505 trainee artisans enrolled in the 2021/2022 edition of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s (GNPC) Skilled Artisans Project in the Ashanti Region have completed their National Vocational Training Institute’s (NVTI) skill proficiency exams organized and funded by the GNPC Foundation.

Beneficiary artisans from several centres across the region including Mampong, Bekwai, Offinso and Kumasi had their competencies tested in various vocational skills such as the Domestic module which is made up of cookery, bakery, dressmaking, tailoring, hairdressing, make-up artistry, and interior designing and decoration.

Others were also tested under the Technical module which is made up of plumbing, carpentry, auto-mechanics, general electrical, and aluminium fabrication.

Speaking during a visit to the Kumasi Vocational Technical Institute centre on the final day of examination, the Executive Director of the GNPC Foundation, Dr. Dominic Eduah, said the NVTI certification phase of the project is necessitated by the need to boost their employability and credibility as trained artisans.

He explained that the Skilled Artisans Project as a livelihood empowerment programme is designed to support the youth across the country with the much-needed technical and vocational skills that could match up with the best standards anywhere while offering young people who are inspired to learn these important trade skills the requisite tools and equipment needed to start their own entrepreneurial businesses in a bid to make them economically independent.

The project is being implemented in 5 regions of the country comprising Western, Central, Greater Accra, Eastern and Ashanti.

The project is seeking to positively affect the lives of some 2050 artisans with more expected to benefit from other regions in subsequent editions.