The Executive Director of Illuminating Minds, Dr Itari Turner has joined other stakeholders to unveil an empowerment scheme for seventy women and girls in Opume community in Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State Nigeria.The program, Women Entrepreneurship Empowerment Program (WEEP) is funded by the Global Health System Solution, GHSS. According to Dr Itari, the pilot project will be implemented concurrently in different areas;
The project will equip twenty beneficiaries with vocational training such as bag making, shoe making, bead making, cake baking, cooking and other skills to be self sufficient.
Another set of twenty five beneficiaries will be mentored with employability skills and capacity to stand tall in the global platforms leveraging on Information communication and Technology, ICT as equipment will be provided to support them in securing their dreamed jobs.
The last set of twenty five beneficiaries will be equipped with micro small scale enterprise skills, provided with requisite opportunity to start up businesses and contribute to a better society.
Dr Turner while presenting an overview of the project hinted that the program is designed to last for six months beginning from November, 2024 with a focus to ameliorate the plights of the vulnerable especially women and girls.
The founder highlighted that the pilot program will create in-roads towards combating the challenges of poverty and lack of opportunities in the rural areas using Opume community as a spring board to highlight the problems of environmental degradation/pollution, unemployment and lost opportunities by the people.
Other speakers, including the President of DO Foundation, Nigeria, Dr Dise Ogbise described the project as novel as they laud the GHSS initiative while giving their commitment to the success of the programme.
Following the successful CSO and stakeholders validation and engagement meeting, the young women were formally presented with the registration forms in Opume to enroll beneficiaries in the WEEP Project in Opume, Bayelsa State – Nigeria.
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