Madam Philomena Santo, Chairperson of the Association, made the appeal during a graduation ceremony for some beneficiaries of a skills training programme held in Piina, in the Lambussie district.   

According to Madam Santo, many young women and girls in the area migrate to the southern parts of the country to engage in hazardous activities such as head-porting, popularly known as “Kayayee”`l., and illegal mining, also known as “ Galamsey” due to economic difficulties.  

She explained that these activities exposed them to risks, including teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and other forms of exploitation.  

In an interview madam Santo, emphasised that weavers in the area faced numerous challenges, including limited access to weaving materials, inadequate capital to purchase tools and materials, high cost of thread, and inadequate capacity to access and sell in bigger and more sophisticated markets.  

She stressed that the support would help to train more women and girls to prevent them from traveling to southern part of the country to engage in any promiscuous activities that will be detrimental their lives   

“We do not have weaving materials around us, so we have to travel far to purchase the tools, especially the thread but due to the high cost and the transportation we do not get anything at the end.  

We sincerely need help in the form of capital so that we can purchase more tools to train many women and girls to reduce unemployment in the country” Madam Santo said.  

She, therefore, called on government, non-governmental organisations, individuals, and philanthropists to support the weaving industry with start-up capital and ready market to help address the situation.  

She advised young women and girls who have completed skills training programmes to be entrepreneurs and utilise the skills they have acquired.   

She encouraged them not to sit idle because they have graduated but to start small businesses, even if it means working with their trainers initially, to ensure that the skills do not go to waste.  

Madam Santo also encouraged young women and girls who were currently not engaged in any economic venture to take advantage and join the association and learn fashion design especially weaving to acquire skills that would prove positive to their livelihoods.  

Madam Prospera Soyiri, a master weaver, revealed that weaving had helped many women in the area, enabling them to pay their children’s school fees and as well sustain their livelihoods in the area.  

She emphasised that the activities of the middlemen had worsened the industry in a way that many weavers were running at a loss and sound not even make ends meet.  

“These middlemen, because of the low patronage of our smock these days, will offer us pittance, take our smock to Kumasi and Accra and even Burkina Faso and sell them at exorbitant prices, depriving us of our earning.”  

She, therefore appealed to the Ministry of Trade and Industry to intervene in this disturbing situation, adding that the ministry’s intervention would help revive the occupation in the area and to boost the weaver’s industry in the country particularly in the Lambussie district.  

Madam Alice Be-ire, a graduand, speaking on behalf of her colleagues, expressed gratitude for the skills acquired and pledged to utilise them for benefit.