Tema, June 26, GNA - The Community Development Unit of the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development, Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), has organized training to empower some residents with skills to enhance their livelihood.
The training targets mostly women and the disabled who are taken through the process of preparing liquid soaps, powered detergents, and bleach.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the programme at Tema Community Centre, the Head of the Community Development Unit, Mr. Felix Larbi Appiah, observed that detergents were products which were much sought for and which, if well managed, could transform the economic lives of people who venture into its production.
Mr. Appiah said, “Production of detergents are economically viable because it’s a necessity in the home. Everybody uses liquid soap daily. It’s something we cannot do without and something that sells.”
He indicated that some of the participants would be using it to generate their first source of income; some people would also find it as an additional source of income “because maybe what they are earning isn’t enough for the family, so it’s always prudent to get an additional source of income.”
Mr. Appiah said most of the participants had challenges with securing loans to finance their projects after the training, but his outfit would look at the possibility of securing loan facilities for them, something they had done in the past.
He showed confidence in the ability of the trainees to use the skills by saying, “We asked the group members to select those who were really interested, and so we gave each group a quota. So we selected those who really wanted to learn.”
The Unit Head cited lack of funding as one of the main source of worry to the Unit, because there were a lot they could do to help residents but funds to undertake such programme were not available.
He appealed to the Local authorities to come to their aid with logistics, “Because in our line of work, the people don’t come to us, we go to them. Sometimes we go to the communities and simple inputs like projectors, public address systems, etc. to educate the people aren’t there and that becomes a problem. But we can do so much if we have these inputs because we are actually doing a lot.”
Mrs. Patience Dzillar, a beautician and participant, was gracious to the Unit for the opportunity adding that, “I see it’s very good and would help us. Even if it is not done on commercial bases, one can use it domestically. ”
She encouraged her fellow participants to be serious with the knowledge they had acquired, and cautioned that they should not just come and learn and not just put it into practice, but should even teach their children to take it up after them.
Madam Linda Nueki Nuetei, a trader and participant, observed that the lack of such skills brought about financial difficulties in many Ghanaian homes.
Madam Nuetei therefore urged his colleagues to learn the skill and use it in their own small ways and nurture it into something big.
The training programme is a mass education exercise made up of several groups under the Unit of Community Development from communities within Tema and Tema Newtown.
At the end of the training, the Unit issued certificates of participation, for the first time, to the 103 participants which included 25 Persons Living with Disabilities (PWDs).
GNA
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