Kaduna State government on Thursday restated its commitment to the empowerment of women and youths through a tripartite funded project, Agro-Processing, Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support (APPEALS) .
The funders are the World bank, Federal and Kaduna State governments.
The State Deputy Governor, Dr, Hadiza Balarabe Sabuwa re-echoed the commitment in a message to the opening of a one day Inception Meeting of the technical assistance for the preparation and review of business investment plan for Women and Youth empowerment Programmes.
Dr.Sabuwa who is the Chairperson of the State Steering Committee of the Project was represented by Barrister James Wuyep.
“The Women, Youth Empowerment Program (WUYEP), is dear to Kaduna State Government. We would like to see it make progress to the benefit of the citizens and in line with our objective,” she said.
Earlier, the Women and Youth Livelihood Specialist, Ibrahim Yakubu, in reviewing the Progress of the Women and Youth Empowerment components of APPEALS, had appealed to the State Government to upscale the size of beneficiaries.
He said so far, the World Bank Agro-Processing Productivity Enhancement And Livelihood Improvement Support Project (APPEALS) Project Women and Youth Empowerment Programme (WYEP) component has registeted 484 business names with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The Specialist disclosed this during Review of Progress Report on Implementation at the Inception Meeting of the Technical Assistance for the Preparation & Review of Business Investment Plan (BIP) for Women and Youth Empowerment Programme (WYEP) Beneficiaries in Kaduna State.
Ibrahim Yakubu said that WYEP is a sub component of the APPEALS Project which 1,700 are expected to benefit.
He said 50 per cent of the Beneficiaries under the component are female.
Yakubu explained that the value chain under this component includes dairy, maize, rice, wheat, cashew, ginger and others.
The objectives according to him, include attracting more people to farming.
He said the selection process of beneficiaries started with sensitization in the 23 LGAs in the state in 2019.
The Women and Youth Livelihood specialist added that they also advertised on two national dailies , electronic media and social media.
Furthermore, he said, they issued free forms to applicants and engaged in biometric capture of over 3,000 shortlisted applicants before verification, screening and selection of 1,700 beneficiaries through a very transparent process.
He said engagement letters were issued to successful 1,700 beneficiaries in December 2019.
He further announced that the beneficiaries were trained at three different centres, while those yet to be trained due to outbreak of COVID-19 will get their training in November this year.
He said the BIP preparation and review cuts across the three zones in the state, Zaria, Kafanchan and Kaduna.
