August 6th marked the start of the next cohort in the Mckingtorch ECOFEM program for women, girls and other youth. Over the next 3 months our participants will be involved in an intensive period of bag making training and create fashion accessories from recycled materials.
This second cohort of the ECOFEM environmental sustainability and recycling business incubation program for head-potters, women living with disabilities, women going through rehabilitation and other youth is allowing these participants to learn how to operate sewing machines to make bags from waste fabric, recycled plastic waste materials and leather, among other skills they will learn. Despite rain, heat and other less than ideal weather conditions the women in this cohort can’t be stopped as they consistently show up for training as they are determined to improve their living standards and set up sustainable business to support their communities.
This first day of the program was already very exciting for most of the girls involved who are greatly looking forward to using the skills they will learn for different purposes.
The Mckingtorch ECOFEM program is an empowerment intervention in partnership with WUSC Ghana, Global Affairs Canada, UNFPA Ghana and PAYDP Ghana. The project will span a 24 month period which involves various training sessions, Mckingtorch being an open co-working space available to all participants and the women and youth involved getting additional support to set up their enterprises and e-commerce platforms where they can sell their products.
