Accra, June 24th, 2016

The Republic of Ghana, represented by the Minister for Education, H.E Pr Naana OPOKU-AGYEMANG, and the Republic of France, represented by H.E. François PUJOLAS, Ambassador of France to Ghana, have signed a new agreement for the teaching of French: "Support for initiatives to provide training in French as a foreign language" (SIFFLE). The signature took place at the Ministry of Education, on Friday 24th of June.

This project is funded by a Solidarity Priority Fund (SPF), a major tool in financing cooperation actions of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the framework of the policy of development aid. The grant will amount to a total of 700 000 Euros and will be implemented for three years, starting in July 2016. The objective will be to provide more support and improve the teaching of French in three key sectors in Ghana: High schools, Science-oriented universities and Public service. It will be done thanks to the training of more teachers who will teach French as a foreign language (High school) and French for Specific purpose (for universities and public sector workers), thanks to teaching aids and expertise .

At the occasion, the Ambassador of France to Ghana said that this new project represents a "great opportunity to go one step forward in improving the teaching and learning of French".

The implementation of the project will allow a better regional integration of Ghana in West Africa as it is surrounded by Francophone countries with its political and economic initiatives going global. HE François Pujolas, Ambassador of France to Ghana, said it will also allow to prepare Ghanaian youth - future bilinguals -to be more competitive at the regional job market and to provide public sector workers with the requisite language skills to better discuss and negotiate with their counterparts from neighboring countries, as well as with the 274 million Francophone speakers around the world.

He recalled that many projects have already been initiated in the field of teaching French. Since 2000, hundreds of thousands of Euros have been invested by the French Government to provide technical assistance, including supporting the creation of CREF (Resource Centers for the teaching of French at the Ministry of Education), training for public sector workers, and provision of educational materials.

The presence of France through its institutions in Ghana is important and has been in Ghana for several years: five (5) Alliance Françaises, one (1) French school, two (2) Maisons Françaises at UG-Legon and KNUST and two (2) Campus France desks, help to promote higher education in France, the organization of the Francophonie celebrations in March every year with the Francophone embassies in Ghana, as well as giving support to NGOs.