The two-month intensive residential training, which was fully sponsored by Cardinal Namdini Mining Limited, a subsidiary of Shandong Gold, at a cost of GH¢345,000, was in line with its youth capacity-building training programme.

The funding covered trainees’ tuition, boarding and lodging, transportation, training gear, start-up tools and materials, to help them set up their own businesses after graduation.

The training was a collaboration between the mining company, which is operating in the Talensi District in the Upper East Region and Alinea Foundation, a non-governmental organisation. The beneficiary youth were trained in brick-laying and tiling, plumbing, carpentry and electrical installation.

The females were trained at the Bolgatanga Technical Institute (BOTECH), while the males were taught at the Tahmayili Vocational Training Institute (TaVTI), Tamale, respectively. The trainees were drawn from communities within the mining company’s operational areas such as Biung, Accra Site, Digaare, Bapeela, Tolla Datoko, Sheaga, Buugu and Sawaliga.

Main objective

Speaking at separate graduation ceremonies on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, the Community and Social Responsibility Manager of the mining company, Kofi Adusei, said the main objective of the training was to provide the beneficiary young men and women with employable skills.

He said “as a company operating in the district, our intention is to support the youth to acquire skills to earn incomes to take care of themselves and their families, leading to improved quality of life.”

He noted that training in these skill areas required concerted and coordinated efforts of all stakeholders towards making it a success, stressing “therefore, I wish to congratulate you on taking the training seriously and having exhibited a high level of commitment and discipline.”

Mr Adusei entreated the youth to vigorously pursue their skill areas to serve as income sources for their own benefit and that of their respective communities, indicating “you have no excuse to remain idle as you have been provided skills to enable you to earn a living.

“We are highly motivated by what we have seen at the end of training and we shall endeavour to institutionalise the training programme to train more youth, to enable them to change their fortunes,” he said.

The Vice-Principal Domestic at BOTECH, Ndekudugu Iddrisu, entreated the trainees to be a source of change to their communities and desist from being idle despite benefiting from the training programme.

For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of TaTVI, Rev. Dr Abukari Yakubu, told the youth to go out there and empower others for the progress of their communities and further asked them to exhibit good character to sustain their trades.

In an interview, some of the beneficiary youth pledged to put the skills acquired to good use, to contribute to the growth of the informal sector.