Support for girls in training project

The Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, yesterday presented vocational and technical equipment worth more than GH¢850,000 to the Community Development Vocational and Technical Institute (CDVTI) in Accra.

The equipment included tools for hairdressing, masonry, carpentry/joinery, catering, electricals, auto mechanics and dressmaking. 

They form part of the ministry’s aim of equipping young ladies with male-dominated skills through the Gender Responsive Skills and Community Development Project (GRSCDP).

The GRSCDP, which is a four-year Government of Ghana and African Development Bank (AfDB) project, is being implemented in 59 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) across the country.

As part of the project which will elapse at the end of December 2013, 668 young girls from poor households have benefitted from skills training in masonry, plumbing, auto engineering and electricals, among others.

The project is being implemented in 25 CDVTIs across the country.

Mrs Oye Lithur, before presenting the items, said the GRSCDP was aimed at bridging the gender inequality gap in the area of job placements in the country. 

She assured that her ministry was going to ensure that the project was extended so as to benefit more young girls from poor households.

According to her, the ministry was focused on training young girls to acquire male dominated vocations so that they could take up jobs that would help improve their finances.

She said her ministry was working at ensuring that it became more responsive to the needs of women, children and the vulnerable in society, adding that among some of the strategies that had been adopted included ensuring that ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) were more sensitive in the area of gender budgeting. 

The acting Project Manager, Mrs Cathrine Bob-Milliar, in an address, said the project had chalked up a lot of successes in the delivery of its mandate.

Some of the successes she said included the training of 25 staff of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) in information and communication technology (ICT), as well as the provision of scholarships for eight staff of the MoGSCP, the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP).

The project, she said, had also provided a total of 125 computers to vocational and technical institutes in parts of the country.

Mrs Bob-Milliar called on the management of the CDVTIs to ensure that they maintained the equipment well.

Writer’s email: rebecca.quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.gh