The German Development Cooperation, in collaboration with the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), has officially commissioned the Make Fashion Inclusive Training Hub in Kumasi. The training hub will provide market-relevant, vocational training for 100 persons with disabilities (PWDs) in its first phase.
The project is expected to reach 250 participants by 2026. This number will include 50 experienced fashion entrepreneurs, 25 of which will be persons with disabilities and the remaining 200 anticipated to be persons with disabilities who are new to the sector.
The training hubs, as part of the project, will directly engage at least 50 participants, while the remaining participants will be supported through business start-up assistance or industry placements.
Participants of the initiative will receive skills training in fashion design, embroidery, beading and millinery.
The initiative is supported by the Special Initiative “Decent Work for a Just Transition” which operates under ‘Invest for Jobs’, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
The project is implemented in collaboration with the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Osei Collective, the Ghana Chamber of Entrepreneurs with Disability (GCED) and the Ghana National Association of Tailors and Dressmakers.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, Team Leader of Invest for Jobs at GIZ Ghana, John Duti, emphasised the importance of inclusive systems that create economic opportunities. He noted that “the hub is designed to help unlock the potential of persons with disabilities while contributing to Ghana’s fast-growing fashion and apparel sector”.
He reaffirmed Germany’s commitment to the Amman-Berlin Declaration on Global Disability Inclusion, which calls for at least 15 percent of countrylevel development programmes to include disability as a specific objective.
CEO of the Youth Employment Agency, Mr. Malik Basintale, in his remarks, reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to disability inclusion. “At the Youth Employment Agency, we believe that disability inclusion must be central to national development.
We are committed to ensuring that our policies, programmes, and interventions are intentionally designed to be inclusive and accessible.
From tailoring job matching to accessible entrepreneurship support, we are working to remove barriers and unlock the potential of every Ghanaian, regardless of physical ability.
Inclusion is not a side programme; it is a core value embedded in our mission to create decent and sustainable jobs for all.” The hub in Kumasi is part of a wider effort to professionalise informal sector talents, particularly among women and youth with disabilities.
Present at the event were the President of the Ghana Chamber of Entrepreneurs with Disability, Mr Alexander Kojo Tetteh and Founder of Osei Collective, Ms Jessica Quelennec.
Source: www.kumasimail.com
