Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans, an indigenous non-banking financial institution, has launched its flagship Youth Apprenticeship Programme (YAP) in the Upper West Region.
YAP seeks to address the unemployment problems among the youth through the provision of free technical and vocational training as well as entrepreneurial skills to the youth to gain employable skills to start and manage their own businesses.
Through the YAP initiative, Sinapi Aba provides the youth with training and opportunities to acquire skills to generate income to become independent and responsible citizens in society.
Speaking at the programme launch in Wa on Thursday, May 11, 2023, Programme Officer for YAP, Madam Hellen Domaninge said the programme was about supporting the youth to learn a trade of their choice where apprentices are selected and attached to trade masters for skill acquisition.
She disclosed that the programme had been implemented across all 16 regions of the country and had empowered over 1000 young Ghanaians in various skill areas.
Madam Domaninge indicated that 150 youth were selected from Wa, Kaleo, Nadowli, Jirapa and the surrounding communities to benefit from the programmes in the Upper West Region.
“They will undergo training in hairdressing, tailoring, weaving, welding, plumbing and the rest.
“They will also be assigned to masters to undergo intensive training for a period of three years…During these three years, they would be capacity building in health, [and] business in their trade areas,” she said.
She added that the apprentices would be made to sit for the National Vocational Training Institute (NTVI) Proficiency examination at the end of the three-year period and would then be graduated as skilled trade masters.
She urged the beneficiaries to learn hard to achieve the project goals and put smiles on everyone's faces at the end of the day.
Mr Bob Zaato, the Wa Branch Manager of Sinapi Aba, said Sinapi Aba saw the need to support vulnerable groups of people to help better their lives, and that the programme which was started about ten years ago has empowered over 4,000 young people.
“We know that we have a lot of people in the system who want to get something doing with their lives but they don’t have what it takes to do that, so Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans, we are in to support the vulnerable,” he said.
Miss Fadila Aminu, a beneficiary of the programme, on behalf of her colleagues, thanked the Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans for bringing hope to their doorsteps and also urged her colleagues to put in their bests and make the optimum out of the programme.
All the 150 beneficiaries, including a sole male dressmaking apprentice, were given full sets of props to start their training in their chosen career paths.
The launch which was attended by both apprentices and their master trainers was equally graced by a plethora of stakeholders.
Among whom were: Madam Rhoda Saan, a Senior Lecturer at the Dr Hilla Limann Technical University (DHLTU); Mr Abdul-Rahaman Moomin, Head of the Wa Municipal Business Advisory Centre, Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA); Cyril Tang of the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), Madam Scholastica Soyeh, Director of Wesoamo Foundation.
Others were: Gor-Naa Jamal Adama Kpegla and Tiisah Naa Abdul Aziz Zakaria of the Waala Traditional Council, and Rev. Acquila Darimani, Head Pastor of the Wa Regular Baptist Church.
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