A section of the artisans. INSET: Dominic Eduah
About 400 artisans who were supported by the GNPC Foundation to
write this year’s National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) certificate
examination have graduated.
The examination was held at the Jubilee Grounds in Takoradi in the
Western Region after the artisans had undergone a series of mock examinations
also sponsored by the foundation.
The artisans who were drawn from the Western and Western North
regions enrolled under the foundation’s ‘Skilled Artisans Project’, in
collaboration with Aseda Foundation, a non-governmental organization in the
Western Region.
The project offered a two-year free training to the beneficiaries in
vocational and technical skills.
The Executive Director of GNPC Foundation, Dominic Eduah, said the foundation
would continue to support communities with basic amenities and other
educational facilities as well as giving of scholarships.
He mentioned that the foundation’s ‘Skilled Artisans Project’ would
train about 4,000 youths in various vocational and technical disciplines in the
region.
He disclosed that
this year’s beneficiaries also went through some training in financial literacy
and management.
He said apart from
giving the beneficiaries the requisite logistics to enable them to start an
enterprise on their own, the foundation would also be providing them with metal
containers in their respective districts to operate from.
Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi
II, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of GNPC Foundation, said the foundation
was making sure that all Ghanaians benefitted from the oil revenue by embarking
on numerous initiatives to improve the living standards of the people.
The Member of
Parliament for Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira, Catherin Afeku, said the current
government was keen on skills development and was inaugurating more NVTIs in the
country to train the youth to acquire employable skills.
The Founder and Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of Aseda Foundation, Diana Adjei, said the objective of
establishing the foundation was to help the Ghanaian youth acquire skills in
craftsmanship.
She said the foundation trains the youth in vocations such as fabrication, fitting, welding, aluminium works, electronics, spraying, painting, tiling works, dressmaking and hairdressing, among others.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi
