A total of 105 unemployed youth drawn from some communities in the Birim Central Municipality, on Wednesday, began a five-month Capacity Building Training Programme at Akyem Oda. The Birim Central Municipal of the Centre for National Culture (CNC) is organising the training programme on the theme: “Developing Capacities through Knowledge and Skills Acquisition for Dignifying Livelihood”. The programme is aimed at equipping the selected youth with requisite vocational skills to enable them become self-supporting, employable and be re-integrated into the society. Mr Prince Amoatey, Municipal Central Officer, in an address of the opening ceremony said the programme was a counterpart funding with the British high Commission paying 10 per cent. He said the beneficiaries whose ages ranged between 17 to 35 years would be trained in batik designing, tie and die making, basketry, carving, pottery, ceramics, leather works and beads making. Mr Amoatey said after the five months training, the CNC would establish the beneficiaries and would also look for market for their products. He commended Mr Kingsley Obeng, Eastern Regional Director for CNC, who helped to nurture the idea when it was first conceived, and Ms Ophelia Koomson, the Municipal Chief Executive, whose outfit granted them some funds for processing and submission of the project proposal. Mrs Patricia Adu-Twum, Project Support Officer of the British High Commission, in an address on behalf of the High Commissioner, appealed to the beneficiaries of the project to take full advantage and make the best out of the programme. She indicated that the British government over the years had demonstrated its commitment to the development of the youth in developing countries. “Each year, the British High Commission receives bilateral funds to support projects and programmes in Ghana that aims to further entrench democracy, to reduce conflict, to strengthen capacity, to handle migration and to respond to climate change.” Mr Obeng, for his part, said the purpose of the programme was to address the problem of the youth travelling to the urban centres in search of non-existent Jobs due to parental neglect. He said the youth was an important human resource that must be transformed into a dynamic, creative and energetic force capable of contributing substantially to the economic development of the country.