The Government of Ghana through the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) has trained over 19,000 master craft persons and apprentices since 2018 under the Ghana TVET Voucher Project (GTVP).

According to Mr. Albert Opare, Head of Corporate Affairs for CTVET, the Ghana TVET Voucher project (GTVP) is a project under the Ghanaian-German Financial Development Cooperation, co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through KfW Development Bank and the Government of Ghana.

The Commission for Technical Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) is the implementing agency.

Out the 19,000 plus people, 13,883 representing 73% are females, whilst 5,179 are males. GTVP and provides demand-driven training vouchers to CTVET-registered master craft persons, their apprentices and workers.

The vouchers are used to fund competency-based training (CBT) courses in CTVET–accredited training institutions for certification in National Proficiency Levels I and II and Certificate I and II respectively.

Mr. Opare indicated that, the beneficiaries received the training in skills areas such as, automotive repairs, cosmetology, garment, welding, consumer electronics, plumbing, electrical installation, block laying and furniture making.

Mr. Opare was interacting with the media as part of an official visit to the Dabokpa Technical Institute, once of the beneficiary institutions of the project.He indicated that, government plans to expand the project even further and has secured additional funding of $60 million dollars from the World Bank and $40 million Euros from the German Government through KFW Bank to train at least 50,000 more beneficiaries over the next five years.

In concluding, he indicated that, in addition to the training provided, the GTVP project has had a very positive impact on the TVET system in Ghana.

Key among them being that, numerous training institutions have been encouraged through the project to register with CTVET and are keen to achieve official accreditation for CBT implementation. Also, it has resulted in trade associations and informal sector training providers being encouraged to register withCTVET.

Furthermore, through the project, Ghana has witnessed the Competency Based Training (CBT) approach being implemented on a large scale for a large number of Ghanaian youths.

Moreover, we have witnessed the modernization of traditional apprenticeship system in Ghana through the implementation of the project. Finally, the project has strengthened CTVET as the regulatory body for TVET in Ghana.

BY LAWRENCE MARKWEI, DABOKPA