Twenty-four facilitators have been certified with advanced skills in teaching knowledge, attitudes and practical competencies in green waste management and the circular economy.
Following their certification, the facilitators are expected to train the next cohort of 60 selected learners under a new curriculum covering fashion design, electrical engineering, plumbing and building construction.
The beneficiary students will be equipped to manage waste generated in their respective trades while ensuring that products and processes are environmentally sustainable.
The training, conducted under the CircuWasteVETAfrica project, forms part of a two-year programme which began in 2025 and is aimed at addressing Africa’s growing waste management challenges by turning them into economic opportunities through specialised vocational education focused on green skills and circular economy principles.
Funded by the European Union’s Erasmus Plus programme, the project is being implemented in Ghana, Namibia, Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe. It seeks to develop a cutting-edge top-up curriculum that integrates sustainable waste management and circular economy practices into existing technical and vocational education and training courses.
In Ghana, the Ramseyer Technical Institute is playing a key role in the implementation of the CircuWasteVETAfrica project.
Boosting future employment
Speaking at the close of the first phase of the Erasmus Plus programme in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, the Project Lead, Mr Anthony Sarkodie Amankwah, described CircuWasteVETAfrica as more than a conventional training initiative.
He said the programme would significantly enhance learners’ future employment prospects while also empowering facilitators with opportunities for professional growth.
Mr Amankwah, who is also the Vice Principal in charge of Academic and Skills Delivery at the Ramseyer Technical Institute, explained that the initiative represents a sustainable development drive that offers a pathway for transforming environmental challenges into opportunities for growth and income generation for African professionals.
Addressing the waste challenge
An Assistant Manager at the Ashanti Regional Directorate of the Ghana TVET Service, Mr Emmanuel Agyei Berko, highlighted the scale of the waste management problem in Ghana and across the African continent.
He said TVET institutions had established environmental green clubs to promote the idea that waste materials are valuable resources that can be reused and recycled.
Mr Berko reiterated that the project would improve learners’ employability while also supporting career development for facilitators, stressing its transformative potential in helping Ghana address its waste challenges.
Participant perspectives
One of the trainers, Mr Collins Asenso Opoku, said the project had provided him with valuable insights into how waste is generated, collected and recycled into useful products.
“This project has been a blessing to me; it has helped me a lot, and I’m happy to be part of it,” he said.
For her part, one of the participants, Ms Yaa Anima Adugyamfi, a caterer, underscored the usefulness of waste products, noting that “it is not necessarily waste but it can be recycled and put to good use”.
