if we expose females to the fact that more money is available in this direction and you get them to understand that once they get the money they can stand on their own and be independent and not relying on people, it will change their mindset. And within that job setting, they are getting a decent support in terms of training, mentoring, incentives and others. We provide the trainees with protective wears, transport fares, child care for nursing mothers as well as the little things that usually propel women to seek support from the male counterparts,” the Project Director posited.

According to her, the purpose of the Alumni Association is to formally organize graduates of the projects to network, share experiences and unify their voices in addressing challenges and barriers to employment in their respective areas.

With over 200 participants, Mrs. Mills-Odoi emphasized that the youth will also learn about the benefits of the new Alumni network and how they can play a part in unifying the voices of YIEDIE graduates.

Participants at the forum discussed the challenges and barriers they face in the job market under the theme, “Youth in Construction: Knocking Down the Barriers.”