Many single mothers, some quite young, are unable to support their children who sometimes end up on the streets and are unable to pursue any form of education. A good number of these women are determined to better their lives. It is against this backdrop that Amicus Onlus, through the Baobab Academy, rolled out the ‘Skills Training Outreach’ in deprived communities.
Amicus Onlus, visits deprived communities to identify the skills training needed in each community. The identification process is participatory, it includes both staff of Amicus and community stakeholders. These interactions enable us to better tailor specific interventions required by the different communities we visit.
Also, because these interventions are not couched in isolation, stakeholders feel a part of them, therefore rally around to see projects become successful.
Reports indicates that most of the people in African countries are exposed to poverty. About 70% of Africa’s under privileged are rural inhabitants. A large number of these rural inhabitants have very limited access to income, resources, education, health care and nutrition.
The underprivileged in our society are unemployable because they lack the needed/right skills and training in order to utilize the available local resources. These underprivileged include girls and women from rural areas, deprived communities and all those persons who risk being marginalized by the mainstream school programmes.
Amicus Onlus believes that skills development is key to improving productivity, employability and income-earning opportunities. Barriers in education and training often limit the opportunities for some members of the society to access remunerative work, perform managerial and leadership roles. A way to break these barriers and to empower these women is to enable them become productive and participate fully in the development of their communities.
Among the underprivileged communities in Accra where the Baobad Academy trains single mothers, women and girls are: Osu, Newtown, Adabraka, Sakaman. In the Central Region, a town in the Gomoa West District, called Mumford.
Key among the training programs are tailoring, general floral and balloon decoration, event organization and beaded artifacts creation with book keeping.
The overall objective of ‘Skill Training Outreach’ is to empower marginalized women with relevant skills in order to make them self-employed and self-sufficient. In line with this, after beneficiaries graduate from the various programs of the Baobab Academy, frequent monitoring is carried out to ensure longevity and growth in the skills acquired. This continues to boost the confidence of beneficiaries establishing their entrepreneurial agenda in the market after training