The Tiyumba Hope Foundation (THF), a girl-child and women empowerment nongovernmental organization has educated women in the informal sector in the Tamale metropolis in northern region.
The training highlighted on digital inclusion of women and the use of digital platforms for business advertisement and promotion.
The participants were drawn from the associations of hairdressers, tailors and weavers among others to be equipped with the requisite knowledge on how to use social media in particular to market their businesses and shops.
Founder and Executive Director of Tiyumba Hope Foundation, Fadila Fuseini, said the capacity building training was organized in partnership with Plan International Ghana as part of efforts to celebrate the 2023 International Women’s Day.
“Tiyumba Hope Foundation in partnership with Plan International Ghana is honoring and celebrating women in the informal sector, just to appreciate their efforts and also take them through the importance of using technology and innovation to close the gender gap in terms of they promoting and branding their businesses in the media space” she explained.
Madam Fadila added the world is fast growing in terms of technology and ICT but observed however that if you look at the informal sector, you will realize most young people especially women in general are still lagging behind when it comes to branding and promoting their businesses using the social media platforms.
“…So, we have come with a resource person to educate them and also take them through some training as to how they can make use of their smart phones to promote their businesses and also connecting with customers and branding themselves to attract people beyond the region – for people to patronize their services” she stated.
She maintained most young people want to use smart phones but they don’t know they can make millions using the smart phones; not just using for WhatsApping, TikToking and also viewing WhatsApp status and other things but they can use it in a better way that can generate them something at the end of the day.
Internet penetration
Meanwhile, internet penetration in some parts of the northern region is very low as many people in peri-urban and rural communities still find it difficult to access internet connections.
As a result, the Tiyumba Hope Foundation Executive Director seized the opportunity to appeal to the government to invest more in fibre optic technology to improve access to internet in the area.
“People think that technology is for men and not for women and when you look at the space – you will see that only few women are into IT and its dominated by male; so if government can create an opportunity in the informal sector for them to be taken through IT skills empowerment” she implored.
The Northern Region Head of Informal Apprenticeship, Humaimatu Abdul Wahab, for her part underscored the significance of the day for the informal sector, highlighting the theme for this year’s celebration: “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality” is important for both the master craft persons and apprentices because they need technology and creativity in their work.
“This would help them to promote their shops because looking at the current generation, the trend of the system, the system is changing and we have to change along with the system. We need to embrace technology in order to expand their shops and create awareness, the existence of their shops and for the businesses to grow” she emphasized.
