COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (COTVET… GSTDP 2014... ·...

COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (COTVET)

PROJECT SUPPORT UNIT

GHANA SKILLS AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (GSTDP) PROJECT ID: P118112 IDA CREDIT NO. 4875-GH

ANNUAL REPORT

MARCH 2015

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (COTVET) .............................1

TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................................................................III

ACRONYMS .......................................................................................................................................................................... VI

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................................1

CHAPTER ONE: COMPONENT 1 ......................................................................................................................................3

1.0 INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING OF SKILLS DEVELOPMENT ..................................................................3

1.1 DEVELOPMENT OF QUALITY ASSURANCE MANUALS AND GUIDELINES ..................................................3 1.1.1 RECRUITMENT OF A CONSULTING FIRM TO DEVELOP QUALITY ASSURANCE MANUALS ............................................... 3 1.1.2 METHODOLOGY USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CBT QUALITY ASSURANCE MANUALS .................................... 4 1.1.3 STAKEHOLDERS’ VALIDATION WORKSHOPS ......................................................................................................................... 5 1.1.4 APPROVAL OF CBT QUALITY ASSURANCE MANUALS ......................................................................................................... 5 1.1.5 NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND ORIENTATIONS ON THE OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE CBT QUALITY ASSURANCE

MANUALS ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6

1.2 SUPPORT TO TVET PROVIDERS ............................................................................................................................7 1.2.1 RECRUITMENT OF A CONSULTING FIRM TO SUPPORT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPONENT 1 ............................. 7 1.2.2 EVALUATION OF TECHNICAL PROPOSALS FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR COMPONENT 1 ..................................... 8 1.2.3 CONTRACT NEGOTIATION AND SIGNING CEREMONY ........................................................................................................... 8 1.2.4 COMPREHENSIVE REPORT ON VISION, POLICY AND SUSTAINABLE FINANCING .............................................................. 9 1.2.5 TRAINING NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR COTVET STAFF ......................................................................................................... 9 1.2.6 DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF MIS FOR TVET SECTOR ................................................................................................. 10 1.2.7 PREPARATION OF SECTOR STUDY REPORT .......................................................................................................................... 10 1.2.8 SELECTION OF TECHNICAL/VOCATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUPPORT .............................................................................. 10 1.2.9 PRINTING OF CBT QUALITY ASSURANCE MANUALS, POLICY GUIDELINES AND CERTIFICATES SYSTEMS ................... 12

CHAPTER TWO: COMPONENT 2 .................................................................................................................................. 13

2.1 INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT ...................... 13

2.2 IMPLEMENTATION OF SUB-GRANTS ACTIVITIES OF FIVE STIS: .............................................................. 13 2.2.1 ESTABLISHMENT OF INSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES ................................................................................... 13 2.2.3 AWARD OF RESEARCH GRANTS ............................................................................................................................................... 14 2.2.4 DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR ................................................................. 14 2.2.5 CHALLENGES.............................................................................................................................................................................. 17 2.2.5.1 DELAY IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE STI BUILDING ................................................................................................... 17

CHAPTER THREE: SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FUND ................................................................................................. 18

3.1 PLANNED VRS ACHIEVED TARGETS FOR THE PROJECT ......................................................................... 18

3.2 SDF GRANT OPERATIONS................................................................................................................................... 20 3.2.1 COMMUNICATIONS AND OUTREACH ................................................................................................................................. 20

3.3 ANALYSIS OF GRANTS ......................................................................................................................................... 23 3.3.1 REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF GRANTS ............................................................................................................................. 23 3.3.2 DISTRIBUTION OF GRANTS BY FUNDING WINDOWS ...................................................................................................... 24 3.3.3 DISTRIBUTION OF GRANTS BY PRIORITY SECTORS .......................................................................................................... 24 3.4 ORGANISATION OF BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS ....................................................................................................................... 25

iv

3.5 CHANGES FOR OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY .................................................................................................. 25 3.5.1 CHANGES IN GRANT APPLICATION FORM ........................................................................................................................ 26 3.5.2 CHANGES TO TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP AND TECHNOLOGY CENTRE GRANT WINDOWS .................................. 26

3.6 UNIT COSTS OF GRANT PROJECTS .................................................................................................................. 28

3.7 KEY FACTORS ACCOUNTING FOR THE APPARENT SUCCESS OF SDF .................................................. 28

3.8 KEY CHALLENGES TO FUND MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................ 30 3.8.1 RISING COSTS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 30 3.8.2 POST APPROVAL IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT ............................................................................................................... 31 3.8.3 CLOSEOUTS ............................................................................................................................................................................ 31 3.8.4 IDENTITY OF SIGNATORIES ................................................................................................................................................. 31 3.8.5 INADEQUATE TECHNOLOGY CENTRE APPLICANTS ........................................................................................................ 31 3.8.6 QUALITY OF TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL PROPOSALS .................................................................................................. 32 3.8.7 TIMELY EXECUTION OF GRANT PROJECTS ......................................................................................................................... 32

CHAPTER FOUR: GOVERNANCE AND THE STRENTHENING OF COTVET AND THE TVET/TVSD SECTOR .............. 33

4.1 CAPACITY BUILDING FOR COTVET STAFF ......................................................................................................................... 33 4.2 DEVELOPMENT OF A TVET GUIDE ....................................................................................................................................... 34 4.3 ORGANIZE SKILLS COMPETITION /EXHIBITION ................................................................................................................. 35 4.4 PUBLIC EDUCATION ON REGULATIONS IN THE TVET SECTOR ......................................................................................... 35 4.5 FACILITATING PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE ALIGNMENT OF MISMATCHES IN THE DEMAND AND SUPPLY OF SKILLS IN

INDUSTRY .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 35 4.6 STRENGTHENING INDUSTRY PARTICIPATION IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WEL POLICY ................................ 36 4.7 MANAGING COTVET’S STRATEGIC PLAN ........................................................................................................................... 36 ANALYSIS OF THE COTVET ACT IN RELATION TO SISTER AGENCIES AND INSTITUTION ............................................................ 36 4.8 HARMONIZATION OF TVET ACTIVITIES ACROSS MDAS, TRAINING PROVIDERS AND INDUSTRY ................................ 37 4.9 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................................. 37

