The initiative is an upgraded and job focused version of all the apprenticeship and technical training programmes undertaken by NBSSI in collaboration with its main partners Rural Enterprises Programme (REP) as well as the District Assembly and Association of Small Scale Industries (ASSI).

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), for Hohoe, Mr Teddy Ofori, at the launch on Thursday, February 22, observed that the initiative was in line with the government’s vision to improve the skills of the youth to create jobs in the country.

He said it was important for the youth to be more proactive to learn a trade for the state to support them with the right interventions rather than waiting on the government for employment.

Mr Ofori mentioned that the government had reduced the business operating tax for master craft persons who support the initiative.

He underlined that A2E initiative was aimed to strengthen and institutionalise the apprenticeship and technical training of the NBSSI and also to scale up the programme throughout the country over a two year period.

A2E programme

It is also to equip the teeming unemployed youth with employable skills to support our existing entrepreneurs, and with entrepreneurial skills to create employment. As at last year, two districts, Hohoe in the Volta Region and Obuasi in the Ashanti Region had implemented the programme in Ghana.

The programme targets the unemployed youth of the various districts who are seeking employment. The selected youth are matched with master craft persons within their districts and also enrolled in existing associations to provide mentorship and guidance.

During the period of training, the carefully selected master craft persons will train the apprentice in the following skills: dressmaking, hairdressing and barbering, masonry, carpentry, catering, electricals, air-condition and refrigeration repairs, leather works among many other trades.

The NBSSI is to supplement the training with management, entrepreneurship and mentoring services. At the end of the training programme apprentice will write the NVTI exams. After graduation, the trained unemployed youth are either retained by the master craft persons as employees or supported to set up their own businesses.

Addressing youth unemployment

The Executive Director of NBSSI, Ms Kosi Yankey, said this year the Business Advisory Centers (BACs) of the NBSSI would be converted to Business Resource Centers (BRCs) and various districts in the Ashanti Region would roll-out the A2E programme to address the youth unemployment issues of the country.

She said on average, 200 youth per district were targeted for the programme.

“In 2017, 950 persons benefited from the pilot phase of the programme in two districts, 21,468 NBSSI participants received technical training, 1,142 persons sat for the NVTI exams and more than 5,600 jobs were created through the support of NBSSI and its partners.”

As the A2E expands across Ghana, we hope to train 10,000 youth in two years in various trades to help reduce the unemployment rate among the youth in Ghana.

However, with the requisite resources and interventions, NBSSI can support more youth through the programme.