The two-week training, organised jointly by SWAA and the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) with financial support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), trained the participants in liquid soap making and the manufacture of ladies sandals, earrings, necklaces, wrist bangles and ladies bags with beads.

The beneficiaries, besides receiving legal literacy training for them to know their sexual rights to reject forced and early marriages, were also educated on family planning methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

Self-reliant

At a graduating ceremony of the trainees at the Techiman Yam Market in the Brong Ahafo Region, the Executive Secretary of SWAA Ghana, Mrs Elsie Ayeh, explained that the skills and knowledge acquired would enable the beneficiaries from ages 10 to 19 to be economically self-reliant.

She said the skills would also empower them financially and reduce their reliance on men who might take advantage of their poverty to misuse them.

Mrs Ayeh said being self-reliant would also minimise the incidence of unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, early parenthood, maternal and child mortalities being recorded in the country.

Mrs Ayeh, who is also the Regional Coordinator of the project for Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions, announced that the organisation had targeted to reach 2,000 kayayei across the Techiman, Race Course, Bantama, Kaneshie, Agbogboloshie, Darkuman and other big markets in the country by the end of 2017.

A beneficiary, Ms Rahinatu Musah, 19, and a mother of one, expressed appreciation on behalf of her colleagues, adding that they would no longer engage in the kayayei business because they had been given the capacity to start their own businesses.

Each of them was given a certificate of participation and a business start-up package.

The SWAA is a Ghanaian NGO promoting the interest of vulnerable women and girls in the society.