On Tuesday, 18th April 2023, the Commission for TVET (CTVET) commenced the signing of contracts with the first cohort of beneficiaries for the Ghana Skills Development Fund (GSDF). In all 57 institutions and enterprises (grantees) signed their Grant Agreements between 18th and 21st April, 2023.
The current beneficiaries include enterprises and institutions who applied for grants under the four windows which include; the formal Sector, the informal sector, Training Innovations and Greening grants, and Science and Technology backgrounds.
In all, over 700 grants are expected to be awarded within the project life cycle.
Background
The GSDF is embedded in the Government’s TVET policy which has as its objective to “Create jobs and competitiveness of the skilled workforce and raise the income-earning capacities of people, especially women and low-income groups, through the provision of quality-oriented, industry-focused, and competency-based training programmes and complementary services”.
GSDF is a challenge fund mechanism which addresses the skills needs of enterprises operating in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy of Ghana. The Fund is a demand-driven response to two of the most critical challenges encountered by the productive sectors in Ghana, namely a qualified and skilled labour force and the acquisition and development of technology towards increased productivity and practical innovations. The primary beneficiary targets for this fund include micro and small enterprises that seek to grow their businesses in order to create more jobs and increase productivity. These enterprises can come from the formal and informal sectors. Enterprises that develop innovations relevant to solving societal challenges have a good opportunity to benefit from this sub-component, so are organizations that seek to advance their technologies and scale up their operations.
The Director General of CTVET, Dr. Fred Kyei Asamoah remarked that, “government is providing these funds in order for the enterprises and institutions to use them in upgrading the skills of employees for productivity improvement and to enable employees adopt emerging new technologies. It is also aimed at enabling current employees to earn higher technical and vocational skills qualifications and incomes, and finally for upgrading the skills of master crafts-persons and self-employed graduate apprentices”.
Mr. Agyeman one of the beneficiaries indicated that, “this grant is timely considering the current challenges facing businesses within the Ghanaian economy as it will support his business train their staff in emerging technologies whilst helping them increase their production and therefore creating more employment opportunities for others.”
In my statement of purpose for the gathering, I said that before project implementation kicks off, it was necessary that all grantees get some understanding on the requirement for reporting to the GSDF unit. So the session was to afford the participants an opportunity to familiarize themselves with what and how to report implementation as well as requesting for payments.
Also a team of Monitors, stationed in the regions, would be on hand to assist in the face of any challenges.
