Official Launch of Strengthen Project
Policy-makers and enterprises affirm that trade has an effect on employment/job creation globally however, the direction of the effect and linkages between them have been missing. A reference to developing countries shows that there are concerns about the distribution of gains from trade (ILO, 2011).
In view of this, the ILO with financial support from the EU and in close collaboration with the Ministries of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) and of Trade and Industry (MoTI), the social partners, and other national stakeholders; recognizing this gap in knowledge on the effects of trade and sectoral policies on employment creation in Ghana, designed a 28-month project entitled, “Strengthening the Impact of Sector and Trade Policies on Employment in Ghana’’. The Project focuses on two main components; a) Employment Impact Assessment of Public Policies in Selected Sectors, and b) Assessing and Addressing the Effects of Trade on Employment.
The project was officially launched on 13th October, 2016 after which a national inception workshop was held ending on 14th October, 2016. Stakeholders unanimously adopted the project work plan and the ensuing action points i) commission a desk review of Trade and Sector Policies with a focus on coherence with employment creation, ii) Focus on selected productive sectors namely: Agriculture, Infrastructure and Rural Development in synch with the National Employment Policy(NEP); iii) focus on the Yam value chain for employment creation and expansion of trade; iv) Tease out training/skill needs for capacity building of relevant stakeholders based on the productive sectors of the NEP and v) Undertake specifically a re- assessment of the Value Chain Analysis
Key activities of the project include; Methodology Tools and Assessments, Capacity Building, Social Dialogue, Programme Implementation in Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) and Trade and Value Chains Employment-Rich Activities (TRAVERA).
Recommendations:
In view of this, the ILO with financial support from the EU and in close collaboration with the Ministries of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) and of Trade and Industry (MoTI), the social partners, and other national stakeholders; recognizing this gap in knowledge on the effects of trade and sectoral policies on employment creation in Ghana, designed a 28-month project entitled, “Strengthening the Impact of Sector and Trade Policies on Employment in Ghana’’. The Project focuses on two main components; a) Employment Impact Assessment of Public Policies in Selected Sectors, and b) Assessing and Addressing the Effects of Trade on Employment.
The project was officially launched on 13th October, 2016 after which a national inception workshop was held ending on 14th October, 2016. Stakeholders unanimously adopted the project work plan and the ensuing action points i) commission a desk review of Trade and Sector Policies with a focus on coherence with employment creation, ii) Focus on selected productive sectors namely: Agriculture, Infrastructure and Rural Development in synch with the National Employment Policy(NEP); iii) focus on the Yam value chain for employment creation and expansion of trade; iv) Tease out training/skill needs for capacity building of relevant stakeholders based on the productive sectors of the NEP and v) Undertake specifically a re- assessment of the Value Chain Analysis
Key activities of the project include; Methodology Tools and Assessments, Capacity Building, Social Dialogue, Programme Implementation in Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) and Trade and Value Chains Employment-Rich Activities (TRAVERA).
Recommendations:
- Ghana’s Employment Policy cannot be a standalone document; it should be linked with other sectoral policies;
- Identify and focus on priority areas in trade with comparative advantage to create decent and sustainable jobs by adding value products along identified value chains;
- Integrate the concept of decent work and employment creation into sector and trade. The annual sectoral assessment report of each economic sector was to have job creation as one of the indicators.
- Low job creation in the area of trough exports within the MSME sector made it difficult for SMEs to meet export standards.
- A communication Strategy to address the attitudinal challenges by policy-makers and enterprises, and disconnect between trade policies and employment policies was needed to ensure a stronger link between trade and industrial policies.
- Assess the linkages between the National Employment Policy and Public Investment Policy (PI) as PI can be used as job creation tool through a coordination of investment and cost –benefits analysis.