Walewale (N/ER), March 24, GNA – A total of 460 potential and returned head porters (kayayei) in the West Mamprusi Municipality are set to undergo technical and vocational skills training to obtain alternative and sustained livelihoods.
They will be trained in areas including fashion and design, sandals making, smock weaving, cosmetics, catering, soap making and ICT, which are in high demand in communities in the municipality in the Northeast Region.
This is in line with the Providing Livelihood Opportunities and Support for Kayayei Porters (KAYAPORT) project being implemented within two years in the municipality by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in collaboration with the Catholic Archdiocese of Tamale, the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese, and YEFL-Ghana.
Mr Daniel Mumuni, Country Representative of CRS, speaking during the launch of the KAYAPORT project at Walewale on Thursday, said it would help to improve the lives of young women between the ages of 15 and 35 years in the municipality.
A 2018 mapping exercise by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection found that there were more than 100,000 kayayei including their children nationwide, with 85,600 working in the Greater Accra Region, 22,500 in the Ashanti Region and about 1,000 in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Adolescent girls and young women engaged in kayayei are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and abuse as they face a lack of access to safe housing, sanitation and food security thereby exposing them to sexual and physical abuse.
Even though economic and social factors push young girls from the West Mamprusi area to the southern parts of the country to engage in kayayei, there are also opportunities in various sectors in the area for the youth, who have technical and vocational skills, hence the project.
Mr Mumuni said the project would contribute to increasing economic productivity, social acceptance, and emotional resilience of the underserved and vulnerable returned and potential kayayei in the area.
He said the project would also work to secure job placements and provide support for self-employment were possible for the beneficiaries.
He spoke about other skills training interventions by the CRS and said the “KAYAPORT marks another phase of CRS Ghana’s youth programming following the 2017 youth Led Initiatives for Employment (Youth LIFE), the 2018 Action for the Protection and Integration of Migrants in West Africa (APIMA) and the 2020 Youth LIFE 2.0 projects, which successfully provided economic livelihoods through job placement and self-employment to 1,860 youth in Northern Ghana and the middle belt as well as the 2020 Sahel Peace Initiative, which engaged 4,825 people in social cohesion and communal bonding activities.”
Mr Aremeyaw Somo Lucky, Municipal Chief Executive for West Mamprusi described the project as a huge humanitarian service to ensure the welfare of the people was enhanced.
He commended CRS for initiating the project to gradually solve the kayayei menace amongst young girls in the area.
The MCE gave assurance that the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly would support the successful implementation of the project.
Madam Georgina Angeley Mensah, Deputy Director, Department of Social Welfare commended the CRS for the bold initiative to address the issue, saying “I am certain this will transform the lives of young women in the area.”
She advised beneficiaries to take advantage of the project to build their capacity to unleash their potential.
Some of the selected beneficiaries, who spoke during the launch, lauded the project and said but for the project, they would have returned to Accra to continue their kayayei business.