Nana Abena Kunadjoa II Foundation, in collaboration with Gold Fields Ghana Foundation, has launched the Community Women Empowerment Programme at Damang in the Prestea-Huni Valley Municipality of the Western Region.
The programme, which is an initiative of the Paramount Queen Mother of Wassa Fiase Traditional area, Nana Abena Kunadjoah II, is to train unemployed young women in the area to acquire various vocational skills.
It was on the theme ‘Empowering women with skills for better living’. About 40 women, drawn from the host communities of the mining company, were taken through how to make rubbing alchohol, sanitisers and liquid soap, among others.
The empowerment programme follows complaints from queen mothers and women in leadership positions suggesting that the youth, particularly women in the area, need to be given some skills training for them to be employed.
According to Nana Abena Kunadjoa II – originator of the Foundation: “The Foundation began assisting orphans and the aged in nine communities of Gold Fields’ operational area two years ago. Our target is to help reduce unemployment among women in the communities by helping them get something doing to support their families and themselves,” she said.
She said data will be taken to assess performance of the participants, who will be coached in branding and marketing skills. “It is going to be a yearly programme, and after the training we will continue to follow-up on participants to see how best they are implementing the skills toward improvement of their lives,” she said – while pleading with other mining companies to also support the foundation so that they can train more people.
Abdel Razak Yakubu, Sustainable Development Projects Manager of Gold Fields Ghana Limited, explained that the aim is to whip-up the interest of women in learning employable skills – hence the need to support Nana Kunadjoa II Foundation.
He announced that the three best-performing participants will be given some start-up tools to set up their own businesses. “We took this step with the Kunadjoa Foundation because we reckon that we cannot do this alone. Indeed, this will not be a one-day event – but it will be a permanent feature on our calendar,” he said.
