The Net Organization for Youth Empowerment and Development (NOYED-Ghana), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has built the capacities of selected young women in motorcycle and tricycle operation for commercial purposes in the Northern Region.
The training was in line with the NGO’s effort to build the competencies of young women to take up employment opportunities in a male-dominated profession such as motorcycle and tricycle operation.
It formed part of the “Professional Female Tricycle Drivers (PFTD)” project being implemented by NOYED-Ghana, with funding support from EMpower, a United Kingdom (UK)-based organization.
The one-year project, which begun in January this year, is expected to benefit about 40 women.
Mr Alhassan Abdulai Iddi, Executive Director of NOYED-Ghana, who spoke during a graduation ceremony for the first batch of 17 beneficiaries, said the project was intended to take women out of menial trading by giving them self-employable skills training.
He said they were trained on road signs, road safety precautions, and regulations as well as examined and licensed by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to operate.
He noted that the project would ensure young women were trained to have the requisite knowledge in operating motorcycles and tricycles to help bridge the gap between men and women in male-dominated professions in the Region.
Mr Iddi added, ” When women are giving the necessary training, they perform better which in the future will safeguard them against forced marriages and domestic abuse”.
He advised the beneficiaries to replicate the skills they had acquired on the field to serve as motivation to other women.
Madam Rebecca Asui, a beneficiary of the PFTD project, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), expressed gratitude to the management of NOYED-Ghana for the training and said the training had impacted her positively.
She appealed to the government and other stakeholders to support NOYED-Ghana to ensure that more women are trained in employable skills to enhance their livelihoods.
