Members of the Agbogbloshie Residents Association have commended the Self-Help Initiative Support Services, (SISS), an NGO, for offering free skills training for some of its members. The residents who were taken through three months of training in Batik Tie & Dye, ICT, Catering, and other skills, expressed gratitude and the hope of using the training acquired to improve upon their lives. The skill training forms part of SISS’s Urban Life Project being sponsored by Comic Relief, UK, through African Outreach. SISS since its establishment in 1997 has been undertaking activities aimed at empowering marginalized groups through employable skills training. Some of the beneficiaries in the past have been school dropouts, kayayei, truck pushers, physically challenged and other unskilled members of society. Under the 4-year project, SISS is providing free training in ICT, catering, batik, tie/dye, beads-making, hair-dressing and entrepreneurial skills among others to marginalized groups with the aim of making them employable or helping them to become self-employed. Residents living in slums such as Agbogbloshie have been the main beneficiaries of the Urban Life Project for the past three years, with a few others coming from Korle Wokon, Arena and James Town all in Accra. These trainees receive free tuition, learning materials and transportation throughout the three month training period. Forty-Three of such trainees recently graduated after undergoing training in Beads, Batik Tie & Dye making; Catering; and ICT. The NGO is currently collaborating with the Society of the Disabled and the Accra Rehabilitation Centre to open a computer training centre for their members. Project Director of SISS Yaw Asante at a recent graduation ceremony called on government, corporate bodies, individuals and organizations to support the NGO with a piece of land and other logistics to put up a resource centre. Source: Selina Ansa-Koi (SISS) Contact: 020 855 5201