CHAPTER FIVE: FINANCIAL REPORT ........................................................................................................................ 38 5.0 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT.......................................................................................................................................................... 38 5.0.1 STATUS OF FINANCIAL REPORTING ....................................................................................................................................... 38 5.0.2 FINANCIAL SYSTEM .................................................................................................................................................................. 38 5.1 SUMMARY OF KEY FINANCE DEVELOPMENTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2014 ............................................................. 39 5.2 FINANCIAL SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR 2014 ............................................................................................................................ 40 5.3: 2014 BUDGET OUTTURN .......................................................................................................................................................... 43 5.4: BUDGET PROJECTIONS FOR THE PERIOD JANUARY 2015 TO JUNE 2016 ......................................................................... 45 5.5 ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL DETAILS ............................................................................................................................................. 46 5.5.1 VALUE OF GRANT OR CREDIT PROCEEDS AS OF DECEMBER 2014 .................................................................................. 46 5.5.2 PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE GSTDP APPROVED CATEGORY ALLOCATIONS................................................................ 47 5.6 SUMMARY OF KEY CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED IN THE YEAR 2014 .................................................................................. 49

CHAPTER SIX: GSTDP MONITORING AND EVALUATION AND MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

................................................................................................................................................................................................ 50 6.0 MONITORING AND EVALUATION................................................................................................................................................ 50 6.1 MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT ......................................................................................................................................................... 50 6.1.1 MONITORING OF PROJECTS’ IMPLEMENTATION .................................................................................................................. 50

6.1.2 Baseline Data Collection: ...................................................................................................................................................... 51 6.1.3 End of 2014 Assessment ........................................................................................................................................................ 52

6.2 SAMPLING ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 53

v

6.3 Progress in KPIs: Components 1&2 ...................................................................................................................................... 55 6.4 Progress in KPIs: Components 3 ............................................................................................................................................ 58

6.5 PROGRESS IN KPIS: COMPONENTS 4 ........................................................................................................................................ 61 6.6 SDF Sub-Projects Implementation Summary .................................................................................................................. 61 6.7 Regional Distributions of Sub-Projects .............................................................................................................................. 63 6.8 PDO Level Indicators: Productivity of Participating Firms ...................................................................................... 65 6.9 Productivity of Participating Firms: Results ................................................................................................................... 66 6.10 PDO Level Indicators: Investment in Skills and Technology by Participating Enterprises ..................... 70 6.11 GSTDP Employment Creation .............................................................................................................................................. 72

6.12 COTVET & PSU MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM .................................................................................................. 74 6.12.1 Major Accomplishments ..................................................................................................................................................... 74 6.12.2 Current and anticipated challenges .............................................................................................................................. 75 6.12.3 Steps to addressing the current and anticipated challenges ............................................................................ 75

CHAPTER SEVEN: GSTDP PROCUREMENT .............................................................................................................. 77

ANNEXES ............................................................................................................................................................................. 79

ANNEX 1: COMPONENT 1 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS TRACKING SHEET .......................... 79

ANNEX 2: COMPONENT 2 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS TRACKING SHEET .......................... 84

ANNEX 4: PROJECT CRITICAL RISKS AND POSSIBLE CONTROVERSIAL ASPECTS AND HOW THEY

HAVE BEEN MANAGED ................................................................................................................................................... 90

vi

ACRONYMS

AfDB African Development Bank

AgSSIP Agriculture Sub-Sector Improvement Project

CAS Country Assistance Strategy

CBT Competency Based Training

CEM World Bank Country Economic Memorandum

COTVET Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training

CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research

DANIDA Danish International Development Agency

DSIP Development of Skills for Industry Project

ED Executive Director of COTVET

EDSEP Education Sector Project

EFA Education For All

EOI Expression Of Interest

ERM-M External Resource Mobilization-Multilateral

ESMF Environmental and Social Management Framework

FM Financial Management

FMS Financial Management Specialist

GAEC Ghana Atomic Energy Commission

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GETFund Ghana Education Trust Fund

GNP Gross National Product

GOG Government of Ghana

GPRS Ghana/ Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy

GPRS II Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy

GSDI Ghana Skills Development Initiative

GSGDA Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda

GSTDP Ghana Skills and Technology Development Project

GTZ (German International Cooperation Agency)

GYEDA Ghana Youth and Entrepreneurship Agency

HIPC Heavily Indebted Poor Country

IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

vii

ICB International Competitive Bidding

ICCES Integrated Community Centres for Employment Skills

ICT Information and Communication Technology

IDA International Development Association

IDP Institutional Development Plan

IFC International Finance Corporation

IFRs Interim Financial Reports

IMF International Monetary Fund

IPRs Implementation Progress Reports

IPSAS International Public Sector Accounting Standards

JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency

KIS Key Informant Survey

KPI Key Performance Indicator

LI Legislative Instrument

M&E Monitoring & Evaluation

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

MEST Ministry of Environment, Science, and Technology

MESW Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare

MIS Management Information System

MOE Ministry of Education

MOFEP Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning

MSME Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises

MTDF Medium Term Development Framework

MTEF Medium-Term Expenditure Framework

MTR Mid-Term Review

NACVET National Coordinating Committee for Technical and Vocational Education and Training

