As part of our continued partnership with CAMFED, we would like to reveal the people behind the statistics. Leticia is one of the women who have gone through the CAMFED programme and have, in turn, become CAMFED Association members.
Leticia is a welder, fabricator and metal artist from Ghana. The youngest of five siblings, Leticia wasn’t sure she’d be able to finish her education as financial strain burdened the family. Her mum worked as a trader and her dad as a carpenter, but Leticia’s education was not guaranteed.
After finishing Junior High School, Leticia was supported by CAMFED so that she could progress to Senior High School. After finishing her studies she gained some work experience with the CAMFED Ghana team and was able to learn about different career trajectories for young women. After high school, Leticia enrolled at the Design and Technology Institute (DTI) in Accra to study welding and fabrication. She received continued support from CAMFED as well as a partial scholarship from DTI from their partnership with Mastercard Foundation.
Leticia faced doubts from some of her peers when joining this male-dominated field. One of only seven young women in the whole course, she persevered and was appointed as a course representative at DTI, allowing her to lead classes and take on additional responsibilities. Leticia now runs a business making metal gates, balustrades, window grills, and decorative sculptures. She is in the process of training up an apprentice to help her to fulfil customer orders as the business grows and, through CAMFED, she has had the opportunity to speak about her work and entrepreneurship journey on national television.
Continuing in CAMFED’s footsteps by helping young women around her, Leticia provides stationery items to students to aid them staying in school and has an upcoming project that seeks to positively impact the lives of underprivileged children in rural communities through mentorship, education and entrepreneurship.
When answering why she went into metalwork, Leticia answered:
‘I wanted to challenge myself. CAMFED made me aware that what men can do, women can also do, and I wanted to prove them right.’
Leticia, you certainly did that!
