Posted by Peter Labelle, Grants chair
The Primary Goal is to reduce unemployment and poverty by providing skills training in trades to youth. There are employment opportunities available in trades like masonry, carpentry, fashion design and personal care for people with the required skills. The project, in turn, would provide a means for graduates to earn a living income, reduce unemployment in the region and lift families out of poverty.
 
The project will repurpose and restore an unused school building that the community leadership has offered for this purpose. The building will be renovated and equipped; supplies for the school will be purchased. There is an agreement in place with the Ghana Education Directorate to provide teaching and support staff for the school. Because the renovations will involve the use of both carpentry and masonry, much of the work will be incorporated into the training of unskilled students who are part of this program.

This project is a start-up that represents the first group of students in a three-year vocational program in the trades that the Ghana Education Service has committed to take over and continue. The program involves general skills training in each discipline during the first two years and specialization during the third, including a six-month internship to become a master of the trade.

A new elementary and secondary school was just built on the other side of the soccer pitch by the Ghana Education Service. The community has offered the old building for the vocational school, but it needs some work to make it usable for that purpose. The first group of students in the masonry and carpentry vocations will be providing the labour as part of their education. Electrical will need to be done for the hair styling and sewing machines. The Ghana Education Service will provide all salaries for instructors and support staff.