The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, has promised the government\u2019s support for firms that are willing to partner in transforming the economy with their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); setting up skills projects which will not only train but also help achieve developmental targets.<\/p>\n
This,\u00a0according to him, is because the Nana Akufo-Addo administration\u00a0sees the private sector as a\u00a0partner that\u00a0must tailor its\u00a0CSR in line with the needs of the communities they operate in and that of the government.<\/p>\n
With government providing\u00a0an\u00a0enabling environment for the private sector to flourish by creating the needed jobs, it is\u00a0just proper that the private sector seeks the government direction and align\u00a0its corporate social responsibilities.<\/p>\n
One of such successful projects is the Okuafo Pa Project which is entirely developed by Oil Exploration firm Eni with the Government of Ghana, specifically within the framework of an MoU with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.<\/p>\n
Under this project, training activities have been developed with Kwame Nkrumah University of\u00a0Science and Technology (KNUST) as well as Coldiretti, Italy\u2019s leading farmer\u00a0organisation; Bonifiche Ferraresi (BF), a leading Italian agribusiness company, and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), an Italian financial institution to support in the development of agricultural supply chains in its development phase.<\/p>\n
Speaking to Joy Business, Yaw Osafo Maafo said, the government has, for this reason, decided to revamp the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are formalising the economy through the introduction of the National Identification Authority but also, more importantly, ensuring that we make the youth employable and able to start their own business by giving them the skills they need through the vocational and technical training.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the reason why TVET is part of this initiative which is the Okuafo Pa project. They have been revamped and strategically placed in\u00a0our quest to get Corporate Ghana to partner with us to take not just any kind of corporate social responsibility but ones that will help the youth to start their own business or become employable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently, the country\u2019s\u00a0high unemployment numbers have been blamed on neglect of Technical and\u00a0Vocational Education and Training (TVET) with industry players arguing that the\u00a0over-concentration on social sciences at the expense of entrepreneurial and artisanal training, limits the urge of graduates to start and own businesses.<\/p>\n
The Senior Minister promised\u00a0the government\u2019s commitment to developing the needed infrastructure in terms of providing electricity, roads and rail network to better connect all economic zones in the various regions.<\/p>\n
He also thanked the people of Dormaa\u00a0and Paul Twum Berima, the Stakeholder Engagement Co-ordinator for the project, whose collaborative efforts with his directors led to the commissioning of a new TVET project.<\/p>\n
On his part,\u00a0the Chief Executive of the ENI Claudio Descalzi said, professional training and skill acquisition is a precondition for social and economic development and Eni intends to play an active role in defining virtuous paths for sustainable growth in Ghana.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project is a concrete example of what we can do if we pool our resources and those of our partners together. We all know that Professional training and skill acquisition is a precondition for social and economic development and it is for this reason that Eni intends to play an active role in defining virtuous paths for sustainable growth in the countries in which it operates.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Okuafo Pa, a pilot project which is part of a\u00a0bigger African project, aims\u00a0at triggering economic diversification in the agricultural sector by transferring technical skills through vocational training, supporting access to the labour market, promoting new investments and start-ups, and stimulating local entrepreneurship in Ghana and the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa.<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, in his address said the project was a\u00a0sign of the strong cooperation between the two countries and a\u00a0commitment to promote sustainable developments by helping train the youth in Ghana and Africa to find employment to build their nation.
\nThe project has a campus that extends over an area of 40 hectares and includes experimental laboratories and farming areas; it will provide theoretical and practical vocational training to 800 students per year in the agricultural, agri-food and zootechnical fields. It has training courses which are developed in collaboration with local universities, and trainees can focus either on farming courses or agri-business courses.<\/p>\n
This project is also to help increase the production of Agric produce under the Planting for Food and Jobs\u00a0and the One District One Factory programmes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, has promised the government\u2019s support for firms that are willing to partner in transforming the economy with their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); setting up skills projects which will not only train but also help achieve developmental targets. This,\u00a0according to him, is because the Nana Akufo-Addo administration\u00a0sees the private sector […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":7241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,7,8],"tags":[4137,3251],"class_list":["post-7240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-senior-minister","tag-yaw-osafo-maafo"],"yoast_head":"\n