In the quest to reduce unemployment among the youth in Ghana, ‘Invest for Jobs’, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has launched Hospitality Learning and Job Creation Hub to provide specialised academic and particular training for over a hundred youth within the hospitality sector.
This initiative in partnership with the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) aimed at creating immediate employment.
Invest for Job is the brand of the Special initiative on training and job creation, implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH among others.
A survey conducted indicated that half of the young people between the ages of 15-24 in Ghana are currently out of school and out of these 27% do not work.
GIZ and MEST are therefore seeking to address this growing unemployment situation with a targeted project that qualifies young people for the employment-promising Hospitality Sector.
The tourism and hospitality sector are major drivers of the Ghanaian economy. Projections for tourist receipt in the national tourism development plan (2013 – 2027) show a rise from $1.5 billion in 2017 to $2.5 billion in 2022 and $4.3 billion in 2027.
The gross contribution of foreign exchange to GDP is also expected to rise from 5.0% in 2017 to 5.2% in 2022 and reach 5.7% by 2027 (ILO, 2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the sector to a range of external factors which have had adverse impacts on the sector.
To further build resilience against the impacts of these factors, a range of trends including digitalisation demand for increased quality of customer service and related skills development is expected to drive the change.
According to Israel Agbeti, Director of Consultancy at MEST, the project combines both traditional classroom, apprenticeship, and practical methodologies.
“Training will involve in-hotel accommodation for trainees and hands-on lessons from experienced hoteliers and consultants. The course to be provided include food and beverage services, bartending, and strategic managers’ training. The training will be conducted by JB Consultant Group with practical situational training expected to take place at La Villa Boutique Hotel, Accra; both JB Consultant Group and La Villa Boutique Hotel are collaborating with MEST on the project,” Mr. Agbeti revealed.
The project will also provide a platform where trainees and well-established hospitality industry players will be matched, thereby creating employment opportunities.
On her part, speaking at the launch on Wednesday in Accra, Anne-Marie Castel-Langefeld, Head of business and Invest Component Special Initiative on Training and job creation explained that “the project falls within the core mandate of Invest for Jobs: Creating training opportunities and jobs especially for the youth and women by partnering with the private sector to address investment barriers like the qualification of potential employees”.
She further disclosed that through this cooperation with MEST, 120 training opportunities and 90 jobs are expected to be created by the end of 2022.
