FISTRAD VOCATIONAL CENTER.

It was established in the year 1998 The initial funding for the construction of the buildings consisting of classrooms a library and an office was provided by Sandema Educational Resource Center UK and the equipment and furniture was provided by the German Development Service headed by Dr Almuth Schauber who was by then the NGO adviser.

The main objective of the project was to provide skills training for the youth particularly women and girls to empower them to establish their own small business or be employable by entrepreneurs

It was to address the depressed economy in Builsa district which had left so many young boys and girls unemployed leading to many deviant behavior, teenage pregnancies alcoholism, school dropouts and migration down south to engage in menial jobs and sometimes fall into criminal groups

Training was In Carpentry, welding tailoring and cloth weaving for three years However we had to drop carpentry and welding programs due to escalating cost and very few people showing interest. FISTRAD has so far trained nine hundred young girls, ten boys and fifty women in tailoring and cloth weaving and five young men in carpentry and welding most of whom are doing their own businesses

We are affiliated to the National vocational training Institute who conduct and give certificates to our final year students

As a result of the success of FISTRAD in empowerment of women and girls, its Executive Director Mr. Richard Alandu was given a National Award by The MTN Heroes of change committee in 2013. The History of the vocational center cannot be written without the contribution of Professor Patrick Heinecke and DR Almuth Schauber.