The provision of skill training for the youth in the host communities will help better lives, especially after mining, the Community Affairs and Stakeholder Engagement Manager, of Goldfields Damang Mine, Abdul Razak Yakubu, has said.
He said while many people in most mining communities depend on the mine for employment, it is important to recognise that acquiring apprenticeship skills will position them to become self-employed and economically independent.
It is against this background that he urged the youth in host communities, of Goldfields Damang Mine, to take advantage of the community apprenticeship programme introduced to enhance employment opportunities beyond the mine.
For instance, the Goldfields Damang Mine, through the Goldfields Ghana Foundation, launched a $121,000 ‘Community Apprenticeship Training programme,’ in 2021.
The programme is expected to run for a two-year duration, with some 48 persons already receiving various apprenticeship training.
Mr. Yakubu, who was speaking at a review meeting, six months after the programme started, explained that the programme forms part of the interventions of Goldfields Damang Mine “to create employment beyond the mining company.”
He said this is because people depend on the mine for employment, a development which he said is not sustainable given the dwindling fortunes of the mine.
“We are encouraging people to go into an apprenticeship, learn their trade so that themselves become their employers in future.”
As part of the training, he said participants will write National Vocational Technical Institute’s (NVTI) practical examination, to become certified.
The certification is hoped to help beneficiaries to be able to apply and execute formal contracts.
