Livelihood skills training for ENB vendors

The National National
Chef John Lote talking to women about baking buns and passing on tips during a week-long training on livelihood skills at the Takubar ward in the Kokopo-Vunamami urban local level government of Kokopo, East New Britain. – Nationalpic by ROSELYN ELLISON

By ROSELYN ELLISON
ABOUT 40 vendors from East New Britain districts are undergoing a week-long livelihood skills training at Takubar in Kokopo.
The training is funded by a PNG and Australia partnership and facilitated by the United Nations (UN) Women.
Known as “Marketing economic recovery inclusion meri programme”, it is aimed at vendors who are learning skills such as banking, food-handling and prevention of the Covid-19.
Facilitating the training for 46 people, the UN engaged local chef John Lote and technical vocational education training (Tvet) instructor for 10 years.
Lote is also part of the team developing the tourism industry in the province.
The mothers are all market vendors in the province from as far as Kerevat, Rabaul and Kokopo.
This programme is the first of its kind in the province.
Lote said many mothers still missed out but they would run similar programmes in the future.
“This training is purposely for improving mothers in their vending products and it is based on the products that we identified in the market,” he said.