SHEROES Foundation engages young girls on skills training and empowerment issues
The level of poverty among young girls and women especially those living in deprived communities, is so high that many of them have to make extremely challenging choices in their lives. In such communities young girls are unskilled and therefore find it difficult to earn a living.
It is also important to note that the economic policies adopted by many African governments do not benefit women. In line with its mission to support women and girls through inclusive economy and gender equality, the SHEROES Foundation held an information and needs assessment session with young girls from a local community in the Martey Tsuru area in the Ledzokuku District of Greater Accra Region for its upcoming training program. The overall goal of the project is to promote the socio economic development of women in semi urban areas of Accra. More specifically the project seeks to
- empower young girls from economically weaker sections of Accra with marketable skills.
- contribute to increasing the income level of project beneficiaries
- educate project beneficiaries on women’s human rights issues
This is the first phase of the 5,000 Girls skills training initiative of SHEROES Foundation, which aims to empower the women and girls for success. As part of this initial stage thirty young girls from the community were engaged in a needs assessment session conducted prior to the training sessions to be conducted next month. Project target beneficiaries are girls aged between 16 and 30 years and they expressed their eagerness to start an income generating activity to improve on their livelihood. Discussions with the targets ranged focused on the possibilities of starting an income generating activity that is “easy and cheap” to begin and the prospect of investing in more training later.
The skills training options for the proposed 3-day sessions included
- Detergent Making
- Bead works
- Juice production (Sobolo)
- Make Up and Gele Tying;
- Beauty and Cosmetology,
- Professional Domestic Help Training.
- Pastry making
After the 3-day training, graduates will be given Certificates and Start up kits for their jobs or businesses. SHEROES Foundation aims to achieve a milestone of training over 1,000 young women per year. The training package will in the long run explore giving scholarships for continuing education at established institutions, mentorship, business ethics training, psychosocial support and basic business financial literacy.
Expected outcomes
The following outcomes are expected as a result of the project:
- A positive change generated in the beneficiaries’ lives
- Opportunities provided for project beneficiaries to engage in alternative ways of income generation
- Strengthening of self-awareness and self-esteem of project beneficiaries who can make more meaningful contributions to the development of their communities
SHEROES Foundation is partnering with its various SHEROES International Networking Group (SING) members who are business leaders such as “iLearn”, a training and employment company and Atlantic Catering to bring this enterprise to fruition.
