Ghana’s informal sector said to be under-valued

Ms Afii Agbenyo, Technical Advisor of COTVET, on Saturday said the informal sector of the country has failed to develop because people who find themselves in the sector do not take their work or occupation serious.

She said people who engaged in informal businesses had failed to recognize the value of the sector and did not take their work seriously.

“The informal sector of education and trade forms about 70 per cent of employment in Ghana and drives the country’s economy, and yet we seem not to see the importance of taking our work seriously in order to improve on it.”

Ms Agbenyo made this observation during the opening ceremony of a six-day workshop organized for young Muslim girls by the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Ghana, in Accra,

The workshop on the theme “Empowering the Muslim youth through skills training, was to bring together all Muslim girls in the Region and enlighten them on the need to identify and develop their individual skills, aside the formal training they receive in school.

She said apprenticeship education was part of secondary education and includes sewing, hair dressing, mechanics, designing, catering, carpentry and welding, among other vocations.

Ms Agbenyo urged the youth, especially girls to take informal sector very seriously in order to be successful women in future, saying it takes a little creativity to move ahead in the field of skill training, and all must endeavor to forge ahead to develop their individual skills.

Ms Samira Adjetey, Vice President of Young FOMWAG said  skills training was a very important aspect in the lives of everyone that goes hand in hand with regular academic work, and as young girls it would prepare them better for the numerous challenges ahead of life.

She said the workshop was the 14th in the series of workshops organized by the organization since its formation some 14 years ago, and it had been able to train most young Muslim girls throughout the region and the country as a whole.

Young FOMWAG, the youth wing of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Association in Ghana, an umbrella organization of Muslim women’s organizations in Ghana that seek to empower young Muslim girls to know their roles and status.

It is also to mobilize all Muslim girls in the various districts to come together under one umbrella, to instill the teachings of Islam in them as well as foster unity amongst them.

Source: GNA