Education And Training Committee

INTRODUCTION

The Education and Training Committee created the AWADA-ADG Skill Acquisition Project which birthed UDA Entrepreneurship Scheme

A framework for;

• Entrepreneurship

• Re-orientation

• Skills Development

Designed for for Amuvi youths and approved by ADG. Formally inaugurated on Saturday October 3, 2020.

MISSION

Create a local economic development platform to achieve sustainable economic growth and development to reduce poverty, social vices and improve quality of life in Amuvi.

• Value Reorientation Training

To achieve a community of our dream, predicated on the principles of economic sustainability, we found it necessary to begin by embarking on massive sensitization and related training to usher in value re-orientation, thereby identify the challenges related to values;

• Evolve appropriate value orientation that will drive emerging enterprises;

• Install a culture of transparency and accountability;

• Elevate core values that will guide the evolved society of our dream;

• Delineate clear principles for building an economically sustainable society.

This kicked-off in January, 2021 and is being sustained periodically

• Vocational Training by Industrial Training (ITF)

The vocational curricula amplifies the framework with the objective to equip the youths with such skills to be self-employed or gain wage-employment and provide alternative employment opportunities via co-operatives and entrepreneurships. We partner with the ITF Area Office at Enugu on vocational skills development and nine batches of trainees have passed through the scheme.

• Apprenticeship/Master Craftsmen attachment

Afterthe vocationaltraining,the candidates are awarded proficiencycertificates and given start-up packs which qualify them for attachment with experienced master craftsmen in their fields for hands-on and on-the-job experience and acquisition of business management rudiments and principles. Craftsmen who are operating in Arochukwu and nearby environments were identified and are being used to reduce associated costs.

• Business Start-up (empowerment)

At the completion of the attachment program, the candidates would have been fully prepared to go into various skill areas and pursue the occupation, yet under thewatchful guidance of advisors until they are fully established. The beauty of our entrepreneurial framework is that it is an integrated process, with inbuilt mechanisms to ensure that trainees who go through it come out successful.

Success here is defined as when the trainees can set-up and sustain business operation over a period of about 3 years.

• Monitoring and Evaluation

This last phase closes the loop by ensuring that while operating businesses on their own, the monitoring and evaluation team will bewatching the trainees closelyuntil theyqualify to exit the scheme. By implication, there are limited chances of those that meticulously go through the processes failing to succeed.

ACHIEVEMENT OF THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING COMMITTEE

aa. Value reorientation

• January 2021, 71 youths registered, 61 were successful at training and enrolled in the scheme.

b. Vocational training

• 2021 and 2022, 51 youths, 4 from Asaga were all trained in various skills in Enugu and Nsukka.

c. Apprenticeship/Attachment

28 youths started in 2022, 15 successfully finished.

36 at various stages:

• 12 Challenges with finding craftsmen, etc.

• 11 Finished vocational training in Nov, 2022, awaiting placement and 13 Failed performance assessment, so given 6 months extension. They have just finished and may be empowered in September 2024

d. Empowerment

• 10 skilled artisans of batch 1 were empowered in January, 2021.

• 15 finished apprenticeship in March/April, 2023, were empowered on September 22, 2023.

• 7 partly empowered by ITF (farming, catering, solar).
  

UDA PALM-OIL PROCESSING MILL

AWU-ADG, in collaboration with Inyom Amuvi (Amuvi Women) under the aegis of Onyemaranwanneya,applied and won theUnited States of America Ambassador’s Special Self-Help Program grant in Nigeria for 2021 worth about $10,000.

The funds enabled the establishment of Uda Palm Oil processing mill in Amuvi as follows:

• With counterpart funds from AWU-ADG,a complete set of palm oil milling machines were procured and installed (Include Pictures) and key staff sourced.

• An arrangement with rural women under Uda-Amuvi Multipurpose Cooperative Society Ltd was initiallyproposed to operationalize themill but the effort did not succeed as planned. Full take-off was planned for mid-June, 2023 but it also failed due to issues associated with effective take-over by Inyom Amuvi and finding a suitable management team. A tripartite team comprising AWADA, ADG and Onyemaranwaneya is currently working to find a solution to ensure that the mill starts operation soonest.

• It is estimated that in the immediate to short term future,about 50people from the community shall be direct beneficiaries, with women accounting for 70percent, with 250 indirect beneficiaries.

CHALLENGES

a. Funds to empower those that have finished apprenticeship to set them up for business

b. Funds to sponsor fresh trainees in the approved tuition-free vocational skills. Many youths are eager to get an opportunity, but it is important that this happens systematically. Renovation of the training spot at Amuvi is required to ensure that we enhance operational scope and take on more youths.

Our immediate needs include:

i. Additional hands to serve in the scheme’s management and monitoring/evaluation.

ii. Funds to empower trainees who finished apprenticeship based on expert

iii. Funds for additional training of youths on our waiting list.

CONCLUSION

The whole essence of this scheme is to train and set-up artisans in various trades such

• enhance the economic wellbeing of the community,

• become pacesetters to other youths

• and avoid the many vices associated with idleness.

This is the primary objective which the entrepreneurship project promised to achieve at inception, a community development initiative that requires maximum support by all and sundry for success to be attained.

We identified the fact that developing the human capacity in our community and equipping them with meaningful entrepreneurship skills is the surest route to solving some of the major malaise currently plaguing our society.

ADG trainees are adding value to the economic life of the community as most of them are gainfully employed doing positive things.

This is aside from keeping them away from social vices and having them serve as models to other youths. Our success rate currently is over 60% while the ITF validated average is about 35%.