Skills in Ghana Program

completed

To accelerate its social and economic transformation, Ghana needs to increase the education system's efficiency and develop a decisive digital skills agenda that will formalize the economy and increase productivity across all sectors. A renewed skills agenda is particularly relevant as Ghana's population continues to expand rapidly from 27.5 million in 2015 to more than 50 million by 2050, with more than 57% of the population under the age of 25 and the working-age population at 75.1%. Leveraging this demographic dividend to build a skilled workforce will be critical for realizing Ghana's development potential. Improving the employability of Ghanaians and attaining greater competitiveness in the labor and markets will produce greater participation of young women and men in the economy. IFC is the largest multilateral investor in private education in emerging markets and has invested nearly US$2 billion in this sector globally since 2000. IFC has now developed an advisory offer to complement its investment activity in education. IFC’s Employability Tool is an innovative appraisal instrument which assesses tertiary education providers, including vocational training institutions, on delivery of employability outcomes in a systematic manner. The assessment provides a 360 degree view of an institution’s approach to student employability, including employability strategy and governance, the relevance of teaching and learning to labor market developments, approaches to career services and alumni management, as well as incorporation of employer engagement and information technology. The Objective of the Skills in Ghana Project is to improve employability-related processes and operations in tertiary level education institutions (TVET, colleges, and universities) in Ghana and thus help institutions to provide improved employability services to students. The Project is implemented in partnership with the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), the regulator, and it takes a programmatic sector level approach by engaging both public and private institutions to develop a sector level “language” and data-driven understanding of employability.