The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) – through its programmes Ghanaian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration (GGC) and the Migration and Employment component of the Programme for Sustainable Development (MEP-PSED) and the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) – held a kick-off meeting to start the implementation of a new project on ‘Capacity Building of the Ghanaian Labour Department in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regions on Migration and Employment Promotion’ at a short ceremony in Accra.
The project, which has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), aims to strengthen the capacity of the Labour Department in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regions to promote employment opportunities and deal with labour migration and reintegration issues. The objective is to discourage the youth from leaving the country through irregular pathways. The project is based on the existing collaboration between the GIZ and the MELR.
Hinged on four core areas – Technical Trainings, Infrastructure Improvement, Employment Promotion and Awareness Creation and Networking – the project will run until the end of 2022.
In his remarks, the Head of Programme, Programme for Sustainable Economic Development (PSED) of GIZ Ghana, Detlev Axel Jahn said: “This cooperation is based on the universal desire to improve the functions and service delivery of the Labour Department and its affiliated Public Employment Centres.
“This is to improve public access to information on the formal labour market or job vacancies; to restore confidence in the efficiency of Employment offices in the country’s private sector; and to help enable the Labour Department and its PECs to better fulfil their mandates.”
Providing reasons for choosing the three regions, Detlev Jahn explained that “The regions selected for this special intervention (Bono, Bono East and Ahafo) are among the migration hotspots in the country. The regions are characterised by high rate of illegal migration and significant amount returning migrants”.
Director for Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR), Emma Ofori-Agyeman, reiterated the ministry’s the migration cycle from when people are employed to when they retire. She called on all partners to commit to the project’s success, because it has great potential for changing the fortunes of youth in the selected regions for the better.
