The event was to offer beneficiaries the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the working environment of GRATIS Foundation and have first-hand information about the GEOP Project.

The beneficiaries were selected from the Ablekuma South and Ayawaso East sub-metros and trained in welding, machinery maintenance and mechanics.

In his welcome address, Mr Emmanuel Asiedu, the Chief Executive Officer of GRATIS Foundation, admonished the beneficiaries to utilise the opportunity to the optimum, as it was one of a lifetime to upgrade their skills.

He said; “Christian Aid and EU are giving you an economic opportunity so you must take advantage to benefit from it.”

Mr Sadick Osman, the GEOP Project Officer, at the Christian Aid, encouraged the master craftsmen “to take advantage and explore the unique opportunity to build on their skills to improve the growth prospects of their business to better position them for employment in the growing welding industry.”

He said the master craftsmen would receive training on financial literacy and entrepreneurship and more importantly linked to credit.

Mr Osman entreated the beneficiaries to make maximum use of their learning time while at GRATIS, support each other and share experiences to make the training a success.  

Mr Joseph Essel, a beneficiary from the Ablekuma South sub-metro, noted that the training would help him improve on his skills to retrain other youth who would show interest in the trade.

Mr Abdul Rahman Kassim, another beneficiary from the Ayawaso East Sub-Metro, commended the EU and Christian Aid for the project.

The GEOP Project, which is jointly funded by the European Union and Christian Aid, is a three-year project aimed at promoting local economic development in a sustainable environment across Western and Greater Accra regions.

The objective of the project is to foster partnership with civil society and local authority to promote job creation, revenue mobilisation and expansion of economic activities in an environmentally sustainable manner.

This, he said, would benefit the Ellembelle District of the Western Region and Ayawaso East and Ablekuma South sub-metros in the Greater Accra Region by the end of 2019.