The government has said it will support Zongo women who are into 'waakye' and 'sobolo' making, as part of moves to empower them to be economically productive.

According to the Minister of Inner-city and Zongo Development, Dr Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the ministry has since its inception put in place a number of socio-economic programmes to improve household incomes of such communities.

Dr Abdul-Hamid, who was speaking in parliament on Tuesday, 27 November 2018 in response to a parliamentary question filed by Garu MP, Albert Akuka Alalzuuga, also noted that most of the youth in the Zongo communities will be trained in ICT to enable them redirect their skills into productive ventures.

The Islamic scholar said: “The ministry has initiated a number of socio-economic programmes that are aimed at developing the human capacities of the people in Zongo communities, empower them to be economically productive and support the promotion of their indigenous businesses in order to improve household incomes.

“To this end, the ministry is working with the National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI) to train selected women across Zongo communities who have businesses, and especially in Zongo cuisine like “waakye,” “sobolo,” “tubani,” “koko” and the rest of them, first of all, to improve the development and packaging of these foods in order to add value and increase incomes associated with these businesses.

“NBSSI aims to accredit some of these women to become ready sources for provision of these foods to conferences, meetings, and hotels.”

The minister added: “Mr Speaker, there is also the Zongo Coded Programme, which is to train, improve and redirect the ICT skills of the youth in Zongo communities into productive ventures…”