Take advantage of GYEEDA modules - Debrah

Mr Julius Debrah has called on the youth to take advantage of the various modules under the Ghana Youth Employment Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) to empower themselves. He said it was important for them to acquire skills to become self-employed so that they could contribute effectively to the socio-economic development of the country. Mr Debrah said the time had come for the youth to kick out the notion of seeking white colour jobs after school and think about empowering themselves with skills that would earn them a decent job and livelihood. Mr Debrah made the call when he toured some GYEEDA Modules Training Centres in the Greater Accra Region, including the Zongo Empowerment and Entrepreneurial Development Training Centre (ZEED), the Tri-Cycle and Community Transport Training Centre, the Youth in Driving (YiD) and Alive Health Check centres. The tour was to familiarize himself with the modules and see how best to help the programme to achieve its agenda of providing jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the country. He said the notion of everyone wanting to work under the civil service and seeking white colour jobs has not been able to solve the unemployment situation in the country, saying that is the more reason why government has introduced the modules to help reduce the unemployment rate. Mr Debrah said government was committed to help empower the youth to enable them realize their vision adding that majority of the youth were energetic but have no vocational or educational skills making it difficult for them to survive. He called on the beneficiaries of the various programmes to work hard and ensure that the modules were sustained to help improve the community and the country as a whole. Mr Nurudeen Mohammed, National Coordinator, ZEED, said the module does not only provide beneficiaries with only raw skills but also teaches and empowers them on how to access loans and international markets with the products or services they provide. He said what sets the module apart from other initiatives was its emphasis on an exit plan and the establishment of offices opened in the Zongo community where prospective beneficiaries could register and opt for their own choice of vocation to be trained. Mr Mohammed said beneficiaries of the programme where given the chance to choose modules such as hairdressing, fashion designing, catering, carpentry, IT Hardware and construction. Mr Emmanuel Abaidoo, National Coordinator YiD, said the centre trains and equips beneficiaries, who have been recruited under the module with effective driving skills to enable them become responsible drivers. He said its objective is to ensure that beneficiaries who are enrolled under the programme become responsible in order to reduce the high rate of road traffic accidents and offences in the country. He said beneficiaries were trained on topics such as defensive driving, spotting signs of potential car accidents, interpreting road signs and knowing how to avoid them, book keeping, management tips and basic accounting. Mr Fred Frimpong, National Coordinator, Alive Health Check, said the module was designed as a result of the passion and commitment of Alive Pharmacy to ensure that every Ghanaian has access to better health care. He said the module seeks to reduce the rate of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular concerns which accounts for 30 percent of all morbidities in the county�s hospital. Mr Frimpong said the rapid increase in modern and fast paced lifestyles have been embraced by majority of people and therefore regular screening has become vital since it would help to detect symptoms of these diseases at the early stages for prompt medical attention.