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The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in collaboration with Aseda Foundation has equipped 400 artisans drawn from the Western and Western North Regions with skills in vocational and technical training.

The beneficiaries were trained in skills such as tailoring, dressmaking, hairdressing, welding, Aluminum works, fabrication, fitting, electronics, spraying, tiling and painting.

The training programme, which is jointly executed by Aseda Foundation and GNPC Foundation seeks to ensure that the less privileged youth who desire to get employable skills were trained in vocational skills of their choice.

Mr Dominic Kwesi Eduah, the Executive Director of GNPC, said the Foundation was leveraging on the success of Aseda Foundation within the Western Region to fulfill a key goal of livelihood empowerment.

He said to fulfill the company’s corporate social responsibility, GNPC decided to partner Aseda Foundation and provided an amount of $38million to cater for the purchase of tools and the payment of NVTI proficiency exams for the beneficiaries who underwent a two year training in various vocational skills of their choice.

Mr Eduah explained that out of the 4,000 artisans recruited from both the Western and Western North Regions, about 2,000 of them prepared for the examination, but GNPC decided to begin with 400 of them on pilot basis.

The Executive Director said the next batch would undertake their exams in December and January and that GNPC was to cater for the total funding of the project from the exam stage through to the set up stages.

He said GNPC Foundation would see to it that the artisans were well prepared for the job centre that has been created by the Youth and Employment Agency.

Madam Diana Adjei, Founder of Aseda Foundation, for her part said the objective of establishing the Foundation was to help the Ghanaian youth acquire skills in craftsmanship to be able to establish themselves and not become a burden on their families, society and the nation as a whole.

She indicated that GNPC pledged to support the 400 artisans who participated in the NVTI proficiency examination with their own shops and equipment provided they performed excellently in their examinations in December this year.

Madam Adjei stressed that Aseda Foundation would continue to monitor the progress of beneficiaries after the completion of their courses.

The CEO of Aseda Foundation said the Foundation was currently training artisans from five regions, namely the Central, Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western and Western North Regions, which were their primary focus at the moment.

Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, the Western Regional Minister, said entrepreneurship was key in every country’s development and for that reason, the government was also keen on skills development and has decided to renovate all NVTI’s across the country to enhance teaching and learning.

He commended the initiative of the two organizations, saying “GNPC partnering with Aseda Foundation was a laudable feat in that, a percentage of the oil revenue had found its way down to the grassroots, since such opportunities used to abound only in the country’s capital”.

Some of the beneficiaries expressed their gratitude to the Foundations, pointing out that with the acquired skills they were no longer going to be a burden to their families.

According to them, they were determined to work hard and improve upon their lives and impact positively on those around them.

They urged their colleagues to take advantage of such programmes and gain the requisite knowledge and skills that can propel them to a better future