Mawusi Awity
Mawusi Awity, Executive Director of the National Vocational Institute, is this week’s hero for MTN Heroes of Change 2019 reality show.
Through her Network of Women In Growth (NEWIG GHANA), a self-funded project based in Dansoman, she offers vocational skills training and acquisition of entrepreneurial skills to women who lack such skills.
Often than not, women have always been at a disadvantage in society. But times are changing. With more and more women becoming politically, socially and economically empowered, society is getting more equal with every passing day.
That is why the work of Mawusi Awity must be acknowledged, and thanks to MTN Heroes of Change, she is being highlighted this week.
For a decade and a half, Mawusi has been working to economically empower women to not be just independent but support their families.
“We build the capacity of women to become producers and not just consumers and to bringing value to the raw materials we have in Ghana,” she said, adding that innovation is what the Ghanaian woman should take up.
Mawusi continued, “My project reaches out to our mothers and even the youth to train them to have something of their own, work towards it and not depend on anybody. When I see the struggles of women, I get motivated to empower them and also make them know there is more to gain in life through vocation and entrepreneurship.”
“I see men go on with their day-to-day activities and I realise all women should have the same zeal in waking up every morning to a job they have created for themselves and feeding their families off it. So, I get motivated to continue with passion, what can build women and the nation as a whole,” she said.
With 80 per cent of funding coming from her salary and that of her husband, she goes around the country to impact and empower women, train them and make them acquire skills they can benefit from.
After the training, she buys them tools, materials and equipment to start something on their own.
She has trained over 7,000 women across the country over the past 15 years, but to Mawusi, her biggest achievement is the training of over 100 women at the Gambaga Witch Camp.
“For me, I think that is my major achievement because these women were seen as outcasts and now they feel important and also give back to the community. Anytime I see them, I get so happy and motivated,” she revealed.