A non- governmental organization in the Yendi Municipality of the Northern region of Ghana, Partnership for Poverty Reduction (PPR) organized a training program on Financial Literacy for Women in Yendi. This took place on Saturday at the Assembly Hall of Yendi Senior High School.
The NGO is owned by Alhaji Farouk Mahama (FAM), the NPPs parliamentary candidate for the Yendi constituency, with a vision of fighting and reducing poverty levels in the Yendi constituency.
Speaking at the Program, Alhaji Farouk Mahama emphasized the integral role “our mothers and women” play in the family as he recalled the selfless and unflinching love his mother offered him from infancy till date. He said “ everyone here knows the support my mom Rahamatu had for me during my childhood. Me standing here as a parliamentary candidate can be attributed to the prayers and support of Mma Rahmatu. The only way I can pay her back is to bring development to women and mothers in Yendi”.
Alhaji Farouk Mahama however indicated that his desire to empower women in Yendi is not a one day wonder but a process and this training on Financial Literacy is just the beginning of his agenda to empower Yendi Women . He added “ Fmr. Vice President Aliu Mahama used to say Poverty is our only enemy in the north so we must ensure we fight and kick against it”.
The event saw a total number of five hundred (500) women being trained and issued certificates. According to Mohammed Amin, Regional Programs Coordinator for PPR, “ our target is to provide training on Financial Literacy to Five Thousand (5000) women, but due to the COVID-19, we have gathered 500 women to start with. However, hereafter, we will proceed to households in the various communities to ensure we meet our target”
Resource persons, experts on Financial Literacy were present to take the women through loan acquisition and management, profitability, money depositing among others. Alhaji Farouk was of the view that, our women and mothers form a larger proportion of the marketing force but have little knowledge on Financial literacy despite the feats they’ve achieved in their various fields.
Here are some testimonies from participants
Bamunu Abukari “ my presence here is courtesy “Tuma Lana”Alhaji Farouk Mahama. He has brought an NGO to enlighten us on how to manage our monies and we appreciate this initiative. I assure him we will put the knowledge gained into useful practice “
Ibrahim Fauzia” I’m from Nayili Fong, Alhaji Farouk invited me here to partake in this training program. May almighty Allah bless him. I have learned how to save and manage my business and I’ll encourage my fellow women by sharing what I’ve learnt with them so we become financially stable “
Mr Opoku Manu, a native of Yendi underscored the need to empower women in the Yendi Municipality by referencing biblical statements “for lack of knowledge, my people perish “He asked the beneficiaries to make good use of the training acquired.
Sana Abudu, the Women’s Organizer for Yendi Constituency also expressed her profound gratitude to Alhaji Farouk Mahama on behalf of all women in Yendi. “I’ve been women organizer for two consecutive terms and it’s always difficult for me to motivate my fellow women to join the NPP but this empowerment initiative by FAM is now something I can use to gain massive support from my colleague women in the NPP”
Alhaji Farouk Mahama ended by assuring the people that they will see development before he enters parliament as well as during his tenure as Member of Parliament. “ by the end of my tenure, you’ll judge if I’m trustworthy to be MP or not, this is just the beginning of my development plans I have for Yendi “
FAM again hinted that talks are underway with the Ministry of Business Development to help make Yendi a better place for business
Supporting Alhaji Farouk Mahama at the program were Chairman Nam, Npp Constituency Chairman, members of the NPP regional executive council, elders of the NPP among others.