Nana Afrakoma II, empowering needy young women with employable skills

Nana Afrakoma II

Dreams do come true and it is even more fulfilling and gratifying when the real­ity of the dream impacts lives positively.

That is the case of Nana Afrakoma II, Queen Mother of Akwamu Traditional Area, who has served her people in this capacity since 1964.

She was only 18 when the huge crown of Queen Mother of the revered ‘Akwamu State’ in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region was placed on her head.

It was a huge responsibility which the young Queen Mother took while looking out for op­portunities to realise her dream of empowering needy young people in the area through skills development and training.

In pursuance of her dream af­ter 59 years of various strides, Nana Afrakoma II, through the Ohemea Afrakoma II Founda­tion, established a vocational training centre to provide edu­cational space for the people.

The Nana Afrakoma II Voca­tional Training Institute, offi­cially opened in 2021, is tar­geted at providing employable skills to the needy young people, especially women, in the area.

The skills being tutored at the Institute range from hair­dressing to fashion and beads making.

The Institute currently has a student population of 30, with the first batch scheduled for graduation on November 25 this year.

In an interview with The Spectator, Nana Afrakoma II said the Institute was also established with the intents to tackle the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy in the area.

The consequence of rising cases of teenage pregnancy in the area, she explained, was a corresponding increase in school dropouts, hence the decision to train the beneficia­ries to be able to care for their wards.

“Our interest now is provid­ing young men and women who had dropped out of school due to pregnancy with employable skills and a means to improve their livelihood.

We have, within the past two years, enrolled 30 students in the Institute at no cost. The 12 who have completed the training would be graduating on November 25,” Nana Afrakoma II noted.

She said although the Insti­tute was initially established for the indigenes of Akwamu, it was currently pro­viding skills train­ing to young people from the whole of the Asuogyaman District, including Senchi, Atimpoku and other neighbouring communi­ties.

In addition to the training, she noted, the graduates are supported with start-up capital to enable them commence their business operations.

“We don’t want to train and leave them to their fate. We want to see them flourish and able to care for themselves and their offsprings.

For those in fashion, we will give them sewing machines while those who trained in hairdressing will be supported with hair dryers. Those in beads making will also receive support to be able to start their busi­ness,” Nana Afrakoma II said.

Although free for the stu­dents, she said, the running of the Institute had come at a huge financial cost to the Para­mountcy, which has continuous­ly provided financial support, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), also deploying its resources to help the Institute meet it objectives, the Asuo­gyaman District Assembly and other voluntary donors.

“We are grateful to the Akwamu Paramountcy for the continuous support as well as the UNFPA which has taken a genuine interest in what we do here.

The Assembly has also donat­ed a four-classroom block to be used as one of our training centres. So yes, despite the financial burden, the support from everyone, including vol­untary donors, has made it possible for the school’s survival,” Nana Afrakoma II added.

She said in addi­tion to provid­ing the young people with training on em­ployable skills, sensitisation on the dangers of teenage pregnancy has been heightened to prevent others from going through similar ex­periences.

The Queen Mother called for increased support to enable the Institute develop its 30-acre land to be able to expand and admit more young people who hold an interest in pursuing any of the skills development programmes.

 By Claude Nyarko Adams