The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, has asked the management of the Ghana Skills and Development Project to institute a forum that would bring together beneficiaries of the Skills Development Fund to share experiences on the way forward.

Speaking at the Results Forum of GSTDP in Accra, to showcase the project’s achievements after three years of implementation, Prof Opoku-Agyeman stressed the need for the Fund to support mass production by the beneficiaries. The forum brought together the Development Partners and government representatives to discuss government’s plans for vocational training, science and technology.

The Forum also created the opportunity to discuss how the Skills Development Fund (SDF) could become a key government policy instrument with the objective of improving both competitiveness and productivity in the Ghanaian economy. The Ghana Skills and Technology Development Project (GSTDP) is designed to stimulate skills and technology based development in key economic sectors through demand-driven improvements in the quality of formal and informal training and development and adoption of new technologies.

The project is funded with an IDA facility of US$50 Million from the World Bank and a US$10 Million Grant from DANIDA, in support of the Skills Development Fund, a component of the GSTDP.

The five-year Fund (2011-2015) is managed by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) and aims at providing demand driven response to challenges faced by the productive sectors, to enhance competitiveness, income levels and employment creation, through grants to finance skills upgrading in various sectors of the economy.

The Fund is also to provide grants to science, technology and research institutions to develop innovative technology required by industry to be efficient and competitive in the global arena.

The fund has already supported 78 businesses and 578 mechanics, and helping to create about 7,000 new jobs in agricultural, Information Communication Technology, consumer electronics repairs, beauty and cosmetics and construction.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang called for a robust monitoring and evaluation system and regular follow-up actions to enhance transparency and accountability in its disbursement and utilization of the funds.

This, she said, would help eliminate the challenges to private sector growth and development, such as limited access to skills and innovative technology. The Minister was happy with plans being put in place by the SDF management to ensure sustainability of the project at the end of the project in 2015.

In an address read for him, Mr Yusupha Crookes, World Bank Country Director for Ghana said, the success of SDF would create demand for training and technology and put Ghana in the forefront of development innovation in Africa.

He stressed the need to ensure that the projects under the Fund supported the least endowed parts of the country, and that, a legislative action was needed to mainstream the SDF and to ensure that the project was funded through the budget.

There is also the need for a robust and transparent system for applications, review and grant implementation, Mr Crookes said.