Parliament approves $200m for jobs, skills training

Parliament has approved an agreement for $200 million to fund the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project (GJSP).

The project will offer competency based apprenticeship and entrepreneurial skills development to the youth and offer grants to individuals as well as micro and small enterprises to create decent jobs or establish new businesses.

Job creation

The project, expected to create a total of 199,500 jobs, made up of 94,000 direct jobs and 105,000 indirect jobs, will be implemented over a six-year period and is expected to end on June 30, 2026.

It will be implemented by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COVET) and the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).

The agreement for the project was presented to the House on July 22, 2020 by the Minster of Defence, Mr Dominic Nitiwul, on behalf of the Minister of Finance.

The Speaker, pursuant to Article 103 of the Constitution and Orders 169 and 171 of the Standing Orders of the House, referred the agreement to the Finance Committee for consideration and report.

Project components

Presenting the report, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, indicated that the project was structured around five components with various sub-components.

The first component, he said, involved the provision of apprenticeship training for jobs at the cost of $60 million while component two would take care of the provision of entrepreneurship and micro and small enterprise support for jobs, also costing $100 million.

Component three, he said, would cover the operationalisation of the Ghana labour market information system, upgrading of district public employment centres and services, and independent performance reviews of select government youth and skills development programmes at the cost of $30 million.

Additionally, component four, estimated at $10 million, will ensure capacity development, technical assistance and project management support for enhanced skills and jobs impact, with component five centring on contingent emergency response.

Employment

Dr Assibey-Yeboah said an estimated number of 25,000 individuals would receive entrepreneurship training under a standardised, quality-assured system under the programme.

Out of the number, about 70 per cent are expected to have jobs within six months after the completion of their training, amounting to a minimum of 17, 500 jobs, he said.

“A minimum number of 50,000 individuals are also expected to receive entrepreneurship training under a sub component of the project.

“This sub component will also support 5,000 individuals through competitive business start-up grants and mentorship support upon successful participation and completion of an intermediate level of entrepreneurship training,” Dr Assibey-Yeboah stated.

He noted that about 70 per cent of the trainees were expected to have jobs six months after the completion of their training, amounting to at least 35,000 individuals.

The chairman indicated that under another sub component, at least 700 competitive grants would be provided to private enterprises and a minimum of 42,000 individuals were expected to be employed in those private enterprises six months after the implementation of the grant.