The Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) has begun the training of individuals and institutions in Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET).

This project, dubbed “Accelerating Change Through InnoVation in Agricultural TVET (ACTIVATE),” is sponsored by the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) in collaboration with the MasterCard Foundation.

Addressing the participants at the inaugural ceremony at the New Auditorium, AAMUSTED, Kumasi on February 24, 2025, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Frederick Kwaku Sarfo, explained that the ACTIVATE project was a 5-year intensive training programme aiming to strengthen social inclusivity, gender-responsiveness, and market-driven ATVET systems in the country and beyond.

He was hopeful that the project would also facilitate sustainable employment pathways and enhance the well-being and resilience of youth by blending education with high-quality and market-relevant skills training in specific value chains while promoting agripreneurship.

A total of 500 participants, he said, had been drawn from various agricultural-based educational institutions, agric-based hubs and incubation centres across the country to undergo the ACTIVATE specialised training for up to one year, after which diplomas or certificates would be awarded to successful participants respectively.

A section of the participants at the opening ceremony

The Vice-Chancellor indicated that the training had been deliberately modelled on Competency-Based Training (CBT), a new approach to learning that could help learners acquire critical skills through hands-on application and modern approaches to become efficient facilitators or assessors in the areas from which they were drawn into the programme.

Prof. Sarfo encouraged participants to seize the opportunity to reduce gender-specific barriers and promote disability and refugee inclusion, build collaborations by fostering links among stakeholders, and develop solutions that address challenges in the agricultural sector.

“AAMUSTED expects that by going through the workshop, you will become true ambassadors of CBT in ATVET delivery in your various institutions,” he stressed, highly commending the programme sponsors for their ingenuity and timely intervention towards the reshaping of the agricultural sector of the country.

The Dean of Technical Education (FTE) of AAMUSTED and Project Coordinator, Prof. Emmanuel Appiah-Kubi, intimated that the success of the ACTIVATE project will drive growth in institutions and industry.

He noted that Ghana could benefit enormously from ACTIVATE since the project will promote quality of instruction in ATVET institutions and enhance the collaborative efforts between academia and industry for the growth of agriculture and TVET.

Classroom sessions of the project