Ghana

The small contractor training programme of the Department of Feeder Roads has been ongoing since 1986. The programme has built up the capacity of the Department to plan, manage and control labour-based feeder road improvement by small contractors. A pool of 93 contractors was trained in the effective execution of such work. By the end of 1995, these firms had rehabilitated more than 1500 km of rural roads.

A World Bank supported ten-year National Feeder Road Rehabilitation and Maintenance Programme in Ghana aims, inter alia, to maximize the use of available labour-based contractors for feeder road rehabilitation. It also includes elements of community-based maintenance and rural transportation pilot activities. The ILO assisted in the implementation of the training component of the programme through a Training Adviser working with the Department of Feeder Roads to structure the national training programme and to eventually establish an international course in Koforidua.

The University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, the Department of Feeder Roads and the ILO started a programme of collaboration in 1992. Activities under this collaboration include studies of labour-based contractors' performance by civil engineering students, technical quality studies of roads built by labour-based contractors and research work at postgraduate level. The ultimate objective of the collaboration programme is to incorporate labour-based road technology into the engineering courses at the University. The University has also served as the African Universities Network coordinator.

Further reading