WOMEN'S VOCATIONAL
Beads play significant cultural, ceremonial, and financial roles in Ghana, West Africa. From the time a child is born, Ghanaian babies wear a strand of beads around their waists. Young girls continue the tradition into womanhood wearing up to six strands of beads at all times even when they bathe and sleep. Intricate bead designs also adorn ceremonial clothing, jewelry and headdresses worn by tribal kings, chiefs, and ministers at important cultural festivals and events. Ghanaian glass bead making has highlighted West Africa as a leading bead producer and exporter throughout the world.
SSEPS TRAINS WOMEN TO CRAFT GLASS BEADS & COW HORN JEWELRY
Beads play significant cultural, ceremonial, and financial roles in Ghana, West Africa. From the time a child is born, Ghanaian babies wear a strand of beads around their waists. Young girls continue the tradition into womanhood wearing up to six strands of beads at all times even when they bathe and sleep. Intricate bead designs also adorn ceremonial clothing, jewelry and headdresses worn by tribal kings, chiefs, and ministers at important cultural festivals and events.
FREE INSTRUCTION
Women are offered free instruction in glass bead and cow horn jewelry making and given opportunity to become a SSEP artisan crafting our original jewelry designs. Ghanaian glass bead making has highlighted West Africa as a leading bead producer and exporter throughout the world.
FAIR COMPENSATION
The SSEP vocational program engages women from rural and underserved communities in bead and horn making jewelry and design. All SSEP vocational program students are financially compensated at fair trade rates for their work and live in the communities surrounding SSEP partner schools. This gives us an additional way to make a positive impact in our target communities.
PROCEEDS REINVESTED IN COMMUNITIES
100% of proceeds are reinvested into the communities where the women are living in the form of educational projects, scholarships, and school builds. In addition, select program graduates are elegible to become vocational trainers for SSEP and some are eligible to receive micro-grants directly from SSEP to kick-start their businesses.
