890 artisans from Western, Ashanti, Greater Accra, and Northern Regions have been licensed and inducted by the Ghana Institute of Engineering to operate as professional artisans under its Craftsmen Register.
Artisans with backgrounds in varied areas of construction engineering are beneficiaries of the Professionalization of Artisans (ProfArts) project jointly funded and implemented by Invest for Jobs, an initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, BMZ, and implemented by GIZ together with other partners.
Speaking at the Takoradi induction, the Team Leader of Invest for Jobs at GIZ Ghana, John Chamond Duti, said the ProfArts project was born out of the need for professional artisans for Ghana’s construction sector.
“Despite the growth and job potential of the construction sector, the sub-sector is often confronted with lack of qualified workers, technical skill gaps, lack of soft skills and customer orientation, as well as significant unmet demand for skilled artisans… Ghana’s artisans and construction businesses cannot afford to remain static, but need to act and become more competitive. Most buildings are fraught with rising moisture content in walls, leaking roofs, cracks, and structural failure, just to mention a few. This makes it crucial for Ghana’s construction sector to be properly regulated and ensure quality controls“, he said.
The Team Leader of Invest for Jobs at GIZ Ghana, John Chamond Duti, further said that the ProfArts project’s partnership with Vodafone Ghana, Robert Bosch Ghana, the Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG), uvex safety Germany and the Artisans Association of Ghana has not only built their capacities over the six months of the cohort 2 but also ensured adequate marketing linkages and financial literacy for the artisans.
“The ProfArts project has improved the employability of local artisans and micro-enterprises in the construction sector and the associated value chain, through technical skill upgrade training, business skills training, tool training, financial literacy training; and licensing under the Ghanaian craftsmen register of the Ghana Institution of Engineering. Through digital training and the ProfArts mobile application, the artisans will gain access to a larger customer network and be able to offer their services more efficiently“, he added.
The President of the Ghana Institute of Engineering, Ing. Rev. Prof. Charles Anum Adams, who inducted the artisans into their fold, said they are now equal members of the Institute but noted that the only way they can justify their membership status and sustain it would be to exhibit professionalism as artisans.
Ing. Rev. Prof. Charles Anum Adams however urged government to value artisans and skill developments as well as its regulation to aid job creation and address unemployment.
“Until we pay attention to the training and giving of skills to young people in this country, all the talking about creating jobs won’t happen. If we don’t pay attention to engineering and regulation of engineering, all that the politicians are saying will be a waste. Because there are many people who get paid for talking but engineers, do and they are paid. There is a difference between talking and doing. Engineering is about doing things, therefore if we don’t pay attention to giving skills to people properly, and am not saying teaching them about skills but am saying doing things.”
“There is a difference between teaching people to do things and telling them about how to do things. Anybody can read a book and tell people how to do things. We must pay attention to people who can do things, encourage them, recognize them, and professionalize them and we need the government itself to see this project as something that they must take seriously and help so that we can carry it further because in that way we can create a lot more sustainable decent jobs for our citizens”, he noted.
Representing the Vice Chancellor of Takoradi Technical University, the Director for the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education at TTU, Kweku Sarfo-Ankamah, said the directorate collaborated with the ProfArts project to train the artisans in about 9 trade areas to enable them to develop the right professional work attitude to help keep their clients and even potential clients. Prof. Ankamah however said TTU has several programmes for career progression hence urging the craftsmen to take advantage of TTU’s offer of programmes to continuously enhance their craft.
The new members of the Ghana Institute of Engineering were presented with their certifications.