SAFI Inaugurates Skill Training for Women

Society For Awareness and Family Initiative SAFI, has inaugurated a skills acquisition training for girls and women in a bid to empower them and take away the vulnerable from the streets.

Trainees receiving instructions from an instructor during a training session

Inaugurating the skill acquisition programme, the Executive Director of SAFI, Comrade Abraham Obode urged the trainees to take the training seriously as it is a once in a life time opportunity.

SAFI is organising a four months skill acquisition for women and girls from Utagban Community in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State and four other neighbouring communities under the European Union Agents for Citizens Driven Transformation EU-ACT being implemented by the British Council and funded by the European Union, EU.

While admonishing the beneficiaries to take the training seriously, Abraham Obode noted that the trainees will be paid three thousand naira as monthly stipend for transportation as a way of encouraging them to be puntual and give the training serious attention.

The Executive Director of SAFI pointed out that his passion to lift people out of poverty, particularly women and girls are the driving force behind the project and thanked the EU-ACT and the British Council for availing SAFI the fund to embark on the project adding that starter packs will be provided for participants and at the end of the four months training, courtesy of the EU-ACT.

"We believe a lot of people in the community are being impacted negatively by the economic situation. A lot of families are suffering one form of hardship or the other. Helping people out of poverty is our passion.

"The coming of the European Union and British Council was a good opportunity to implement our plans.

"What we are trying to do is to ensure that women and young girls are empowered, once you empower the woman or the girl child, she will not be depending on any boy or any man and if she is married she will be contributing to the family upkeep and that will bring happiness to the home".

While enumarating what SAFI is doing to encourage the trainees beyond the three thousand naira monthly stipend, Obode said they opened WhatsApp group for the trainees and liased with a commercial bank to assist those without bank accounts to open an account through which the stipends are paid adding that they post their individual work on the WhatsApp platform noting that this is challenging them and awakening the spirit of competition among the participants.

In a chat with one of the participants, Mrs Gloria Oghenejabor, called on women to come and heed SAFI's call to embrace skill acquisition as the training is capable of making them not solely dependent on their husbands, but also contribute their quota.

According to Mrs Oghenejabor, "the training will help us women in this Utagban Community to go and establish on our own. They are teaching us liquid soap making, powder, Vaseline, Rub, cream and others.

"I urge women out there to come out to learn skills instead of staying at home waiting for their husbands for everything. It will help them at home and help the society as well."