The Youth Challenge International (YCI) and Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) have trained 26

females on social entrepreneurship programs, dubbed HerStart. The training, which lasted for 8 weeks, is

to enable the women find businesses and solutions to economic and environmental problems in their

communities.

At the graduation ceremony, which was held on Monday, 26th

September, 2022, at the Bolgatanga Technical University, Prof.

Daniel A. Ayoung welcomed staff of YCI and BTU and the

graduands, on behalf of the Vice Chancellor. Prof. Ayoung noted

that BTU’s collaboration with YCI was one of the ways to help

deal with female unemployment and the gender divide. He also encouraged the ladies to apply the

knowledge, skills and expertise acquired to further develop themselves.

The Country Project Lead for YCI, Mr. Esmond Wisdom Quansah said that YCI has been in Ghana for

the past 20 years and supporting young people. Its new program, HerStart, is one of the programs resulting

from their experiences in Ghana. He explained that the HerStart program is an initiative to provide and
build the capacity of young women in social entrepreneurship in order to sustain their livelihoods and to

bridge the gender divide. He added that the HerStart initiative was being implemented in Ghana, Tanzania

and Uganda

According to him, Global Affairs, which is supported by the Canadian Government funded the training of

the 26 young women through YCI. He added that YCI is expected to further train about 3000 young

women. It also has a grant up to 5000 US Dollars for trainees with promising ideas on solving problems

within their communities.

He said, “The HerStart program includes training and support for aspiring entrepreneurs and aims to

engage about 10,000 young females in the 3 countries to participate in the design and development of

innovative solutions to the challenges in their communities”. “It also targets key areas such as gender

equality, environment and climate change, human rights and inclusion”, he added.

HerStart Trainees
It was noted that one key reason for the HerStart project in the Upper East Region is to help stop the trend

of young females migrating to the southern parts of Ghana in search of menial jobs.