Accra, March 15, GNA - About 35 Middle Level Managers from AngloGold Ashanti Mine in Ghana, Mali and Guinea on Monday began a training programme at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to improve their supervisory and administrative skills. The training programme which will span over a period of eight months, will train participants in Public Policy and Mining Industry, Socio-Economic Regulatory Environment, Legal Environment, Environmental Management and Stakeholders Analysis, Ethics and Social Responsibility, as well as some courses in General Management and Administration, Financial and Management Accounting and Human Resource Management. Dr Toby Bradbury, Senior Vice President, AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), Ghana, said mining was about people, hence AGA's commitment to invest in people.

"People is our business," he said and expressed the hope that the course would equip the middle level managers with the right attitude to enable them to develop critical thinking and take appropriate decisions and actions to increase organizational performance. Mrs Akua Barnieh Armaa, Coordinator of the Programme, explained that participants were expected to complete the training in three classroom sessions.

"The first is the one which has just begun, the second session will be held from May 24 - June 24 and the third session from August 9 - 20, 2010," she said.

Mrs Armaa said the training programme would lead to the award of a certificate of merit in line with GIMPA's post graduate certificate programmes. She said it was the second in a series that GIMPA had organized for AngloGold Ashanti staff and said in 2009, 29 participants from the mines successfully graduated from the programme. Professor Franklyn Manu, Dean of the Business School, GIMPA, advised participants to ensure that they put to use what they learnt from the programme.