A reinforcement of Germany's commitment to vocational education and training in Ghana – the educataGhana 2022

Following the staging of the 2020 educataGhana in a hybrid format, Ghanaian vocational education and training experts and other interested parties came together for a face-to-face event in the Grand Arena in Accra mid-October 2022. educataGhana is a joint German-Ghanaian international education exhibition and ideas factory which is organised by the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana (German Chamber of Commerce and Industry Abroad, AHK) in conjunction with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Siemens Foundation and the German Sparkassenstiftung for International Cooperation. GOVET and iMOVE – Training made in Germany, which are both engaged in intensive bilateral collaboration with Ghana, are official partner institutions to educataGhana.

Hon. Bright Wireko-Brobby, Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, opened the third edition of the education and training fair by speaking about the relevance of such networking events for the education sector. He also stressed the significance of vocational education and training for the present government. Its Free Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Programme had made it easier for all groups of the population to access TVET. Via the Ghana Education Trust (GET) Fund further resources for quality improvement were also being made available.

Fred Kyei Asamoah, Director General of the Commission for TVET (CTVET), emphasised the close cooperation that was taking place between Germany and Ghana in TVET. The numerous development cooperation projects and initiatives instigated by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), such as a recent study trip to Germany, had provided TVET in Ghana with the momentum it needs. During the study trip in September 2022, which had been organised and mentored by BIBB and GOVET, he had been impressed to observe the degree of commitment displayed by all stakeholders involved in dual vocational education and training (VET). Mr Asamoah affirmed that one of the goals being pursued over the next few years was to establish a similar system adjusted to the Ghanaian context. He also called for new initiatives to be aligned to the findings which had emerged from the TVET Report that attracted great interest by the visitors. The information stand of the Commission for VET distributed all its copies of the printed version of Ghana’s first TVET Report before the first day was over.

The conference programme for this year's educataGhana focused on the tourism, construction, food and automotive sectors and on digitalisation and finance. Julia Olesen, Project Manager at GOVET, gave a presentation on the dual VET system in Germany and its success factors together with Bismark Ashiagbenu from AHK Ghana. Many attendees of the fair sought to enter into discussions at the GOVET stand, both following this presentation and throughout the whole event. The materials and service provision made available by iMOVE, in particular the opportunities afforded by the marketplace to search for providers or to submit requests, also met with a highly positive response.