The St. Louise Vocational Training Centre (VTC) is an initiative of our partner in Kumasi. At the VTC, about 50 formerly street connected girls learn a skilled vocation like hair dressing, dress making or catering. Besides vocational training, the centre also provides housing, food and care for this vulnerable group of children. The girls receive training, but are also educated in literacy, maths and subjects like sexual health and self defense. They are encouraged to re-establish contact with their families, strengthening their ties and working towards rehabilitation and reintegration in their local communities. After completing their training, the girls sit for the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) exams. With their NVTI certificate and having obtained relevant work experience through internships and on-the-job placements, the ladies are ready to start work and make an independent income.
We support the VTC with several projects:
Impact through Enterprise (2021)
Sustainable cooking (2018)
Construction of an outside kitchen and storage room at the VTC. Also provisions to move from wood stove cooking to gas cookers and increasing cooking capacity to group meals for 50+ persons at the time.
Every drop counts (2016)
At the VTC direct access to tap water is lacking so a borehole is used to pump ground water to the surface. We completed this project providing a new borehole, well-functioning pump and water storage facilities. The girls at the VTC now have access to clean drinking water and enough water available to cater for all their needs (washing, laundry, cleaning, the farm, etc.)
The Next Level (2015)
Several groups of in total 30 former street girls have been living at the VTC, but we want to help many more girls to get away from the streets. In order to welcome a new group of girls, the first floor of the centre had to be constructed. This project enabled the construction of the block work of the first floor.
Wilde Ganzen and Stichting K.O.O.K. in Alkmaar were major contributors to this project.
Upgrading the ground floor (2015)This project aimed to make some improvements to the ground floor. We had the external and internal walls and wood works painted to protect them from wear and tear by the weather. There was also a need to buy more furniture like bunk beds and work tables in order to accommodate more trainees. The project has now been completed.
Training towards the future (2014)
This project supported the first group of eight girls in completing their second year of training. The project showed great results: in September 2015 all eight passed the NVTI-exams with flying colours! The NVTI (National Vocational and Technical Institute) exams is a nationwide qualifying exams for those who have trained in vocation and technical fields, in this case dressmaking. Most girls of this group have now left the VTC and are living independently. Two of them have been employed at the centre as mentors/trainers of new groups of street girls at the centre. Their personal experiences have proven very valuable in mentoring the new girls.
This project was supported by the Share4More Foundation of the Rabobank.
A roof for street girls! (2013/14)
Although in 2013 the ground floor of the building was already in use by the first group of girls, setbacks during the first construction phase made it impossible to construct the roof of the centre. With this project we enabled the construction of the roof. The construction work started in January 2014 and was completed within three months!
This project was supported by Cordaid and Emmaus Bilthoven, a.o.
