PERCH Project Empowers Over 200 Youth and Women in Sissala Districts

Kwapun: Over 200 youth and women in the Kwapun and Zini communities of the Sissala East and Sissala West Districts have received start-up tools to boost their livelihoods, aimed at promoting peace and social cohesion. The initiative, part of the 'Improving Economic Resilience of Host Communities for Peacebuilding in Northern Ghana (PERCH)' project, seeks to empower indigents, refugees, and asylum seekers.According to Ghana News Agency, the beneficiaries received tools covering more than twenty livelihood areas, such as baking, barbering, hairdressing, carpentry, electrical work, tailoring, shea butter, cosmetics production, masonry, and livestock rearing. Additionally, the project will construct a solar-powered irrigation facility in the Kwapun community to support year-round vegetable production.The initiative, implemented by Capacity Enhancement and Community Support (CAPECS Ghana) with funding from the U.S. Department of State through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), also provides busin ess development and financial management training. Beneficiaries are connected to value chain actors to enhance their enterprises.Speaking at the ceremony in Kwapun, Mr. Abu Dokuwie Alhassan, Executive Director of CAPECS Ghana, emphasized that beneficiaries were chosen in collaboration with community leaders to ensure the intervention reached the intended people. He highlighted the role of Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) in providing resources for business support and fostering social cohesion.Mr. Alhassan assured ongoing support from CAPECS Ghana, promising to link beneficiaries to markets within and beyond their communities. The event featured cultural performances, including the Kassena and Moshi dances, as beneficiaries expressed gratitude and pledged to maximize the benefits of the tools provided.Madam Kutumi Sumaila, a 25-year-old beneficiary of soap-making tools, expressed her joy and commitment to using the tools effectively for her livelihood. Apostle George Apasera of the Upper West Regional Peace Council praised the project for enhancing economic resilience and reducing the risk of youth being drawn into extremism.Furthermore, Pio Kwabalugu Emmanuel Ali Badiyiga IV, Chief of Kwapun, and Mr. Adamu Yakubu Benin, Sissala East Municipal Chief Executive, acknowledged the project's impact on poverty reduction and its alignment with the government's National Apprenticeship Programme. They pledged continued support for the beneficiaries' business growth.