In its endeavor to economically empower women and girls to make them self reliant, GECPD started providing skills training for income generation to women and girls in 2001. The program at this time was part of the Non-Formal Second Chance Education program, where learners would attend the literacy and numeracy classes in the morning and vocational skills training in the afternoon. 80 girls and young women were enrolled under the program. The vocational skills offered at this time were tailoring, tie and dye, stitching and crocheting.
With time, the program grew and was expanded to other villages of Harfo and Ba’adweyn, while at the GECPD Main Center, Food Production was included in the list of vocational skills offered. In 2006, the program grew further to include Office Management and Computer Skills Training for girls, Carpentry and Welding Vocational skills training for vulnerable boys under the Promotion of Employment Through Training (PETT) project funded by EU through Diakonia and Gutenberg Initiative.
Today, the Vocational Skills Training is a comprehensive stand alone program being offered by GECPD at its Vocational Skills Training Center in Galkayo. The center includes a Garment Making Workshop, the Metal Fabrication Workshop and Carpentry and Wood Workshop. The Garment making workshop is fully equipped with all the necessary domestic and industrial sewing machines while the Metal work and Carpentry workshops have all the basic industrial machines. Vocational Skills training is also offered in Harfo and Ba’adweyn Women centers. The vocational courses offered currently are Tailoring, Carpentry and Welding and beneficiaries include girls and boys with a level of functional literacy and numeracy skills from orphaned, poor, marginalized minority and internally displaced families in Galkayo, Harfo and Ba’adweyn.
Vocational Skills Training
