The United States, through USAID, announced multiple new partnerships in Morocco to advance inclusive climate action, food security, and youth empowerment. Wrapping up a four-day visit, Administrator Samantha Power highlighted several new programs and initiatives that build on the more than six decades of partnership between USAID and Morocco. 

The Administrator launched a new partnership with the Rabita Mohammedia League of Scholars and International Organization for Migration. This local partnership empowers youth and supports the Government of Morocco’s efforts to address challenges confronting young Moroccans, such as difficulty accessing quality education, high unemployment rates, and disenfranchisement, by engaging youth in a wide range of opportunities from sports clubs to vocational training.

Administrator Power also announced a new partnership with the OCP Group, a Moroccan fertilizer producer, underscoring USAID and OCP’s commitment to address food insecurity throughout Africa and to working together to tackle critical barriers hindering Africa’s agricultural potential. Through this new partnership, OCP will invest $30 million, using USAID’s Space to Place approach, to support efficient fertilizer use across sub-Saharan Africa. This pairs with USAID’s $40 million investment in Space to Place announced at the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit in Nairobi on May 7. The Space to Place approach provides hyperlocal fertilizer recommendations to optimize productivity and return on investment for farmers. USAID collaborated with OCP through the food, fuel, and fertilizer crises, including the provision of 550,000 metric tons of fertilizer for sub-Saharan Africa in 2022-2023.

Finally, USAID announced a new partnership with Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and GiveDirectly to launch the first component of USAID’s new climate program in the country. The new Cooperative Resilience Program, with funding from USAID, UM6P, and GiveDirectly, and in collaboration with Morocco’s National Initiative for Human Development, will provide financing, training, and coaching to vulnerable Moroccan cooperatives and entrepreneurs to help them better adapt to the impacts of climate change, primarily in rural areas. Local cooperatives, including many led by women, played a key role in designing the new program to be responsive to Moroccans’ needs and ensure that USAID’s programs are driven by local voices. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Vice President and Flagbearer of the NPP, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has commissioned an ultra-modern hostel facility, as well as a skills training and empowerment centre in Accra for  head porters, popularly known as Kayayei.

The multi-purpose facilities, located in Madina and Ashaiman, in the Greater Accra Region, fulfills a promise made by Dr. Bawumia, on behalf of government in 2019,  to head porters, during a visit to their base in Agbogbloshie, to get them decent place of accomodation, in a bid to help move them out of the streets.

With an added skills and training programme to the hostel facilities, through a collaborative efforts between many government agencies, the private sector and NGOs,  the Vice President and the government have gone beyond the initial promise to  a step further  of empowering the disadvantaged girls.

Speaking at the programme, Dr. Bawumia expressed delight at the commissioning of both the facility and the launch of the tfaining programme, which he said,  will address the plight of the marginalised girls, and also offer them  transitional job pathways, to enhance their  socio-economic status.

“I am honoured to be part of this initiative dedicated to empowering head porters, offering transitional job pathways, and enhancing their socio-economic status. It is a cause close to my heart as it addresses the plight of a marginalized segment of our society,’ Dr Bawumia said.

“This noble endeavour resonates profoundly with the core values of our  mission, as it squarely addresses the pressing needs of a marginalized segment of our society that has long been relegated to the shadows of neglect and indifference.’

The NPP Flagbearer noted that statistics showed that there are  over 100,000 head porters in Ghana, who, he added,  endure unimaginable hardships such as lack of shelter, inadequate medical care, and harassment in urban centres on a daily basis, which required urgent attention.

“From the harsh realities of homelessness to the glaring deficiencies in access to adequate health care and the pervasive scourge of urban harassment, their plight stands as a stark testament to the moral imperative of urgent intervention to uplift and transform their lives.”

KAYAYEI EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME

Dr. Bawumia noted that government’s concern is not only to provide decent accommodation to the head porters, but to also create a pathway which will empower them to be self-employed, so that they would not have to go back to the streets, hence the establishment of the Kayayei Empowerment Programme.

The  programme,  Dr. Bawumia noted, has been meticulously conceived and crafted to provide holistic and sustainable economic empowerment to “these resilient young women.”

“This multi-faceted program is characterized by a rigorous and exhaustive recruitment process, culminating in the selection of initial training cohorts comprising 5,000 head porters. Over the span of three weeks, participants will be immersed in a transformative learning experience, encompassing essential modules such as baking and beading, supplemented by invaluable soft skills training in personal health care, financial management, and entrepreneurial acumen.”

“Crucially, the provision of post-training support and implementation of a track and trace model, serves as the linchpin of the program’s efficacy, with participants receiving starter packs tailored to facilitate their seamless integration into new economic opportunities and further ensure that beneficiaries do not return to being head porters,” Dr. Bawumia added.

In addition to the programmes on offer, Dr. Bawumia also revealed that discussions with Aayalolo and Metro Mass, are ongoing, for the two agencies to also train some of the Kayayei in driving.

HOSTEL FACILITIES

Overall, government intends to build two more facilities in addition to the two newly-commissioned facilities in Madina and Ashaiman.

Each facility is equipped with 300 beds, training rooms, panties, kitchen, a clinic, washrooms, fire extinguishers, CCTV and security and food shed.

Dr. Bawumia expressed gratitude to a number of government agencies, which forged strategic and collaborative  partnerships with some private enterprises and some  civil society organizations, to make the project possible.

The government agencies which collaborated are: Ghana Enterprises Agency  (GEA), National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP),  Youth Employment Agency (YEA),  Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF),

Ghana Gas and BOST, as well as well as  the Father Campbell Foundation and BEST.

Leadership of the Kayayei girls, who turned up in their numbers, symbolically with their head pans, expressed profound gratitude to Dr. Bawumia and the government, for the  intervention.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.

HE Director of the Arab Affairs Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nayef bin Abdullah Al Emadi met with HE Swiss Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Sylvain Astier, who is visiting the country.

During the meeting, they discussed a number of regional and international issues of common concern.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The State of Qatar.

The Embassy of the Togolese Republic was inaugurated in Doha on Wednesday.

The opening ceremony was attended by HE Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Togolese Republic Robert Dussey and HE Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The State of Qatar.