British Council initiates €1.15 million VET Toolbox project to promote the development of agricultural skills
A project worth €1.15 million has been started by the British Council to support the improvement of agricultural skills in Ghana.
The British Council in Ghana will carry out the project over a two-year period as part of the VET Toolbox initiative, which is funded by the European Union and supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Its goal is to test a framework for skilled human resource development under the Savannah Zone Agricultural Productivity Improvement (SAPIP) in the three regions of Northern, Savannah, and North East.
The VET Toolbox project intends to provide focused knowledge, grant funds, tools, and guidance to improve the effectiveness of national vocational education and training (VET) reforms that will be in line with market demands and increase youth employability.
Speaking at the project’s inauguration in Tamale, Mr. Nii Doodo Dodoo, the country director for the British Council, emphasized that Ghana had already benefited from short-term technical assistance from the VET Toolbox in a project that was co-executed by the British Council and GIZ in partnership with the Fair River International Association for Development and focused on curriculum development, career development, and private sector engagement.
The initial work on the project, according to Mr. Dodoo, focuses on an opportunity mapping effort to comprehend Ghana’s investment ecosystem and pinpoint areas where a VET Toolbox project might have the greatest local impact.
Additionally, he said that by equipping people with the information, skills, and competences needed for both today’s and tomorrow’s occupations, the VET Toolbox project will promote fair wages and inclusive growth.
The European Union’s Macro-economic and Trade Section’s program officer in Ghana, Madam Marta Brignone, revealed that 11 Sub-Saharan African nations, including Ghana, would gain from the new pillar of the VET Toolbox.
She continued by saying that the VET Toolbox sought to increase the efficiency of VET systems by transforming investments into forces for inclusive economic growth, social development, and the creation of respectable jobs.
She emphasized that a group of prestigious European organizations, including the British Council, Enabel (Belgium), GIZ, LuxDev (Luxembourg), AFD (France), and Expertise France, will oversee the project’s execution.
A group of top European organizations, including the British Council, Enabel (Belgium), GIZ, LuxDev (Luxembourg), AFD (France), and Expertise France, is executing the VET Toolbox initiative.
In each of the nations where the project is being implemented, Madam Brignone continued, the project interventions have thus far promoted change at the systems level.
The project, according to the British Council’s Director of Programs, Mr. Solomon Antumwini, was centered on four themes: skills development, evidence-based VET and labor market programming, private sector participation in VET and labor market activities, increased local benefits from European investments through VET, and private sector involvement in VET and labor market activities.
The partnership with significant local players was essential to the project’s success, according to Mr. Abraham Sarfo, Team Leader, VET Toolbox.
He continued by saying that a National Advisory Board comprised of these parties had already been established to ensure that their expertise and counsel would contribute to the creation of a project that was specifically designed to address the nation’s skill- and employment-related concerns.
Ms. Mawusi Awity, Director-General of the Ghana Technical Vocational Education Training Service, advised the parties involved in the project’s implementation to include more women in order to improve their capacity for commercial farming, which would support the nation’s efforts to ensure food security.
The project’s stakeholders were exhorted by Hajia Hawa Musah, the Northern Regional Director of Agriculture, to develop business prospects, strengthen young capacity, and establish connections with groups and people in order to promote economic progress.