A Non- Governmental Organisation under the umbrella name of Development Support Initiative (DSI) has commenced a two-week skill acquisition training programme for women and children in Anambra State.

Briefing journalists at the Women Development Centre Awka, the Executive Director of DSI, Jacqueline Yemi Odiadi, explained that the aim of the programme was to equip the women and children, numbering over 100, with life skills.

Odiadi disclosed that the beneficiaries would be trained on various skills ranging from soap making, bakery, bead making, shoe making and other relevant skills, for them to eke out a living for themselves.

She further described the programme as a partnership between DSI and Star Deep Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Chevron, adding that it was packaged as part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme.

Odiadi said that DSI came to Anambra with the sole objective of training 50 persons in line with their mission and vision of Equipping women and youth for economic development and self reliance but ended up with an overflow of close to 100, owing to the high demand for such a programme in the state.

“We are here in Anambra State to do what we know how to do best. That is to train women and the youths to acquire life skills. We have a lot of unemployed youths. Even the graduates are unemployed. We have uneducated young women and ladies. We also have those who are educated but probably what they read in the university is not fetching them the means of livelihood,” she said, adding:

“These are skill gaps we try to address and we are focused. We are here to train a minimum of 50 women for this programme but you can see that in Anambra State this kind of programme is in high demand. Presently we have an overflow of close to 100. That is double the number we planned, but we are determined that this programme must go on and we are going to stretch ourselves as much as we can to make sure that everybody is trained because our budget does not cover 100 people.

“What we want to ensure is that the first 50 to register would not only be trained, but will be given starter packs. This starter packs is to help them start their small scale or mirco credit business immediately.”

Odiadi noted that her organisation was partnering Anambra State Ministry of Women Affairs and the First Lady, Dame Ebele Obiano, whom she revealed has shown commitment to the programme.

The DSI Executive Director stated that the beneficiaries would be trained free of charge and would be assessed by the trainers, adding that those who merited would be certified and given starter packs, containing the raw materials for them to start business.

•Photo shows DSI Executive Director, Jacqueline Yemi Odiadi.