NBSSI National Board for Small Scale Industries

NCB National Competitive Bidding

NEET Not in Education, Employment, or Training

NER New Education Reform

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

NPV Net Present Value

viii

NVTI National Vocational Training Institute

ORAF Operational Risk Assessment Framework

PBME Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring, and Evaluation

PC Project Coordinator

PDO Project Development Objective

PER Public Expenditure Review

PPRs Procurement Post Reviews

PSC Project Steering Committee

PSDSII Private Sector Development Strategy

PSU Project Support Unit

QBS Quality Based Selection

QCBS Quality and Cost Based Selection

R&D Research and Development

REP Rural Enterprise Project

S&T Science and Technology

SDF Skills Development Fund

SDR Special Drawing Rights

SIL Specific Investment Loan

SME Small & Medium Enterprise

STI Science, Technology and Innovation

STIP Science, technology, and innovation policy

TI Technical Institute

TOR Terms of Reference

TVET Technical Vocational Education and Training

TVI Technical and Vocational Institute

UNDP United Nations Development Program

1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Ghana Skills and Technology Development Project (GSTDP) is designed to stimulate skills and technology based development in key economic sectors through demand-driven improvements in the quality of formal and informal training and development and adoption of new technologies. The project is funded with an IDA facility of US$50 Million from the World Bank and a US$10 Million Grant from DANIDA in support of the Skills Development Fund, a component of the GSTDP. The five year project (2011-2016) is being implemented by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET). Four years of implementing the GSTDP has brought significant and transformational changes to the mode, output and quality of production and productivity improvements through skills and technology innovations and capacity enhancements of businesses, trade associations and farmer based groups, science, technology and research institutions. This report captures key gains made on all components of the project. Institutional Strengthening of Skills Development was a major focus of GSTDP in 2014. During the year, an international development consultancy firm, CADENA commenced and made significant progress in developing institutional systems to strengthen COTVET’s capacity to coordinate TVET delivery in Ghana. The further development and adoption of Competency Based Training (CBT) curriculum by various Training Institutes dominated the nature of progress under the Component. In all, 23 quality assurance, guidelines and guides to certification were developed and approved for use by TVET institutions. The development of market led innovative technologies by the five GSTDP science and technology institutional grantees marked a major milestone on the project. With the aim of strengthening the planning, management, and coordination of national Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies and programmes in order to make efficient use of resources and complement the national economic development plan through COTVET’s collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), all 5 institutions who benefitted from a total of US$ 2.5 Million Grant commenced the development of innovative technologies to improve productivity of the private sector. The major highlight of this report is the flagship of the GSTDP-the Skills Development Fund (SDF), which represents the project’s Component 3. During the year in review, SDF built upon gains made in 2013 by accelerating its outreach, subscriptions and disbursements. In 2014, 1,368 applications were received under the 4th and 5th Calls for Proposal out of which 307 worth US$ 30 Million were approved to pave way for the financing and implementation of various innovative skills and technology development projects aimed at increasing productivity and promoting competitiveness in the private sector. With the able support of intermediaries and staff of the COTVET Project Support Unit, the highest number of applications was recorded under the SDF with a much equitable spread across the country, compared to previous years when applications were skewed in favour of the Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions. Further improvements in the grants management processes also facilitated the

2

disbursement of US$ 12.1 Million in 2014 alone, the highest annual disbursement since the inception of the SDF. This report encapsulates the achievements on all components of the GSTDP while capturing the key challenges and recommendations for improved programme delivery and project management in the final one and half years of the project’s life.

3

CHAPTER ONE: COMPONENT 1

1.0 INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING OF SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

GSTDP, as part of its numerous objectives, is supporting COTVET to develop and adopt a national skills

strategy; establish a Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) management information

system, processes, and organization to coordinate, monitor and evaluate services across sectors and

agencies; develop guidelines for standards and qualification/certification and other services to assure

quality of training; and provide institutional support to selected formal skills development institutions.

The main objective of Component 1 is to strengthen government institutional capacity in planning,

coordination, quality assurance, and service delivery towards improved quality, relevance,

accountability, and effectiveness in skills development. The major focus of institutional development

and building of capacity for COTVET is expected to be realized through technical assistance. This

section presents details of accomplishments and/or achievements and challenges of the component

for FY2013 and plans for 2014.

1.1 DEVELOPMENT OF QUALITY ASSURANCE MANUALS AND GUIDELINES

In line with the fourth expected key intermediate results under component one, various guidelines

and quality assurance manuals have been developed to strengthen COTVET’s capacity to drive the

TVET reform agenda of Government that will significantly aid to effectively operationalize the

Legislative Instrument 2195. A consultant has therefore been engaged to develop specific guidelines

and manuals to assure quality in the delivery of skills training for both the informal and formal sector

and to also aid in building stronger linkages between industry and businesses on one side and the

training provider on the other.

1.1.1 Recruitment of a Consulting Firm to Develop Quality Assurance Manuals The objective for the recruitment is to engage an individual consultant to support COTVET to develop

CBT quality assurance manuals to operationalise the L.I 2195. The manuals are to be used by COTVET,

TVET providers and awarding institutions as guidelines and standards of compliance for the

development, approval, implementation and certification of TVET programmes that are industry

relevant and demand driven. Progress made in respect of this activity includes the preparation of TOR

for the tasks to be accomplished by the consulting firm and the engagement of the consultant

(CADENA International Development Project/IBF International Consulting). The consulting firm

assumed in March 2014 and has been working to finalise a total of 22 CBT quality assurance manuals

and guidelines. The manuals have been validated by key stakeholders, COTVET technical standing

committees and subsequently approved by the COTVET Board for adoption and implementation.

The manuals and guidelines inslude:

4

1. Manual for the registration and

accreditation of awarding bodies.


accreditation of training providers

3. Manual for the development of CBT

curriculum

4. Blueprint for the National TVET

Qualifications Framework

5. Approval of occupational standards and

qualifications

6. Registration of occupational standards on

the NTVETQF


accreditation of facilitators


accreditation of assessors


accreditation of internal verifiers


11. Accreditation of external verifiers

12. Centre approval to offer CBT programmes

13. Guide to certification

14. Guide to validation

15. Guide to internal verification

16. Guide to external verification

17. Manual for Quality Assurance

18. Manual on the recognition of prior learning

19. Manual on the implementation of CBT

programmes

20. Manual for the equivalences of

qualifications on the NTVETQF

21. Manual for CBT facilitation methods

22. Manual for CBT assessment

23. Manual for registration of awards on the

NTVETQF

1.1.2 Methodology Used in the Development of the CBT Quality Assurance Manuals As part of the processes to develop the manuals, the consultant carried a desk review of

international best practices as part of the manual development process. In addition, the

consultant visited sampled TVET providers clustered into Northern belt, Middle belt, Western

and Central belt, Eastern and Volta belt, and Greater Accra to gather relevant data for the

assignment. TVET providers consulted in the Northern belt were: Tamale Polytechnic, Wa

Polytechnic, Bolgatanga Polytechnic, Bolgatanga Technical Instititute, NVTI Training Institute and

GRATIS Foundation. TVET providers consulted at the Middle belt were: Kumasi Polytechnic,

Kumasi Technical Institute, Catholic Technical Institute, Ramsayer Technical/Vocational Institute,

University of Education- COLTEK, Suame-informal sector, NVTI-Suame, and AngloGold-Obuasi.

The Western and Central belt institutions were: Takoradi Polytechnic, Takoradi Technical

Institute, Ghana Cement, Kikam Technical Institute, OIC, Naval Base, Cape Coast Polytechnic,

Cape Coast Technical Institute, NVTI-Biriwa and Asuansi Technical Institute. Institutions

consulted in the Eastern and Volta belt were: Koforidua Ploytechnic, St. Pauls’ Technical Institute,

Ho Polytechnic, Kpando Technical Institute, and Comboni Vocational/Technical Institute. Those

consulted in the Greater Accra Region were: NVTI-PTI, NVTI-Dansoma, AdaTechnical Institute,

Tema Technical Institute, OICG, German Technical Training Center, Industrial Training Center-

Tema and Afienya Youth Training Center.

5

The consultant also had some consultations with some enterprises and industries amongst which

are: chamber of Mines, Chamber of Commerce, Association of Ghana Industries, National Council

for Tertiary Education, and National Accreditation Board among others in addition to some

ministries.

