Empowering young people for jobs in the construction sector

Not only was it difficult for her to raise the needed funds to acquire the skill but she was also not sure about which skill would be suitable for her aspirations.

In the midst of this, she heard about a project, which was recruiting young people to undergo training to acquire skills for jobs in the construction sector. Through sensitisation, she applied to be selected for training in carpentry.

As fate would have it, in May 2021 she was selected to undergo the training. She embraced the opportunity and successfully graduated in November 2021.

Since then, she has joined a master craftsman working on contracts such as designing furniture, roofing buildings amongst other carpentry works for clients in and outside the Tamale Metropolis.

Ms. Barikisu said, “This is my passion and I am determined to, in the next two years, open one of the biggest carpentry workshops in Tamale serving clients all over the country," She said even though she was not out of the woods yet “Since graduating from the training, there has been remarkable progress in my life. I get something from my work to support myself.”

Ms. Abdulai Rahama, a 22-year-old resident of Gurugu in the Sagnarigu Municipality also did not find life easy after completing senior high school in 2020. She remained in the house because there was no helping hand to support her to further her education. As a result, she wanted to acquire a skill that was not common but highly sought-after such that there would be high demand for her services.

It was, therefore, a dream come true for her when in May 2021 she was selected to undergo training in Plaster of Paris (P.O.P) ceiling fixing. She was meticulous with the training and graduated in November 2021. Since then, she has joined one of the biggest P.O.P ceiling fixing companies in Tamale; Alpha Works Global, becoming one of the hardworking members of its team executing large contracts on daily basis.

Ms. Rahama said “For now, I am just enjoying my work and I am happy about the experience. I consider it as laying a solid foundation for my career.”

Barikisu and Rahama were not the only unemployed young people, who underwent the training. A total of 1,133 other unemployed young people in the Tamale Metropolis and the Sagnarigu Municipality of the Northern Region also underwent the training and gained proficiency qualifications in various construction-related trades issued by the National Vocational Training Institute in Tamale.

The training, which lasted at least six months, has equipped them with various skills in the construction sector including carpentry, tiling, P.O.P ceiling fixing amongst others to enhance their chances at landing jobs and or creating their own jobs. This formed part of a project dubbed: “Pathways for Sustainable Employment for Women and Youth (PASEWAY).

The PASEWAY Project

Youth unemployment is a major socio-economic and political problem in the country. The 2021 Population and Housing Census put the country’s population at 30.8 million. A third of this figure is between 15 and 35 years, and a further 38.2 percent is under 15 years of age.

This means the size of the working-age population will significantly increase in the coming years. This calls for concerted efforts to create not only the badly needed jobs but also to have the requisite skilled labour to take up those jobs.

This gave birth to the PASEWAY project implemented from 2020 to 2022 in the Tamale Metropolis and the Sagnarigu Municipality by the Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS).

The project, which is the initiative of Plan International with funding from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, involves other implementing partners in Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions in the construction and the hospitality sub-sectors.

The PASEWAY project empowers young people between the ages of 15 to 35 with tile laying, carpentry, and P.O.P ceiling fixing skills to enable them to find employment and or set up their own businesses in the construction sector.

They, amongst others, also benefit from a combination of opportunities including internships, ongoing monitoring for newly-appointed young people, tailor-made business development support and advice, access to youth-inclusive financial services, a platform to offer services, providing links to industry representatives and members of a youth-led association of young people employed in the construction sector.

The PASEWAY project and the results so far

So far, the project has achieved 1,133 of the 1200 beneficiary targets through support in technical skills training, certification of prior learning, business formalisation, and soft skills relevant to the construction sector supplied start-up basic tools to 100 youth entrepreneurs constituting 61 females and 49 males to facilitate access to employment and business growth and supported 521 young people to acquire technical knowledge and skills relevant to the construction sector.

It has also successfully facilitated 509 young people to certify knowledge acquired outside of formal training, supported 117 informal businesses in the construction sector to formalise their businesses by registering with the Registrar General Department, improved access of 1,133 young people to information on business planning, financial literacy, product development through coaching session on Business Advisory Services, and facilitated access of 150 young people to short- and long-term employment in the construction sector.

Skills training and job opportunities in the country’s construction sector

Whilst the country continues to grapple with youth unemployment, the size of the working-age population is also expected to increase significantly in the coming years.

Therefore, equipping young people with the requisite skills to take up jobs in the growing sectors of the economy is one way to reduce youth unemployment in the country. One of the sectors of the economy, which is doing well and can help to reduce youth unemployment in the country, is the construction sector.

The country’s construction sector, which includes housing and urban development and infrastructure, contributes substantially to gross domestic product (GDP) and employment, therefore undoubtedly remains one of the avenues to create job opportunities for young people.

The sector accounted for 18.8 percent of the country’s annual GDP in 2018. Provisional estimates released by Ghana Statistical Service indicated that the construction industry recorded a growth rate of 18.3% year-on-year for the third quarter of 2018 and provided employment for approximately 420,000 people.

A large number of building and construction contractors ranging from indigenous micro-enterprises and individual contractors to foreign multinational civil engineering and construction giants operate in the sector in the country. In light of this, the relevance of the PASEWAY project cannot be overemphasized.

The way forward

It is no secret that youth unemployment has become a huge problem confronting the country. It is also a fact that some of the unemployed youth lack the requisite skills to guarantee them employment. The country’s construction industry, which is expected to continue to grow, remains a viable sector to absorb some of the unemployed youth.

What is needed is deliberate projects or support to enable the youth acquire the relevant skills to land the jobs and or create their own jobs in the construction sector.

The PASEWAY project, therefore, has shown the way to ensure increased employment opportunities for young people in the country’s ever-growing and lucrative construction sector.

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