Five women, aged 18-35, have undergone a five-day training programme in bakery and pastry to empower them to become self-reliant.

The women, selected from Ketu South, Keta and Anloga in the Volta Region, were also presented with equipment to enable them to practice their newly acquired skills.

The training and presentation of tools formed part of the Sustainable Fishing Management Project (SFMP) COVID-19 relief programme, supported by the USAID.

This is being implemented in the Volta Region by Friends of the Nation (FoN), a local Sustainable and Equitable Environment Management Advocacy organisation, working in natural resource endowed and climate change vulnerability-prone areas, and communities challenged by food insecurity.

Mr Kwesi Randolph Johnson, the Project Officer of Volta Region, said the project aimed at providing alternative livelihood support to the vulnerable and was being held in three other coastal regions of Ghana.

He cited the parable of the talent in the Bible to admonish the beneficiaries not to bury the acquired skills but put them into practice to benefit society.

Miss Precious Fafali Sosu, a beneficiary, expressed gratitude to FoN and its partners for the training, saying the baking skills would help her make tarts, cakes, and shortbread biscuits, among other pastries, to improve her finances.

Madam Sawo Mokpui said the programme was a great relief to her and her family because it would help put food on the table.

"In recent times, nothing happens at the beach because of the low catch our fishermen encounter when they take their dragnets to sea," she said.

"I'm, therefore, happy that now I have these skills and equipment to practice... business starts tomorrow."