Our new Business Development project with Ghana partner, Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC), will deliver trade specific technical upskilling and business development training to 30 individuals who have already started a business.
Over the course of 12 months, participants will undertake practical and business skills training and receive post-training support through regular visits from business mentors. The participants’ existing business partners will continue operations to ensure trade activities continue whilst the trainees themselves are away from the workplace. At the end of the training period, participants will return to their enterprises equipped to share their acquired skills and expertise with other business members. In addition, they will each receive a business grant to invest in their enterprises.
Poverty rates in Northern Ghana are three times higher than in the South. Nearly 80% of people earn a living from agriculture, but the area is vulnerable to climate change and drought and the soil is of poor quality, contributing to food insecurity. 72% of the population live under the international poverty line. There are limited opportunities for people to earn a decent living, particularly for those who have little or no qualifications after being unable to complete their school education due to financial constraints. As such many individuals do not meet the entry level criteria for training courses offered by the government and other organisations, and/or cannot afford to access these opportunities. As a result, individuals often enter a trade self-taught. These untrained or informally trained men and women often have difficulty securing a consistent and high enough income in a competitive market due to their limited practical and business skills, compounded by limited access to high quality, durable tools.
Map of Ghana showing Tamale in the Northern Province
Starting in March 2025, our 12-month Business Development training project will upskill 30 people working in Tamale (Northern Ghana) to support their business growth and increased earning and savings capacity. 10 participants will be tailors; 10 will be established bricklayers/tilers; and 10 individuals will be working in building/construction. The training will be delivered by NORSAAC, with whom we have been working to deliver training projects and build livelihoods of trainees since 2009. Project participants will receive with the quality refurbished tools and equipment they need to complete their technical training, and regular monitoring and evaluation from project staff will ensure the trainees are gaining the skills and confidence to
• Technical training: NORSAAC staff will conduct a needs assessment of each individual to ascertain any vocational skills gaps that may exist within an individual’s businesses, or any instances where additional skills would help the business move forward. NORSAAC will select 3 individuals who are already masters in their fields and already running a successful business, and who are able to deliver the technical skills training to project participants.
• Business training: All participants will attend the NORSAAC training centre to receive Business Development training. The syllabus will be determined on a bespoke, needs-assessment basis – but will include such topics as: bookkeeping, profit/loss calculation, marketing and customer relations. Alongside this, participants will discuss their plans for the business grants they will receive towards the end of the project.
Following the training delivery, NORSAAC will conduct regular visits to each business to provide mentoring support, advice and troubleshooting and record changes in business performance and individuals’ financial resilience and personal wellbeing.
Trainees on our Vocational Training project with NORSAAC, 2022
Tailoring trainees on our Transition to Work project with NORSAAC, 2023
Carpentry graduates on our Transition to Work project with NORSAAC, 2023
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March 2025
