10,000 Youth to receive training in tourism, hospitality

The committee is under the chairmanship of the minister with Ms Eva Mends of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Sampson Donkor of   Ghana Tourist Authority, Mrs Emelia Brew- Butler, Managing Director of Ghana Tourist Development Company Limited, Ms Judith Abase, acting Director of Hotel, Catering and Tourism Training Institute and Mr Passah, a representative of Ghana Tourism Federation.

The rest are Mrs Bertha Sogah, Chief Executive Officer of Micro-Finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Mr Nuru Hamidan, Deputy Co-ordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship Development Agency (GYEEDA) and Mr Henry Kangah, Director of Craft Pro Service Limited.

The training, which would be done in partnership with Messrs Pro-Craft, would cover hotel and restaurant services, chefs, handicraft producers and sellers, food vendors, tourist information personnel, taxi drivers and tour guides.

The two-year training programme is in fulfilment of the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) and the Tourism Act 817 aimed at job creation, income generation and poverty reduction through sustainable development of the tourism sector.

Ms Sena Dansua explained that the initiative was part of the ministry’s human resource development intervention policy to create more jobs and improve upon the quality of services in the tourism sector.

She said it was against that backdrop that a committee had been set up to guide the implementation process to ensure that the desired objectives were achieved in a cost–effective and timely manner.

She said the duty of the committee members was to prepare quarterly monitoring and evaluation calender highlighting  benchmarks and timelines.

 Throwing more light on their duties, Ms Dansua explained  that members of the committee would also provide linkages between the project and other projects being implemented by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as well as identify technical and financial inputs on behalf of the ministry to achieve the objective of the project.

She indicated that the successful implementation of the initiative required a collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism and MDAs whose activities were related directly to the human resource capacity building development objectives.

The minister added that the policies and programmes of the ministry were to expand tourism infrastructure to create jobs, increase tourist attraction, foreign exchange and contribute to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product.

She explained that the government was committed to a planned approach to the development of the tourism sector as a viable and competitive industry to contribute significantly to national development.

Story by Jennifer Ansah