Diaspora expertise and technical vocational training

Ima Adamu, London, UK
March 26, 2024

G hana faces persistent high youth unemployment. Technical-vocational education training (TVET) connects the worlds of work and education. It expands the potential of young people and adults in a country that needs skilled labor for its development. TVET supplies skills for inclusive and sustainable growth as the country pivots towards a digital and green economy¹.

Ecosystem

In 2020, a new law established the Commission for TVET with a mandate to regulate and realign TVET institutions under the Ministry of Education. After this reform, 19 ministries partake in the TVET ecosystem. Before this governmental initiative, competing vocational scheme delivered training through formal and informal streams. Public training institutions operating different ministries duplicated traning schemes. Similarly, unstructured apprenticeship prevailed in private schools and enterprises through on-the-job training.

Today, Ghana has 575 offcially registered pre-tertiary TVET institutions (both private and public). But only 25 percent meet the national standards and are accredited by the national Commission. TVET is popular amongst the youth. Over the past seven years, enrolment in public pre-tertiary training institutions has increased from 31,281 students in 2015 to 100,086 students in 2020 and over 200,000 in 2023². However, to exert an impact and curb unemployment, TVET must be available in the regions. It must also diversify training programs and specifically incorporate the highly demanded field of digitization. In 2022, the unemployment rate was 13.6 percent, according the Ghana Statistical Services.

Date from the Commission indicate that Greater Accra and Ashanti regions lead with the highest numbers of accredited institutions, 82 and 43, respectively. Northern (27) and Eastern (23) regions also show substantial investment in technical education. Meanwhile, Central (17), Volta (13), and Western (11) regions exhibit moderate numbers. However, Upper West (6), Brong Ahafo (1), and several other regions have fewer accredited institutions.

In addition to regional disparities, the system continues to suffer from a gender bias. The data indicate a notable gender disparity in the distribution of scholarships between 2021 and July 2023, with a higher percentage of male recipients (69 percent) compared to female recipients (31 percent). This trend is evident across various technical universities.

Multilateral and bilateral donors

Since 2018, the government of Ghana has invested US$1 billion in TVET³. The ministry of Education used this investment to expand the infrastructure. It upgraded 34 National Vocational Training Institutions (NVTIs) and skills development centers. Twenty multilateral and bilateral donors have been involved in Ghana’s education sector since the reform of TVET began in 1987⁴. This cooperation with donors range from the provision of technical services to direct allocation of resources. Donor contributions include grants and loans, project aid, commodity aid, debt relief, and budget finance.

Multilateral financial and technical help to Ghana’s TVET comes largely from the European Union and the World Bank. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also provides expertise and funds. Bilateral donors include the Department for International Development (DFID-U.K) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and DANIDA (Danish International Development Agency) are prominent bilateral donors.

At the operational level, TVET training centers struggle to meet rising demand and rely as they continue to rely on a constraining self-funding. According the the Commission, 57.14 percent of TVET funding come from the government. In the private sector, 26.36 percent rely on school fees as major source of funding and 7.16 percent resource their workshop with funding from Parent Teachers Associations (PTA). In the public institutions however, 24.77 percent of training centers receive funding from government to resource their workshops. Industry sub-sectors contributed 7.14 percent to training materials, while Alumni accounted for 1.86 percent

The role of the diaspora

The government is mapping and categorizing diaspora geography and skills and acknowledges that the diaspora can contribute to Ghana’s development agenda, through knowledge, skills, and resources. They fill knowledge gaps, as members and leaders of scientific and technical networks in Ghana. This is goal of the Ghana's Diaspora Engagement Policy (DEP)⁵. However, at the operational level, the government needs to decentralize its diaspora engagement policy. This can include the creation direct collaboration frameworks between the diaspora and national institutions, such the Commission for Technical-Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), universities and private companies to its diaspora engagement.

The The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 1.5 to 3 million citizens of Ghana reside in countries such as Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, the UK, the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, and Canada. The IOM and the Ghanaian government believe that the diaspora can become a ‟catalyst for transformative change”⁶, for example in the field of skills transfer through the TVET system.

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