1.1.3 Stakeholders’ Validation Workshops As part of quality assurance measures and to ensure that the manuals and guidelines that have

been developed by the consultant reflects best practice and that various stakeholders inputs are

also factored, the council organized a number of stakeholders’ workshops to validate the

manuals. The objective of the validation workshops was to create a platform to share with the

stakeholders’ current trends and development that is driving TVET reform globally. The

validation workshop was also to create a platform for the consultant to share with the

stakeholders the content of the manuals and to solicit their inputs to finalise the documents for

approval. Indirectly, the validation workshops were also meant to give the stakeholders a sense

of ownership of the manuals by valuing and adopting their constructive inputs into what the

consultant has done for the Council.

Stakeholders that were involved in the validation workshops came from various institutions.

These include representations from the ministries, some universities, the polytechnics,

professional bodies, trade associations, public and private technical and vocational institutions,

employer associations and industries. Prior to any validation workshop, the documents were

forwarded to the stakeholders ahead of time for their study at the institutional level. To facilitate

meaningful inputs during the workshop, the consultant made presentations on each document

and time was allowed for questions and clarifications. Specific working groups were put together

to discuss and make inputs into the manuals for presentation, discussion and adoption to finalize

the documents for COTVET’s Board approval.

1.1.4 Approval of CBT Quality Assurance Manuals As part of the Council’s internal quality assurance arrangement, the COTVET Board approves all

operational manuals for Council’s adoption and implementation. In line with this, the Council

facilitated two workshops where the Board’s four technical standing committees and the Board.

Participants were taken through the methodology used in the development of the manuals, the

content of each manuals and how they should be implemented by the Council to effectively

operationalise the TVET reform backed by LI 2195. The Board was strict to ensure that the

adoption and implementation of the manual will facilitate the TVET reform agenda of

Government in line with LI 2195, which was passed by the Parliament of Ghana in 2012. The

6

Board upon their satisfaction with the content, processes and procedures used to develop the

manuals, approved them for adoption and implementation by the Council.

1.1.5 Needs Assessment and Orientations on the Operationalization of the CBT Quality Assurance Manuals As part of the TOR for the development of the manuals, the consultant carried out needs

assessment of both management and non-management staff of the Council in addition to a total

of ten (10) public and private TVET providers. The objective of the needs assessment was to find

out possible capacity challenges at the various institutional levels that could hinder the effective

adoption and operationlisation of the manuals. In respect of common challenges identified which

included among other things inadequate knowledge of the processes involved in the

implementation of TVET in the CBT mode, orientation workshops have been organized at the

institutional centers to update them on the how to adopt and implement the CBT manuals and

guidelines towards the institutionalization of demand driven CBT programmes in line with

Government policy. The intended objective of the orientations was to build the capacities of

selected TVET providers and staff in the effective use of the manuals for implementing CBT

programmes in line with the Legislative instrument 2195.

The orientation was particularly insightful as most of the training providers gained a deeper

understanding of the concept and dynamics of CBT that has been adopted as the mode of TVET

delivery in Ghana. Feedback gathered after the orientation indicated that the manuals will aid

the institutions in implementing industry responsive TVET programmes. It was also appreciated

that CBT programmes will enhance collaborations and linkages with industries for the

development and training of the requisite skilled manpower that are critical to support key

sectors of the economy. After the orientation, each of the schools have indicated their interest

to adopt CBT approach in implementing the under listed programmes, which are critical to

Ghana’s key economic sectors.

Table 1.1: Programmes indicated by some of the institutions to be implemented in the CBT mode

NO INSTITUTION PROGRAMME(S) TO IMPLEMENTED IN CBT

1 Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC) Electrical, Auto Mechanic, and Creative Art

Technology

2 National Vocational Training Institute

Pilot Training Centre (NVTI PTI)

Electronics, Electrical Installation, and ICT.

3 Koforidua Polytechnic Auto Engineering, Mechanical Engineering,

Electrical Engineering, Renewal Energy System,

7

NO INSTITUTION PROGRAMME(S) TO IMPLEMENTED IN CBT

Civil Engineering, and Building Technology.

4 OIC Hospitality and Catering, Welding, Auto

Mechanics, and Masonry

5 ICCES -

Hospitality and Catering, Electrical Installation,

and Dressmaking

6 2nd Image Fashion, Beauty, and Hairdressing.

7 Youth Leadership & Skills Training

Institute

Welding, Electrical Installation, and Catering

8 Takoradi Technical Institute - Electronics, Auto Mechanics, and Electricals

9 Kumasi Technical Institute – Welding and Fabrication, Mechanical, and ICT

10 St. Pauls’ Technical Institute Welding and Fabrication, Electrical Installation,

and Auto Mechanics

1.2 SUPPORT TO TVET PROVIDERS

Under sub component 1.2 of Component 1, a minimum of 5-10 public and private technical

institutions are to be selected to benefit from technical assistance. The support is aimed to give

technical assistance to the selected institutions to develop and deliver demand driven training

that is relevant to priority economic sectors. The support is also to build the capacity of the

selected institutions to develop their own institutional development plans and to enhance their

capacity to access the skills development funds. Even though there has been some delay in the

recruitment for the technical assistant for this assignment among others due largely to lack of

capacity of the PSU until last quarter of 2012, substantial progress have been made.

1.2.1 Recruitment of a Consulting Firm to Support the Implementation of Component 1 The recruitment of a firm to provide technical assistance to COTVET for the implementation of

Component 1 was concluded in 2013. As a result of the delay, some revision was done to the

earlier TOR that was developed. This was after the necessary procurement processes and

procedures in line with the World Bank requirement had been followed and a Request for

“Expression of Interest” (EOI) consequently advertised in the two most widely read Ghanaian

new papers (Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times). The advert was also posted on UNDB

Development Business Website for international competitors. After the set deadline for “EOI”, a

total of nineteen applications was received out of that six (6) were recommended for the

submission of full proposal and the evaluation Report subsequently forwarded to the World for

“No Objection” (“NO”). Find the short listed applicants (firms) in Table 2.

