Mr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, has asked Metropolitan, Municipal and District (MMD) Chief Executives to identify young women in poor communities for vocational training.

He said if every six months every MMD Chief Executive could identify such persons for training and empowerment, in five years, poverty would have been reduced drastically in the country because those who would be trained would be empowered to train and also support others in their communities to get out of their poverty situation.

Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo was speaking at the graduation ceremony of 120 young women selected from poor urban communities in the New Juaben, Akuapem North and the Birim Central Municipalities for apprenticeship training in hairdressing, dressmaking, interior decoration and catering

The trainees went through a six months training programme under the Urban Poverty Reduction Project (UPRP) of the Social Investment Fund(SIF), in collaboration with the African Development Bank and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

Under the project, the Local Enterprise and Skill Development Programme (LESDEP) is providing the graduates training in business management, equipment and seed capital to start their business and pay over a period.

He said government would soon provide skill training and equipment for 5,000 unskilled physically challenged persons in the country to enable them establish their own businesses.

Mr. Ampofo said it takes discipline, commitment and hard work to succeed in business and urged the graduates to put whatever they have learnt into practice to succeed.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr. Victor Smith, urged the graduates to put the skills they have acquired to good use to help promote the Better Ghana Agenda that the government has set itself to achieve.

The Executive Director of SIF, Mr. Joe Acheampong said so far his outfit spent Gh¢201,600 for the training of the 120 young women and in collaboration with LESDEP, they are being provided with equipments valued at Gh¢76,240.

He said the 120 graduates form part of 1,041 unemployed youth who had been provided with vocational training by his outfit under the five-year urban Poverty Reduction project being implemented by his office.

Mr. Acheampong gave the assurance that the SIF would continue to monitor the activities of the graduates and provide them with business advisory services, and also urged them to form groups and associations to enable them qualify for the SIF micro-credit facility.

Mrs Margret Amankrah, the Proprietress of Victory Vocational Institute, said since the institute was established 30 years ago, it had trained 10,000 young women who are now employed in various sectors of the economy.**