Forty six women, drawn from two communities in the Kassena-Nankana West District, have been trained in soap making, to enable them become self-employed in that industry.

The Rural Enterprise Project in the district, under its community-based skills training, trained the women from Kayoro and Nyangnia, as part of its activities aimed at alleviating poverty, and improving the livelihoods and increasing the income of the rural poor by creating sustainable jobs for them.

Mr Dolbert Seguri, the Director of the Rural Enterprise Project, speaking at the closing ceremony at Kayoro on Monday, encouraged the women to use the skills they had acquired to reduce the poverty level in their households and the community as a whole.

He also disclosed that two more communities would be under-going a similar training next month.

Mr George Nonterah, the Kassena-Nankana West District Chief Executive, encouraged the participants to embrace government programmes of such nature, so as to derive the full benefits.

He noted that job creation was a priority to the government, and it was using the Rural Enterprises Programme (REP) to create employment for the people, especially the rural poor.

He entreated the participants to put the acquired knowledge and skills to good use, and urged them not to hesitate to visit the Business Advisory Centre for any support in the form of training, financial and acquisition of equipment.

The participants on the other hand, promised to use the skills they had acquired to improve their standards of living, and work as a team, since it would be difficult for them to start on individual basis because of their low financial status.