8

Table 1.2: Shortlisted Firms to Submit Full Proposal for Technical Assistance underComponent 1

No. Name of Firm Country

1 Joint Venture: PROMAN S.A + AARHUS TECH +

Indevelop

Luxembourg

2 Joint Venture: MCS + Skills International Private

Limited + City and Guilds Group

Phillipines

3 Joint Venture: GFA Consulting Group GmbH +

PLANCO Consulting GmbH

Germany

4 Joint Venture: CINOP Global + PEM Consult + South

African Qualifications Authority

Netherlands

5 Joint Venture: Cadena International Development

Projects + IBF International Consulting

Netherlands

6 Joint Venture: Lattanzio e AssociattiS.p.A Italy + ARS

Progetti + Agriculsulting Group Europe SA +

Eductrade SA

Italy

1.2.2 Evaluation of Technical Proposals for Technical Assistance for Component 1 Five out of the six recommended firms submitted their technical proposals. A five member panel

evaluated the technical proposals. The panel comprised of a Commissioner form the Public

Services Commission, the Director Technical of the Ghana Education Service, a Competency

based training (CBT) consultant, a CBT Coordinator-COTVET and a procurement officer of the

Project Support Unit of COTVET. The evaluation criteria were based on the information

contained in the Request for Expression of interest. That is: (1) General experience in TVET

systems (2) Specific experience in similar assignments undertaken in the following areas (a)

developing demand-driven TVET systems (b) developing systems that are relevant and

sustainable in lower middle income and developing countries (3) management and operational

expertise and proven experience demonstrating the consultant helped to bring strategy to

management’s operational and implementation solutions (4) experience in working in similar

environment (including similar conditions of the education system, labour market and private

sector development) and (5) availability of the relevant and appropriate skills within firm”

1.2.3 Contract Negotiation and Signing Ceremony After the evaluation, the Technical Evaluation Report was compiled and forwarded to the World

Bank. A “No Objection” was granted based on the recommendations of the evaluation panel.

Subsequently, the PSU communicated to Cadena International Development Projects + IBF

International Consulting, the Joint Venture that had the highest score, and they were invited for

9

the contract negotiation and signing ceremony. The contract negotiation and signing was very

successful and the firm agreed to tentatively start work from the 15th of January, 2014. It was

agreed the firm will be housed in the office of the Project Support Unit.

1.2.4 Comprehensive Report on Vision, Policy and Sustainable Financing As part of the assignment under the technical assistance, Cadena, was to deliver a

comprehensive report on vision, policy and sustainable financing to align TVET with overall

Government strategy and with specific economic and social outcomes. In respect of this

deliverable several TVET stakeholders were consulted by Cadena. These stakeholders included

relevant ministries, departments, agencies, training providers, awarding bodies, donor partners

implementing skills development activities and some COTVET staff. The objective of the

consultation was to get understanding of the governance structures, policies and operations of

various institutions that are either regulatory or implementation bodies. It was also to afford

them the opportunity to know how the operations of relevant TVET institutions tie into the

overall Government agenda for TVET and TVET financing. A stakeholders’ consultation workshop

was also organized to discuss issues regarding TVET financing as into the report.

The draft report on this deliverable was submitted by Cadena to the Council for necessary

comment and feedback. The Council has therefore studied the report and sent its comment and

feedback to Cadena to re-work the report. The recommendation of the Council was not well

addressed in the re-submitted report and so the Council recommended for some more

consultations to be done as indicated in the inception report to reflect the inputs of critical

stakeholders and make the report comprehensive. Cadena is therefore doing additional

stakeholders consultation to deliver the new draft by the first-quarter of 2015.

1.2.5 Training Needs Assessment for COTVET Staff Under the GSTDP, Component 1(1.1) support is to build the capacity and strengthen COTVET to

play its mandated role in coordinating and overseeing skills development. As part of activities

under this support a training needs assessment (TNA) was carried for a total fifteen (15)

management staff and officers including the Executive Director, coordinators, managers and

officers. The objective of the TNA was to identify the training needs of individual staff and to aid

in the development of a costed training plan for the Council. The exercise was carried out by

Cadena TNA Specialist. The methodology used for the TNA exercise was through the

administration of questionnaire, individual interview and TNA workshop. In view of the fact that

new staff were being recruited, the consultant was to continue with the TNA for the new staff in

January, 2015 and to finalize the TNA report and develop the training plan accordingly within the

first-quarter.

10

1.2.6 Design and Development of MIS for TVET Sector Part of the support under component 1 of the GSTDP was to design and develop a functioning

MIS to enable COTVET to maintain a database of all TVET providers in order to monitor and

report on skills development. Cadena has therefore supported COTVET in the design and

development of a management information system for TVET. Various relevant fields have been

developed to capture requisite data on all public and private TVET providers in the formal and

informal sectors, details of training programmes (quality and relevance), details on student

enrolment (access) and graduation, number of graduates being trained for key sectors of the

economy, number and qualifications of staff, data on infrastructure, and performance of

learners. Other data fields include number of registered and accredited facilitators, assessors,

verifiers, number of industry collaborations and partnerships, short term industry specific

training packages among other things. The proto-type MIS is slated for piloting in the first

quarter of 2015. Again, a number of data collection tools were developed for field trial. These

will be administered (tried) on selected TVET institutes in the first-quarter of 2015 jointly by

Cadena and COTVET. Further, the relevant COTVET staff will be trained in IT programming,

database management data entry, data manipulation to effectively operationalize the MIS.

1.2.7 Preparation of Sector Study Report Initial field visit and assessment of key sectors were carried out. The sectors agreed on were

hospitality, wood and wood products, industry automation and agriculture. Preliminary field

reports have been submitted to give an idea of the nature of the sectors, their skills needs and

gaps, opportunities they hold for the economy and the manpower needs for the sectors. This

was to afford the consultants a first opportunity to have an overview of the sectors and the trend

of development for a deeper study in the second-quarter of 2014.

1.2.8 Selection of Technical/Vocational Institute for Support A total of ten technical and vocational institutes were selected from different MMDAs for support under

component 1(1.2) of the GSTDP. The support is to help improve accountability and institutional

effectiveness of private and public non-profit TVET providers in priority economic sectors to deliver

demand driven training. COTVET selected these institutes through a competitive process that guaranteed

fairness and transparency. As part of the process, the Council developed selection criteria and sent letters

of invitation inclusive of the criteria to all relevant ministries and agencies offering TVET to express

interest for support. Applications were subsequently received, shortlisted and evaluated and feedback

communicated to applicants. Successful applicants were requested through their relevant ministries and

agencies to indicate acceptance of the offer which was duly done. This was then followed-up with a due

diligence visit by the Council to confirm critical and relevant information provided by the applicants in the

expression of interest. An orientation workshop has therefore been planned for the first quarter of 2015

to brief beneficiary institutes on the overall and specific objectives of the GSTDP with specific emphasis on

11

the supports to the selected technical and vocational institutes and the roles of each institute. The Council

was guided by the above process to ensure transparency and fairness in the selection of applicants.

The support to be given the selected institutes comprises providing technical assistance to the selected

institutes to develop their individual institutional development plans in alignment with the needs of

relevant economic sectors and Government social and economic outcomes. They will also be trained in

strategic planning, costing, institutional and resource management and industrial partnership. As part of

the support, the selected institutes will benefit from minor renovation works, tools and equipment to

strengthen them to offer relevant and demand driven skills training programmes. The selected institutes

are indicated in Table 1.

