UESD Nkabom Shifts From Training To Jobs – 55,000 Youth Targeted

The University of Environment and Sustainable Development (UESD) ‘Nkabom Collaborative’ is shifting its focus from simply training young people to ensuring that beneficiaries secure decent jobs or establish sustainable businesses.

The news emphasis emerged at a three-day project retreat in Koforidua, where the project team reviewed implementation progress and mapped out strategies to strengthen the transition of trained youth into employment and entrepreneurship.

The retreat brought together members of the project team to assess achievements, identify implementation challenges and refine strategies for meeting the project’s targets.

The Nkabom Collaborative is a partnership involving UESD, the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ashesi University, the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and McGill University.

Supported by the Mastercard Foundation, the initiative seeks to equip 55,000 Ghanaian youth, particularly women and vulnerable groups, with skills in entrepreneurship, agro-waste management and aquaculture.

FROM TRAINING TO JOBS

The Principal Investigator of the UESD Nkabom Collaborative Project, Professor Eric Nyarko-Sampson, said the project was now placing greater emphasis on ensuring that the skills acquired by beneficiaries translated into tangible economic opportunities.

He said training in areas such as aquaculture, compost production and fish technology must be connected to viable employment and business opportunities if beneficiaries were to achieve sustainable livelihoods.

Prof. Nyarko-Sampson said the project was consequently strengthening mentorship, business incubation, job matching and industry partnerships to support beneficiaries beyond the training stage.

He said the retreat also enabled the team to review the Year Three Project Implementation Plan (PIP), including its strategic objectives, key performance indicators and annual targets.

500 TO BE TRAINED

Under the Year Three plan, the Collaborative intends to train 500 young people, with at least 200 expected to secure employment or become self-employed. The project will also provide mentorship and career coaching to 300 participants, while 40 business mentors and advisers will be engaged to support beneficiaries.

Additionally, 20 youth- and women-led enterprises will be admitted into the project’s incubation programme, while another 50 enterprises will receive mentorship and coaching through the UESD Entrepreneurship and Innovation Hub.

The job-matching component is expected to register 500 beneficiaries, facilitate 100 internship and apprenticeship placements, and connect at least 200 beneficiaries to employment or enterprise opportunities.

The project is also targeting the formal registration of 20 enterprises, support for 15 enterprises to access finance or investment, and market linkages for 20 businesses.

The Collaborative further aims to mobilise at least GH¢1 million in investment to support the growth and expansion of participating enterprises.

200 ALREADY TRAINED

The UESD Project Coordinator for the Nkabom Collaborative, Professor Edward Debrah Wiafe, said about 200 young people had already undergone training under the initiative.

He said the immediate priority was to establish practical pathways that would enable trained beneficiaries to enter the labour market or establish and sustain their own businesses.

According to Prof. Wiafe, stronger collaboration with industry, internships, mentorship and access to markets would be critical to moving beneficiaries from training into productive economic activity.

He said the project would also extend training and start-up support to underserved, deprived and island communities to ensure that vulnerable groups benefited from the programme.

For beneficiaries seeking to establish businesses, he said the project would provide practical coaching in bookkeeping, basic accounting and record-keeping to improve their ability to manage their enterprises.

Prof. Wiafe stressed that the initiative was designed to promote sustainable employment and entrepreneurship rather than create dependency on government support.

He said the project was also encouraging young people to transform agricultural waste into useful products, including biochar, thereby creating economic opportunities while addressing environmental challenges.

The initiative, he explained, sought to demonstrate that environmental sustainability and youth employment could be pursued together through innovative enterprise development.

TRACKING IMPACT

The retreat further placed emphasis on inclusion and post-training monitoring to determine whether beneficiaries were successfully transitioning into employment and sustainable businesses.

Women, persons with disabilities, rural youth and other underserved groups are expected to benefit from the training-to-work pathway.

Beneficiaries and supported enterprises will be monitored after six, 12 and 24 months to assess employment outcomes, income levels, business growth and the number of jobs created.

The project team said the renewed emphasis on employment, enterprise development and long-term monitoring was intended to ensure that skills acquired through the Nkabom Collaborative translated into sustainable livelihoods and measurable economic impact.

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