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Successful inception workshop for reviving Ghanaian agricultural TVETs project

15-01-2020

At the end of 2019, The Ghanaian Orange Knowledge Project aimed at reviving Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Ghana by integrating Farm Institutions (FI’s) in the wider agricultural education system, got underway with an inception workshop

At the workshop, it was discussed how the training courses would be organized as to content, duration, delivery and how they would be integrated into the overall agricultural training system of Ghana. Much attention was also give to the communications and marketing strategy that hopefully boosts enrolment of students in the F.I’s. The Dutch partners are actively participating in this process of rebranding. The experiences that they can share with the F.I’s are of utmost important. Especially Graafschap College in the Netherland has faced similar problems with regard to low enrolment. Their experience with rebranding of TVET institutions is very important. The role of the (Ghanaian and Dutch) partners is to be a role model. They share their best practices and ideas with the Farm Institutes and their experts are involved in the development and the implementation of the rebranding.

The partners agreed to implement the following strategy to attract more students in the Farm Institutes:
The F.I’s will organize business-Information workshops and events on/ for agri-business
F.I management will actively visit secondary schools in their region to promote the Farm Institutes
The F.I’s develop and implement a stronger business-oriented curriculum
The F.I’s will develop a Moodle platform to reach out to students online.
The F.I’s will create an up-ward career path for students that will ensure further development and specialization of students’ knowledge and skills as well as link to the private sector through internships and apprenticeships.

Reviving agricultural TVETs
In this project Ghanaian Public Farm Institutes and Dutch organizations join forces to end hunger (sdg2). This will be accomplished through reviving agricultural technical and vocational education and training in Ghana by integrating farm institutions in the wider agricultural education system with public agricultural colleges and universities.

The aim is to enhance the educational and organizational capacity of the three Farm Institutes; Asuansi Farm Institute, Wenchi and Adidome Farm Institutes. These are currently challenged, as they can’t attract sufficient students. However, the Farm Institutes are very important in strengthening the agricultural potential of the Ghanaian population. Therefore, this project will support them to rebrand the institutes in order to enhance their image, become more attractive for secondary education graduates as well as professional agriculturalists.

Nuffic Orange Knowledge Programme
This project is part of the Orange Knowledge Programme. Nuffic OKP contributes to a society’s sustainable and inclusive development by providing access to education and training for professionals and organisations in technical vocational education and training (TVET) and higher education. It is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of its development cooperation policy. The subsidy programme is managed by Nuffic, a Dutch non-profit organisation for internationalisation in education. It offers funding for long-term, demand-driven partnerships between Dutch knowledge institutions and organisations in 19 participating countries, as well as individual scholarships and Tailor-Made Trainings in all 53 selected countries. The € 195-m, five-year programme ends mid-2022, enabling tens of thousands to change their future. From the Dutch development cooperation policy, 4 priority themes have been selected on which to focus in the programme: Food and Nutrition Security; Water, Energy and Climate; Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights; and Security and Rule of Law. Cross-cutting themes in this programme are inclusion, employability and environmental sustainability.

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