Table 1.3: Selected Technical and Vocational Institutes to Benefit from Support under GSTDP

Component 1 (1.2)

NO Name of institute Region/Location Selected Trade Areas for support

Responsible Ministry

1 AssinFosu Vocational Training Central/AssinFosu 1.ICT 2.Catering/Hospitality Management

Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations

2 Yamfo Vocational Training BA/Sunyani 1.ICT 2.Catering/Hospitality Management


3 Kumasi Vocational Training Ashanti/Kumasi 1.Motor Vehicle Electronics 2.Heavy Duty Mechanics


4 Agormeda Integrated Community Center for Employable Skills (ICCES)

GAR/Agormeda 1.ICT 2..Catering


5 Opportunity Industrialization Center, Ghana, Takoradi

Western/Takoradi 1.Welding and Fabrication 2.Catering and Hospitality


6 Community Development Vocational & Technical Institute

BA/Sunyani 1.Automotive Engineering 2.Catering

Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development

7 Adidomeh Farm Institute. Volta/ Adidomeh 1.Pig production, processing and marketing 2.Pineaple production

Ministry of Food and Agriculture

8 Kumasi Technical Institute Ashanti/ Kumasi 1.Heavy Duty Industrial Mechanics 2. Motor Vehicle Mechanics

Ministry of Education

9 Kpando Technical Institute Volta/Kpando 2.Agriculture Mechanisation


10 Wa Technical Institute Upper West/Wa 1.Automobile Engineering 2. Catering


The support to the selected institutes for the development of IDP is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2015. Cadena will conduct institutional needs assessment to explore potentials and capacity gaps of each institute to aid them in assisting the institutes to develop their IDPs.

12

1.2.9 Printing of CBT quality assurance manuals, policy guidelines and certificates systems As part of the processes to ensure the adoption and implementation of guidelines for a quality

assured TVET systems a total of the twenty three CBT quality assurance manuals, policy guidelines and

relevant certificates were printed. The quality assurance manuals and policy guidelines are to be

distributed to relevant TVET stakeholders to aid them in the development and implementation of industry

demand driven skills training programmes that are relevant to skills needs of critical sectors of the

country’s economy. This will aid wider dissemination of new trends in skills training and skills manpower

development in line with Government policy on competency based training as the mode of TVET delivery.

Again, the need to register and accredit TVET providers, awarding bodies, facilitators, assessors and

verifiers to ensure that quality standards are adhered to, requires that such key players in the TVET sector

are assessed and certificated by the Council. In the end, this will contribute significantly to the adoption

of quality assurance and certification systems which is one of the key indicators of this component.

13

CHAPTER TWO: COMPONENT 2

2.1 Institutional Strengthening of Science and Technology Development

The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) is responsible for the

implementation of the Component 2 of GSTDP. The component among others aims to improve

the planning, management, and coordination of STI policies by supporting the establishment of a

well-functioning STI Directorate within MEST capable of making evidence-based STI policies and

implementing priority activities in the national STI Development Plan. This is in line with MESTIs

medium-term objective which is to restructure the entire science and technology set-up,

infrastructure and programs in order to make them more responsive to national needs and

priorities in all sectors of the economy with special attention to restructuring of the national

science and technology advisory and coordination system, improving basic and applied research

infrastructure, revitalizing the teaching of science and mathematics in the education system,

promoting the training of a critical mass of middle-level technical personnel to address the

provision of basic needs, acquisition of skills in high technology areas and their integration into

known technologies, and promoting mastery of known technologies and their application in

industry”. To support this objective, an STI Directorate has been established as a technical wing

of the MESTI to plan, manage, and coordinate implementation of the country’s STI policies and

programmes.

2.2 IMPLEMENTATION OF SUB-GRANTS ACTIVITIES OF FIVE STIS:

In 2013, the GSTDP supported five (5) research and development institutions involving two (2)

public research institutes, two (2) universities, and one (1) polytechnic to implement market-

oriented technology development programs. The institutions are the University of Ghana, Ghana

Technology University College, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana Atomic Energy

Commission and Kumasi Polytechnic.

Since the award of grants to these institutions, work has progressed immensely towards

developing various innovative technologies demanded by the private sector to propel production

efficiency. The following activities were consequently undertaken:

2.2.1 Establishment of institutional governance structures By June 2014, four out of five grantees had established the following units to specifically

undertake the business of technology development, transfer and marketing to the private sector.

Technology Transfer Marketing Centres (TTMCs) have been set up at GAEC, Technology

Development and Transfer Centres (TTDC) at the University of Ghana, Technology Research and

Innovation Centres (TRIC) at GTUC and Technology Development & Transfer Centre (TDTC) at

CSIR. All institutions also developed their respective Research and Development Strategic Plans,

Private Sector Policy and a baseline study reports. Other administrative support provided by

14

GSTDP included the procurement of Nissan Pick-up vehicles for all the Centers, provision of

administrative facilities, recruitment of staff and development of websites for the respective

technology transfer centres.

2.2.3 Award of research grants

The five beneficiary institutions adopted a sub grants approach to implementing their innovative

technology development agendas. Calls for proposals were launched in all institutions with the

aim of selecting concepts that have strong potential to propel private sector productivity

development in an efficient manner. A common requirement for successful proposals was the

evidence of a strong private sector demand and collaboration for the proposed technology.

2.2.4 Development of innovative technologies for the private sector

Over 50 research scientists were awarded grants by the five institutions to conduct researches

and develop for piloting, innovative market led technologies. One of such technology innovations

is GAEC’s GAMMA irradiation facility for the benefit of the pharmaceutical sector.

Prior to GAEC receiving the grant to revamp this facility, M & J Pharmaceuticals was sending its

medical equipments to India for sterilization, thus making its operations quite costly. Presently,

by leveraging its irradiation technology to the benefit of the private sector, M & J now sterilizes

its equipment at GAEC thereby reducing its cost of production significantly and its turnaround

time for sterilizing its equipment from one month to one week.

Also, at the Institute of Industrial Research at CSIR, a technology to extract the active ingredients

of plants for the purpose of producing unadulterated traditional medicine is being diffused to

enable members of the Ghana Association of Traditional Healers produce quality medicines.

Currently, traditional medicine’s efficacy is compromised as the active ingredients of plants are

extracted through dilution with water. A tabular presentation of ongoing technology researches

being conducted by the five STIs is provided below:

15

Table 2.1: Fact Sheet of MESTI/GSTDP Component Two Project Technologies

Inst. Technology Description of Technology Markets for Technology

GAEC Market-focused Technology

GAEC has revised its promotion guidelines to include technology transfer and commercialization. Under the new promotional rules, technology transfer constitutes 40% towards staff promotion.

