The Member of Parliament (MP) for Anlo, Mr Richard Kwami Sepe, has enrolled 700 youth in a free skills training programme to reduce poverty in the area.

The programme was in fulfilment of his promise to train 1,000 youth in the area to become master craftsmen and women within the next four years, which was estimated to cost GH¢840,000.

The beneficiaries will spend a period of two to three years in their various chosen fields, after which they will be provided with tools and equipment to work.

The areas of focus include dressmaking and tailoring, hairdressing, welding and fabrication, block laying and concreting, painting and decoration, auto mechanics and tiling, among other vocations.

Transforming lives

At the ceremony to officially enrol the new trainees, Mr Sepe said he recognised the potential of using technical and vocational training as a means to transform lives through skills acquisition for self-employment to reduce poverty among the youth in the area.

He explained that he was motivated by the high unemployment rate in the area which had resulted in most of the youth migrating to other parts of the country to seek greener pastures.

He said more of the youth would be identified and trained in other commercial towns such as Ho, Tema, Accra to acquire commercial and industrial skills that could not be accessed locally.

He indicated that a monitoring team would be set up to check the performance of both trainers and trainees to ensure that they conformed to the standard required for the programme so as enable it to achieve the intended purpose.

The MP said the beneficiaries would be put into groups after the acquisition of the skills for a fund to be sourced for them to set up their own workshops.

To this end, he appealed to the government, NGOs and other individuals and organisations to come on board to support the programme.

Appreciation

A beneficiary of the programme, Ms Catherine Tay, on behalf of her colleagues thanked the MP for initiating such a laudable programme, an opportunity she said the youth of the area had been looking for for a long time.

According to her, most of the youth in the area begged for food while others indulged in social vices, forcing most of the females into early marriage and teenage pregnancy.

She said the initiative would go a long way to provide them with the necessary skills and tools to fend for themselves.

Togbe Dala Avege III of Anlo, who chaired the function, advised the youth to be disciplined and take the training programme very seriously to enable them to get the maximum benefit.

The programme was attended by the MP for Ketu South, Mrs Dzifa Gomashie; the MP for Keta, Mr Kwame Dzidzorli Gakpe, and other well-meaning Anlo citizens.