MTN Foundation last week unveiled a training facility at the Smart Girls Foundation aimed at providing vocational and business skills to over 400 girls annually.
The facility which was completed at a cost of over Shs 300 million, will be fully equipped with a computer laboratory with internet connectivity, a vehicle servicing station and a washing bay.
To up skill the girls for the required market skills, the facility will focus on vocational and business courses inclusive of; mechanical engineering, electrical installation, construction, house painting, tailoring, carpentry, welding and catering among others.
Speaking at the unveiling event, The MTN General Manager for Wholesale and Carrier Services, Juliet Nsubuga said the facility was aimed at providing hands-on training experience that will allow the girls and women to appreciate the intricacies of building a business and thus creating employment amidst market gender biases.
"MTN believes that the acquired skills will help the girl child to compete equally with their male counterparts by offering them opportunities to diversify and break the glass ceiling into Jobs or business that have been a preserve for men," she said.
In addition to training the young women, the vehicle servicing station and washing bay are also expected to ensure sustainability of the project through generating income for the Smart Girls Foundation for services rendered by the trainers to the public. The project is envisaged to give birth to 40 new women-led businesses in the country.
Smart Girls Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation centred on skilling and empowering the girl child with the vision to transform their lives for a brighter future.
The minister of Gender, Labour and Social, Development, Betty Amongin thanked MTN and Smart Girl foundation for the initiative saying it complements government’s ambitions towards promoting gender equality and empowering the girl child.
"Government has come up with various initiatives including the Presidential Initiative on Skilling Girl Child and equipping the Business and Technical Vocational Skills to enable girls and young women acquire necessary skills to secure jobs or start up their own businesses. In spite these efforts, government recognises that there’s still hard work ahead and therefore it gives me profound happiness to see entities like MTN Uganda and Smart Girls Foundation supporting the same and sharing in government’s goal to skill the girl child," she said.
The partnership between MTN Foundation and Smart Girls Foundation is one of many interventions undertaken by the former to empower women and girls in Uganda.
In June 2019, during the 21 days of YelloCare, the annual staff volunteerism initiative, MTN supported the Smart girls Foundation with a donation worth Shs 30million with the aim of enhancing the girls’ learning experience.