Internal Research Scientists

GAMMA Irradiation Technology

Deploying GAEC’S gamma irradiation technology for the benefit of the pharmaceutical sector to irradiate its hydroxide polymaltose.

Pharmaceuticals & Hospitals

Green House Technology

Green House Technology for the production of export oriented chili pepper.

Vegetable Association of Ghana

Tissue Culture Technology

Using tissue culture technology for yam variety improvement and meeting external market requirements.

Kintampo Yam Farmers’ Association

Non-Destructive Technology

Leveraging GAEC non-destructive testing (NDT) technology for the benefit of local welders and oil/gas tanks regulatory enforcement in Ghana to ensure strict conformity to sound, safety environmental standards.

Ghana National Association of Garages (GNAG)

GTUC Student Records Management System Using Smart Cards And Biometric Technology

This project explores the use of biometric technologies coupled with smartcard technologies to provide a unique way of identifying students and matching their data to financial records to grant them access to restricted areas such as examination halls

University Campuses

Intelligent Panbolic Wi-Fi Antenna

To develop an intelligent antenna for Wi-Fi networks to improve network performance and economics

Urban and rural communities

Integrated Web-Based Applications using SMS/GIS/GPS for Location-Aware

Provide an efficient, low cost way of locating individuals in emergency situations and allow users to store geospatial information of frequently

Emergency Management Services

16


Disaster Management

visited places

Children Brain Exercising Game

The aim of this project is to develop a brain exercising game (web and mobile version) for children to improve cognitive abilities in the areas of attention, memory and speed.

Basic schools

K’Poly Fufu Pounding Machine

Electric motor powered fufu pounding machine installed with mortar and pestle to improve safety, hygiene and efficiency in fufu production in restaurants.

Restaurants/Hospitality Industry, Chopbars, Canteens and institutions

Solar Bags Installed solar-powered charging systems for phones and ipads/laptops in Bags and ipad/laptop cases.

General Public

Efficient Fish Smoker OR Redesigning and Testing of an Efficient Fish Smoker

An Efficient fish smoker to smoke relatively large quantities of fish within a comparatively shorter period of time, under hygienic conditions, and provides safety to the fish monger.

Fish Mongers/Fish Farmers, Hospitality industry

Inverters Pure Sine wave inverters of varying capacity and high durability to provide alternate sources of energy.

General Public

Solar Crop Dryers Solar crop dryer designed to speed up the drying of cocoa beans, cassava, pepper, etc under hygienic conditions.

Crop Farmers/Agro Processors

School Management Software

Development of different types of electronic softwares to improve the administration and management of private sector schools in Ashanti Region.

Private Schools

CSIR Phyto-chemical From Plant Tissues

Training herbal medicine producers in modern extraction techniques using low temperature and high vacuum distillation processes to produce high yield concentrates of phyto-chemicals from plant tissues.

Herbal and Traditional medicine producers in Greater Accra region

17


Palm-nut cracker Equipment

To design and fabricate an improved version of a mechanized equipment that can crack palm-nuts and separate the kernels from the shells.

Oil Palm Research Institute, Kade

Skills Transfer Training

Transfer of skills and techniques in oil palm mushroom cultivation to small scale mushroom producers in Ashanti and Greater Accra region

Alpha Mushroom Cluster of the Ghana Pan African Competitiveness Forum

Green House Gases Emission Reduction

Sustainable waste management renewable energy production and reduction of Green House gases emission in this era of green economy through the integration of on-site wastewater treatment plant using Anaerobic Digestion Technology

St Thomas Acquinas Senior High School

Update on the renovation of the STI building: In view of the utmost relevance of a fully equipped

STI Directorate secretariat, GSTDP has reviewed the activity to encompass a full construction of a 3

storey building secretariat for MESTI. As part of plans to construct a building for the STI directorate,

GSTDP procured the services of FAS Consult as a Consultant to Design, Prepare Bill of Quantities and

Supervise the Construction of the Office Building. The Bill of Quantities for the consultant estimates

that it will cost about GHC 1,861,751.19 to construct the STI building. Accordingly, an amount of

US$ 700,000 has reallocated to ensure the construction of the office facility. Design works were

completed while efforts to secure the necessary environmental safeguards were initiated at the end

of 2014.

2.2.5 Challenges

2.2.5.1 Delay in the construction of the STI Building

With barely 18 months towards the end of GSTDP, actual site work is yet to commence on the STI

directorate building. Both government and Development Partners expressed concern about this

development during the September 2014 Mission of the GSTDP. It is expected that MESTI will

accord greater priority and urgency to outstanding issues relating to environmental safeguards of

the World Bank to enable the commencement of work in earnest.

18

CHAPTER THREE: SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FUND

The SDS is an initiative of the Government of Ghana with funding from the DANIDA and the World Bank, aims at improving demand-driven skills development and increased adoption of new technologies in selected economic sectors of Ghana. The Project is implemented by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI). SDF recorded a very good year in 2014, achieving and/or exceeding the Project targets set for 2016. The approvals for the Fourth and Fifth Calls took place in 2014. Grants disbursement also saw significant improvement in 2014, accounting for USD15 million of the total cumulative disbursement to grantees of USD 21,555,709 by the end of 2014.The Fund does not intend to roll out any more Calls for 2015, as almost all the funds allocated from both DANIDA and the World Bank have been fully committed. A number of improvements were made to the grant processes. These include further refinement on the application form; changes in the application flow for the informal sector to increase the reach of the Fund to underserved sectors and regions; changes to the grant agreement to now provide the legal basis to make grant payments directly to Service Providers in order to speed up projects execution and lower the burden on the informal sector grantees to account for the use of grant funds. Overall, the Skills Development Fund has exceeded targets – number of grants, number of trainees - and development objectives of enhancing productivity and competitiveness, increasing employment and improving the livelihood of the people of Ghana. What is left is continual monitoring of results for reporting purposes and to strengthen the prospects for sustaining the Fund. 3.1 Planned vrs Achieved Targets for the Project

The table below highlights the performance (in terms of grant approvals) of SDF against what was planned for the Project.

