The Youth Empowerment for Life Ghana (YEFL-Ghana), a Tamale-based youth advocacy Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), has trained about 250 young individuals in various entrepreneurial development skills to create employment opportunities to improve on their livelihoods.

The training, under the YEFL-Ghana's "Youth Life 2.0" project, is being implemented in partnership with the Catholic Archdiocese of Tamale, with funding support from the Catholic Relief Services (CRS).

The training was aimed at guiding selected beneficiaries to acquire the needed skills to venture into their preferred enterprises and also build their capacities and confidence to create employment avenues for other people in their communities.

Beneficiaries were attached to master skill trainers in various fields to undergo the training based on their interests.

Speaking at a workshop, organized by the YEFL-Ghana, in Tamale, Mr Abdul-Ganiyu Alhassan, Technical Advisor on Youth and Gender at the YEFL-Ghana, said the training sought to promote youth empowerment and employment as well as step up efforts to reduce unemployment and poverty in Northern Ghana.

He said: "We believe that when young people are employed and engaged in learning skills, it will also promote peace building in their communities in this electioneering period as well".

Sharing some of the successes chalked so far, he said through the project, some beneficiaries had acquired competitive skills to start their own businesses.

Mr Alhassan announced that YEFL-Ghana and its implementing partners would support successful graduates from the training in terms of start-up capitals and marketing of their services.

He appealed to corporate individuals in the Northern region to join forces to provide support to young people to build their capacities in various employable skills and other professional opportunities in their communities.

Ms Carolyn Edlebeck, Head of Programming at the CRS in Ghana, said: "We are seeking to ensure that the youth find good employment opportunities for themselves and in the process, they could transform their communities".

She encouraged beneficiaries to be dedicated and committed to their work to ensure they realised their ambitions.

Some beneficiaries who spoke to the Ghana News Agency expressed gratitude to the YEFL-Ghana and its partners for the initiative and added that it had helped them to realise their entrepreneurial dreams.