Already, 250 young men and women and 30 supervisors have been recruited from various sub-metros in the Accra Metropolis under the new module.

The new module, an initiative of YEA, in collaboration with the Department of Parks and Gardens, will see the 250 beneficiaries, who form the initial group of horticulturists, to be trained by the Department of Parks and Gardens at its School of Horticulture at Aburi in the Eastern Region.

 At a ceremony to launch the module at Cantonments in Accra on Monday, the Greater Accra Regional Director of the YEA, Mr Solomon Nii Affutu Quartey, stated that the pilot stage of the Youth in Greening Ghana module was intended not only to create jobs for the youth but also to beautify and provide good landscape in all parts of Accra’s arterial and ceremonial roads and open areas.

 The medium-term objective, according to Mr Quartey, was to provide a mixture of classroom training for the beneficiaries, interspersed with field work within Accra.

Launching

Launching the project, the Chief Executive Officer of YEA, Mr Kobina Obu Beecham Jnr, said the initiative was the beginning of a permanent collaboration between the two institutions.

He said per the partnership, the Department of Parks and Gardens would provide the leadership and expertise, while the YEA would support with the provision of competent youth and financing.

“This is just the beginning of a nationwide initiative. Once the Greater Accra pilot is successful, the 250 graduates will be deployed to all the 10 regional and 216 district capitals as supervisors. Youth from these regional and district capitals will then be trained to green and  provide good landscape in their respective communities,” he explained.

For his part, Mr Ishmael Nii Adjei Browne, the Director of the Department of Parks and Gardens, lauded the collaboration between the two agencies while admonishing the new recruits to work hard to pass the certification examinations.

“This concept has the primary objective to provide employment to the youth, provide tools to work with and to augment the human resource of the Department of Parks and Gardens. However, those of you who wish to set up your own landscaping and horticultural businesses after the training will receive the necessary support from both agencies,” he told the beneficiaries.

Greater Accra Pilot Project

Under the project, four areas, including the landscaping of the frontage of the Tesano Police Training College, conversion of the green area at Kawukudi into a park and landscaping of the green areas around the 37 Military Hospital, have been targeted to kick start the project next month.

 Each of these areas, according to officials, will have drought resistant grass planted with automated water sprinkling systems to ensure greening of the grasses all year round. Water tanks will be strategically located in each area to ensure constant supply of water to the automated sprinkling systems.

Also, four of Accra’s arterial routes, including La ‘T’ Junction road, the Giffard Road through Flower Pot to the Teshie bypass and the Adentan to the National Theatre and Kwame Nkrumah Circle roads will also have lawns.

Donation

To facilitate the smooth take off of the project, YEA donated some tools to the Department of Parks and Gardens.

The YEA also assured the department that the procurement process was underway to purchase motorised mowers, brush cutters, water tankers and automated sprinkler systems for the smooth implementation of the project.