Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, the Minister of Employment, Labour Relations, and Pensions, has launched the ‘Integrated Action on Green Jobs and Skills Project’ in Accra.
The Project is an initiative aimed at promoting a sustainable and inclusive transition to a green economy in Ghana.
It focuses on skills development, green jobs creation and policy support; aimed at contributing to Ghana’s sustainable development, reduce poverty, and mitigate the effects of climate change.
Mr Baffour Awuah commended the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the European Union (EU) for supporting the Project and that the Ministry would continue to play its role of ensuring that green job interventions were effectively coordinated and harmonized to support the development of green enterprises and to create green jobs.
The Ministry in collaboration with other stakeholders is implementing the National Green Jobs Strategy as part of efforts to help minimize job losses and maximise the potential of the green and circular ec
onomy for the creation of decent green jobs in Ghana.
Mr Baffour Awuah recalled that Ghana signed the Paris Agreement on Climate Change aimed at increasing climate resilience in 2016, and that as a sequel to that, the Government demonstrated its commitment by developing and implementing the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) aimed at reducing emissions and the impact of climate change on the environment and livelihoods.
He said since 2017, there had been a series of calls from stakeholders to ensure there was a smooth transition from the brown to the green economy.
He said the major concern was for the Government to institute effective measures that would maximise the positive impacts and minimize the negatives; adding that this was particularly important considering the emerging shift in Ghana’s economic development towards the promotion of green economic activities.
He said research by ILO had also revealed that the emerging green and circular economy had enormous potential for job creation if t
he right measures are put in place.
He underscored that it was in the light of this that the Ministry partnered the ILO to develop the maiden National Green Jobs Strategy in 2021.
The Minister said it had ben realiased that they could only maximise the job creation potential of the emerging green and circular economy through skills development in the value chain.
He said it was in view of this fact that Component 2 of the Strategy focuses on green skills development; declaring that without the skills it would be difficult to take advantage of the opportunities created by green technologies and innovations.
Mr Baffour Awuah said after the development of the Strategy, funding became a major challenge for implementation.
‘It is in the light of this that today, we are happy to collaborate with the ILO and EU to kick-off the implementation of the project, dubbed the ‘Integrated Action on Green Jobs and Skills Project’, focused on supporting the implementation of the green skills component of the strategy.’
D
r Vanessa Phala, the ILO Country Director for Ghana, expressed joy that the ‘Integrated Action on Green Jobs and Skills Project’ had officially taken off in Ghana.
‘Let me congratulate you all for such an excellent showing! We have enjoyed great cooperation, invaluable insights, and contributions from you all towards the development of this Project and for its implementation,’ she said.
Source: Ghana News Agency