Pusiga (UE), Dec. 15, GNA - The Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Madam Hawa Yakubu, has initiated a number of projects in the constituency to enable women to acquire skills in various vocations to make them to become self-sufficient.

As part of the initiatives, the MP has spearheaded a skills acquisition trainer-of-trainers workshop held at Sogude, near Pusiga for 100 women drawn from 10 communities in the Bawku East District to boost their capacity in entrepreneurial and other business skills.

Addressing a durbar at the start of the training session, Madam Yakubu said about 280 women had so far been trained under the initiative nationwide, citing some selected communities in the Central and Volta Regions as well as Pusiga and surrounding communities in the Upper East Region.

She said the project aimed among other things at alleviating poverty in rural communities through mobilisation of rural women and imparting vocational skills to them to enable them raise their families' living standards.

The MP said the women would be trained in hat, soap detergent and cream making and also be assisted with seed capital to start their businesses.

Madam Hawa commended the wife of Sir Peter Odele, of River State in Nigeria for supporting the project with funds and resource personnel and urged other NGOs, benevolent individuals and organisations to support her initiatives to help women to acquire skills.