To boost youth self-employment and expand skilled artisanal trades, the Asante Akim South Municipal Assembly, in collaboration with the Youth Employment Authority (YEA), has distributed vocational startup kits to trade masters and graduate apprentices across the municipality. The presentation ceremony took place at the Assembly premises in Juaso on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. The distribution forms part of the national rollout of the National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP), a central government intervention aimed at creating sustainable livelihoods for the youth through practical technical and vocational skills training. The event brought together key leadership, including the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Hon. Maame Sarfoah Appiah, the Municipal YEA Director for Asante Akim South, and representatives from the National YEA Headquarters. Together, the officials supervised the official handover of tools and commercial equipment to both the master craftspersons who provided the instruction and the newly trained apprentices who completed their training. The distributed equipment covered multiple artisanal sectors, including dressmaking, tailoring, cosmetology, welding, electrical installation, and carpentry. Master craftspersons received instructional tools and operational logistics to enhance their training centres, while the graduating trainees received complete toolkits tailored to their specific trades to enable them to establish independent workshops immediately. Addressing the gatherers, the Municipal Chief Executive, Hon. Maame Sarfoah Appiah, emphasized that technical and vocational education remains a fast track to job creation and poverty reduction. She urged the beneficiaries to deploy the tools effectively to build viable commercial enterprises rather than reselling them. Delegates from the National YEA Secretariat commended the Asante Akim South Municipal Directorate for its effective coordination of the programme. The Authority reaffirmed its commitment to conducting regular post-distribution monitoring visits across the municipality to provide ongoing business management support and track the growth of the newly established enterprise units.