Savana Signatures, a youth advocacy Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), has built the capacities of master skill trainers in various fields to equip young girls with the needed employable skills and other professional opportunities in their communities.

The two-day capacity development workshop, organised by the Savana Signatures, in Tamale, brought together 14 master trainers in eight fields, including; carpentry, welding, spraying, painting, masonry, tiling, electrical and fabrication.

It formed part of the NGO’s Girls’ Life Choices (GLC) project, being implemented in the Northern, North East, Savannah, Volta and Oti regions, with support from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The master trainers are expected to train a total of about 500 young girls who are potential beneficiaries of the project as part of efforts to end forced and early child marriages in the implementing regions and also support them with skills development and employable opportunities.

The master trainers were taken through the processes in creating enabling working environment for girls to thrive, how to deliver training activities, active training methodologies, understanding gender and linkages to skills acquisition, amongst other topics.

Ms Ethel Emefa Ehla, GLC Project Manager at the Savana Signatures, implored the trainers to ensure they developed cordial relationships with the girls they would be working with and urged them to create conducive working environment for the girls.

“We must ensure an enabling environment and safe working spaces for these young girls to thrive, because without this they will start the training but may not complete, which would be a problem for us all”, she noted.

“We expect that these girls are given the ample training to bridge the gap that exist in the perceived male-dominated skill profession, for them to be able to generate their own incomes to improve on their livelihoods”, she explained.

Madam Margaret Gwade, Chief of Field Office at the UNICEF in Tamale, encouraged the participants to provide the needed support for the girls to keep their interests in going through the training.

She said “you need to understand the girls and how they do their things so that you can give them the support they need, because the society sometimes stereotypes females who go into male-dominated skilled profession.”

“That alone sometimes discourages them from venturing into such professions and so it is your duty to give them the protection they need”, she added.

Some of the participants gave the assurance that they would ensure that the girls were given the protection they would needed to enhance their development and growth.

Management of Savana Signatures announced that they would provide start-up capitals in the form of tools for successful girls who would pass out in their training on their respective fields.