Underemployment, high youth unemployment and many jobs in the informal sector are a major challenge in Ghana.

To tackle this and promote employment opportunities and sustainable economic growth, the German Development Cooperation and the International Labour Organization (ILO) have signed a joint work plan to create decent jobs in Ghana.

"The cooperation aims to better position Ghana's growing textile and garment industry and the shea sector on the global market and to increase the productivity and competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)", said Wilhelm Hugo, Coordinator of the Sustainable Economic Development Cluster at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), which is working with ILO on behalf of the German Federal Government.

Together, GIZ and ILO want to include training on occupational health and safety as well as production and quality management modules. This is because more than 90 per cent of Ghanaians of working age are employed in the informal sector and usually have neither vocational training nor social security.

On his part, David Marcos, Head of Programme, Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work at the ILO, stated that working jointly with GIZ provides an impetus for garment manufacturers, shea producers, and SME owners to deliver quality, a core requirement for increased market access and improving the business ecosystem.

GIZ and ILO, over the last few years, have collaborated on several projects, including the “Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) Programme,” which has since 2021 assisted over 400 SMEs to improve their productivity, resource efficiency, and job creation potential through SCORE Training.

The signing of the joint workplan falls within the framework of the GIZ-implemented Special Initiative “Decent Work for a Just Transition” of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the ILO’s Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work programme.