“THIS IS OUR SUCCESS STORY!”

Ziblim Yakubu is a man with a mission. From the city of Tamale he coordinates the various projects of the Wuni Zooya Development Programme (WUDEP), an organisation that has been working since 2004 to improve the living conditions and future prospects of the population in the northern districts of Ghana. This part of Ghana is one of the poorest regions in the country and many young people leave for the cities in the south – almost always in vain – to look for work. WUDEP provides vocational training for young people in this area to increase their opportunities to find work in their own region or to start their own business.

By doing so, WUDEP wants to contribute to slowing down the exodus of young people to the south. That is Ziblim’s mission and Gered Gereedschap helps him to accomplish this by supplying tools and machines for various trades, including woodworking, bicycle repairs and tailoring. Recently a large batch of these tools and machines arrived in northern Ghana. Shortly afterwards we visited Ziblim in his office in Tamale. When we ask him about the collaboration with Gered Gereedschap, he reacts enthusiastically: “Since Gered Gereedschap has started working with us, we can support our students much better. With the supplied tools we can not only train them better, but also give them tools to start their own business after their training.”

NEW TRAINING COURSES

WUDEP provides vocational training courses in two major centres near the provincial towns of Kumbungu and Savelugu. There are also a few smaller training centres. ‘But we want to expand,’ says Ziblim. With the sewing machines recently supplied by Gered Gereedschap, we can now also start a tailoring course in the Mion district. That way, we can also provide vocational training there that will give people a chance to find a job or open their own business in their own region. Ziblim remains silent for a moment while rubbing his horn-rimmed glasses clean. Then he says: “We are encouraged from all sides to open new training centres. By local governments, religious leaders, village elders, you name it. They see that our training courses to improve the future prospects of young people in this region are having an effect. The support of Gered Gereedschap is indispensable in this respect. In the past two months, seventy students have graduated from our training centre in Savelugu and we have been able to give them all the tools they need to work either as salaried workers or as self-employed.” Ziblim puts his glasses back on. With a smile he says: ‘This is how, together with Gered Gereedschap, we have been able to offer more than three hundred young people from this region a chance for a better future in recent years. This is our success story.’