The Madina Job Center, under the auspices of the Member of Parliament for the Madina Constituency, Francis-Xavier Sosu (Esq.) has commenced the second cohort of its fashion design training programme.

The programme was implemented in partnership with the Ghana Co-operative Association of Fashion Designers (Madina Chapter).

President of the Association, Mrs. Nora Doku, encouraged all beneficiaries to be diligent in learning and encouraged all guardians to work in partnership with trainers to develop the full potential of their wards.

She further highlighted the income-earning opportunities in the fashion design industry and expressed her gratitude to the MP for rising up to the occasion to support the youths in the community.

Also, Miss Deborah Davor, the project coordinator for Madina Job Center's Vocational programmes expressed her joy in the implementation of this project and encouraged more youth to take advantage of the Madina Job Center's projects.

She added that the organization is working behind the scenes to make more opportunities available.

One Madam Amina Musah, intimated that this opportunity brought hope and joy as her child is now on a journey to become a fashion designer and this has been made possible by the initiative of the MP.

Ghana is faced with 12% youth unemployment and more than 50% underemployment according to the World Bank.

The population of the Madina constituency, which is 153,000 as of the 2020 general elections, is dominated by youth. To survive, some youth engage in criminal activities including prostitution, fraud, armed robbery among others. This has led to Madina being labelled as a flashpoint for crime by the Ghana 2020 Crime & Safety Report.

The Madina Job Center was established in November 2020, to alleviate the phenomenon of poverty and unemployment in the constituency and has since connected approximately 1,600 youth to skill acquisition and job connections.

The Youth in Fashion design project which is just the first of such initiatives under the Vocational Apprenticeship Module of the Madina Job Center, aims to equip beneficiaries with vocational skills and entrepreneurial skills directed at providing the hope of a sustained economic future.

Students will be enrolled onto the programme every 6 months and will undergo an intensive 2-year apprenticeship programme offering theory and practical training in Fashion Design and business development.

To sustain this initiative and to impact more youths, a call is being made to all benevolent persons with a passion to make a difference to partner the Madina Job Center for community development projects by emailing info.madinajobcenter@gmail.com.