The Ghanaian-European Centre for Jobs, Migration and Development (GEC) in collaboration with the Labour Department of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) has launched the sixth edition of its annual career fair in Accra.
Dubbed the ‘Ghana Career and Migration Fair 2023’, it will bring together Ghanaian, German and European stakeholders to explore opportunities in improving youth employment through technical and vocational skills training for sustainable job creation, entrepreneurship and skills development for skilled labour migration in Germany and the European Union (EU).
The event is also aimed at sensitising Ghanaian labour market stakeholders within the skilled labour migration sector on employment opportunities; including skilled employment, education, technical and vocational training opportunities within the West African sub-region and EU job market.
Slated for November 29, 2023 at the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA) auditorium, it will among other things focus on how successfully trained and talented young people will find jobs, and also learn how they can be upskilled to be competitive in the global market and thus further develop the local market.
As the country’s youthful population continues to grow, GEC is confident the fair will add to government’s efforts at providing an enabling environment that facilitates the creation of decent employment for the youth.
Component Manager-GEC, Kwaku Yeboah, added that the fair will feature capacity-building components in the area of soft skills development and is open to about 2,000 people.
He noted that: “The Career and Migration Fair 2023 is one media through which the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is supporting the Ghanaian European Centre of GIZ Ghana, to explore the benefits of a 360-degree migration circle in creating opportunities for employment and skills training for the youth.
“The 360-degree migration circle concept implies that GEC deals with all aspects of migration: before, during and after migration.”
The country has to create over a million jobs in order to absorb the youth unemployment numbers, and Director for Research and Planning at the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Agya Yaw Nsiah, said this must be a shared responsibility.
“For us, it is a shared responsibility and not the duty of one government entity, the private sector or development partners. We all need to come together and work closely, impactfully in order to provide jobs for young people,” he said.
He added that the economy has been growing – but not at a rate to provide enough jobs for young people, hence other opportunities must be explored.
“We believe the best resource we have is human capital; and so, if we have unemployment situations in the country, then it is good to explore how Ghanaian talent can work elsewhere to their cultural and economic benefit.
“This programme is very important and we believe that it is going to be more than we have seen in previous years. We want to engage young people,” he said.
Since 2018, GEC has connected approximately 16,891 jobseekers to 413 employers, with 1,140 of 1,455 vacancies filled. The Ghana Career Fair is the GEC’s flagship annual event, and has continuously evolved over the years: physical, virtual – due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hybrid and decentralized in Accra, Kumasi, Sunyani and Tamale.
