Promoting Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) in Ghana
Agriculture plays a key role in economic growth and is an important contributor to various sectors of the Ghanaian economy. Recently MSM in collaboration with its consortium partners has completed two Nuffic Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP) projects in the West African country, which focused on strengthening and revamping the Agricultural TVET sector in Ghana.
Project 1: “Institutional strengthening of national bodies for technical and vocational education in Ghana”
Over the past 4 years, MSM in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Kwadaso Agricultural College, Ansuansi Farm Institute, CINOP and AERES group supported the further development of the Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) sector in Ghana at national level. The project strengthened the Commission For Technical And Vocational Educational Training (CTVET) and other bodies to support integration of the ATVET sector in the TVET system, to develop/finalize a NQF, revise and develop NQF proof ATVET curricula and develop an action plan for implementation. In strengthening the entire ATVET chain, the consortium worked towards quality education that provides Ghana with a skilled workforce to strengthen its agricultural sector, bring economic growth, and ensure income for individual households and appropriate agricultural work for its young population.
Project 2: “Reviving agricultural technical and vocational education and training in Ghana”
In this project Ghanaian Public Farm Institutes and Dutch organizations joined forces to take steps to end hunger (sdg2). To strengthen food security in Ghana, the project focused on reviving agricultural technical and vocational education (TVET) and training in Ghana by integrating farm institutions in the wider agricultural education system with public agricultural colleges and universities. The educational and organizational capacity of three Farm Institutes; Asuansi Farm Institute, Wenchi and Adidome Farm Institutes has been enhanced throughout the project. These Farm Institutes are very important in strengthening the agricultural potential of the Ghanaian population and have been supported in rebranding the institutes in order to enhance their image, become more attractive for secondary education graduates as well as professional agriculturalists. This has been done by actively promoting agricultural programs through among others, TV, social media and billboards.
Furthermore, also the curricula of the farm institutes have been renewed as it was found that before the project intervention, they did not meet the demands of the labour market. With support of the project, accredited programs have been obtained which strengthens the position of the institutes.
Milestones of the project
- Renewed and accredited agricultural programs at the farm institutes that meet the needs of the industry
- More entrepreneurial school campuses with new equipment/facilities where students can put theory into practice. Students can be better educated to enter the workforce after graduating
- Successful study visit of CTVET officials to the Netherlands learn how to improve and adapt the educational system
- Development of an enforcement policy and implementation plan for the agricultural education sector
- Created awareness towards agricultural education through active communication strategies
- Development of a digital platform to ensure enforcement systems are in place to gather data from educational institutions to be able to make informed decisions.
- Staff has been capacitated
- Websites for all beneficiary farm institutes to strengthen their online presence
- Developed e-learning platforms (Moodle) to make sharing educational agricultural knowledge and resources more accessible
- Farm institute students inspired to be successful farmers
We like to thank all parties involved who have closely collaborated and worked tirelessly to make the promotion of ATVET in Ghana a success!
Orange Knowledge Programme
This project is part of the Orange Knowledge Programme (OKP) which is funded by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and managed by Nuffic. For more information click here.