The Accra Technical University (ATU) has initiated steps to introduce short courses and offer certification for informal sector workers seeking to build their capacities and expand their scope of knowledge.

The initiative is in line with the University’s mandate of providing opportunities for technical and professional skills development as well as developing strong linkages and collaboration with relevant organisations.

The ATU signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Informal Economy Workers Forum Ghana (INFORUM), an umbrella organisation of various informal workers associations and unions.

At the signing ceremony, Professor Amevi Acakpovi, the Acting Vice Chancellor of the University, said the courses when rolled out would contribute to the formalisation process of the informal sector through a rigorous certification process.

“The informal economy consists of activities that have market value but are not formally registered. The informal worker lacks certification and recognition, but contributes to the economy considerably,” he said.

In the coming months, the ATU will be holding stakeholder consultations with support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to identify skill deficiencies of the target groups, document the needs and challenges and design courses that are fit for purpose.

Mr Adetor Frank Kwasi, National Project Coordinator for the ILO’s Global Programmes on Skills and Lifelong Learning, observed that government funding rarely reached actors in the informal apprenticeship system, which continued to train millions of young people in Africa.

He said despite those funding challenges, Ghana had made strides over the past decade to transform and strengthen the apprenticeship system with several initiatives.

Mr Kwasi noted that initiatives such as the development of the National Apprenticeship Policy in 2021 and the conduct of analysis of the Apprenticeship System within the ILO’s Quality Apprenticeship Model in 2021 were a step in the right direction.

“Subsequent to this, the ILO will work with the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) to pilot the Quality Apprenticeship Model here in Ghana 2023 with the possibility of scaling it up in the ensuing years,” he said.

Mrs Charity Okine, a member of INFORUM in an interview said the courses would reduce the discrimination she faced in her line of work due to her inability to acquire any certificate for her skills and experience.

“I make clothes and yet I don’t have anything to show for it. There was a time I applied for passport, and they requested I show prove of my occupation. Because I didn’t have any certification, they wrote seamstress on my form. I didn’t like it, but I couldn’t say anything,” she said.