19

Table 3.1: Planned vrs Achieved Targets End of Project

Target

(USD'M)

Value of Grant No. Grants

Value of

Grants

(USD'M)

Window 1 81 60 8.56 12 135% 71%

Window 2 469 288 16.63 12 163% 139%

Window 3 27 23 6.87 12 117% 57%

Window 4a 33 30 9.68 5 110% 194%

Window 4b 7 9 3.69 10 78% 40%

Total 617 410 45.44 51

Windows

Variance (%)Grant Value

(USD'M)

Calls 1-5

2016 Targets

No. of Grants

No. of Grants

Calls 1-5

Source: Compiled from the SDF Grants Database

For Formal and Informal Sector Training Grants, the number approved increased by 35% and 63% of what was planned. This is due, in part, to the high interest of the private sector in improving the skills set of employees. The average grant value though, was far less than had been planned in the original Project Appraisal Document, indicating that the PSU has been efficient in negotiating and awarding grants to beneficiaries. Whereas the number of grants approved marginally exceeded the targets for Technology Partnerships, the value almost doubled what was planned. SDF underperformed on the Technology Centre Window. Both approved grants and value were significantly lower than the planned target suggesting that, like training grants, the average technology grant is lower than initially anticipated. As indicated in earlier section of this report, the rest of the Fifth Call will see at least two Technology Centre grants to meet the target values for that Window

20

3.2 SDF GRANT OPERATIONS

3.2.1 Communications and Outreach 1. Results Forum: In collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation Department, a Results

Forum was organized on 12th February, 2014 at the World Bank office to share results of

SDF. Among the participants were Members of Parliament, Development Partners, SDF

grantees, the business community and the media. The event was under the distinguished

patronage of the Hon. Minister of Education. As part of the event, a mini exhibition

comprising ten SDF funded sub projects was mounted by COTVET to showcase key results of

SDF.

2. SDF Website and Social Media: The SDF website (http://www.sdfghana.org) underwent

upgrading to avail more information on SDF funded projects and results to the general public.

Additional section for grantees, purpose of grants, amounts and contact numbers of persons

responsible for implementing sub-projects have been made available to deepen social

accountability on SDF. In all, over 1,200,000 hits were recorded in 2014. In addition to the

website, the SDF Facebook was launched in 2014 to also deepen the visibility of SDF. The

Facebook page (www.facebook.com/sdfghana) has provided a platform for providing

periodic information on key SDF activities and processes.

3. Publishing of grantee information: To promote further transparency and social

accountability, grantees details including various amounts and purpose of grants were

published in the Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times, the two most circulated newspapers in

Ghana. This has increased public confidence in the management of the SDF.

4. Brochures: As a measure to update the existing brochure to reflect the dynamics of the

Fund, The Communications and Outreach division of the PSU revised and printed new copies

of the SDF brochure during the year. The brochures have been very useful instruments for

public engagement. 20,000 brochures were printed and distributed to key SDF priority sector

institutions in both the formal and informal sectors of Ghana.

5. 3rd & 4th SDF Grants Award Ceremonies: During the year in review, SDF held two grants

award ceremonies in January and July. A total of 307 organizations out of 1,368 applicants

under Calls 3 and 4 received grants to the tune of USD 30 million.

6. Quarterly Press Briefing: Working with a selected group of media houses to engage the

general and stakeholder public continued to be an important strategy of the PSU. In order to

deepen the visibility of SDF and heighten awareness of the Fund, the monthly press briefings

http://www.sdfghana.org/

21

at the COTVET PSU was sustained. Apart from issuing press releases on outcomes of the

Fund, success stories were also disseminated to the media for publication. The Press Briefs

were also used to outline and disseminate immediate plans and projections of the Fund to

the general public. This strategy worked tremendously well in sustaining the presence of SDF

in the media as the Fund Manager undertook follow up interviews to clarify key SDF

strategies and positions.

7. Media Interviews and Discussions: Aside of the monthly Press Briefs, SDF continued to

engage the public with its participation in television and radio programs to explain the SDF

initiative. Key deliberations on such platforms were the SDF framework and its demand

driven nature, the SDF sectors and the various SDF windows. Officials of the PSU and selected

grantees participated in SDF sponsored interviews on the GTV Breakfast Show, Joy FM

Morning Show, Peace FM Morning Show & Peace FM ‘Odo ne Asomdwee’ programs. PSU

also held radio discussions on various radio networks in the 10 regional capitals as part of the

outreach strategy for the 5th Call for Proposals.

8. Outreach Workshops: As a prelude to the 5th Call for proposals, PSU held Regional Outreach

Workshops in the 10 regional capitals to outdoor the Call as well as orient industry and

prospective applicants in the priority sectors of the SDF framework, the application process

and requirements, among others. The Outreach Workshops were organized in close

collaboration with the Grants division of the PSU in order to educate prospective applicants

on the requirements and changes effected in the application process. In all over 1,600

stakeholders from formal and informal sector businesses, business associations, research and

training institutions, technology developers and farmer based groups participated in the

workshops.

9. SDF Business Forum: The Communications and Outreach team in collaboration with the

grants department engaged selected businesses in the formal sector of Ghana on the

opportunities under the SDF.

SUCCESS STORY Agri- Impact Consult (AIC) applied for a grant to develop Intensive Production Technologies (IPT) which basically include Greenhouse Production, Shade Net Production and Open Field Production Technologies, as well as train farmers in these new systems. This was in an effort to mitigate production challenges resulting in low yields, high dependence on rain-fed agriculture, poor seed quality and high incidence of pests and diseases.AIC had previously tried without success to get funding from other sources. SDF approved a grant of GHS826,260 to AIC, who also provided GHS275,420 matching grant to train the farmers in the Protected Cultivation Technology. Through this funding, SDF has not only broken the myth surrounding greenhouse technology but has also set the stage for more private sector investment in agri-business which the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), in collaboration with the Government of Ghana, has been calling for. Mr. Dan Acquaye, Executive Director of AIC, stated that more supermarkets are beginning to gain confidence in the produce of local farmers after having acquired such innovative and modern skills, which will go a long way to reduce dependence on imports to some extent.

22

Businesses were selected from major industry associations including the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Ghana Chamber of Commerce (GCC) and the Ghana Real Estates Developers Association (GREDA). Over 100 businesses patronized the event which afforded them the opportunity to appreciate the SDF framework and focus. The engagement increased the number of applications under the Formal Sector window (window 1) in Call #5.

10. SDF Bulletin: The second edition of the highly successful maiden SDF Bulletin, a quarterly

magazine dedicated to documenting and sharing the outcomes of SDF sub-projects was

published in June 2014. The 32 paged Bulletin featured stories of SDF projects and outlined

all SDF funded projects for public consumption. It was distributed to key stakeholder

institutions in the skills and technology sectors including tertiary institutions, public libraries,

trade associations, government departments, agencies and ministries.

11. SDF Diaries: In an effort to increase visibility and gain more mileage in the public sphere, the

sponsored program, SDF Diaries which was launched on Ghana Television by the COTVET PSU

as part of strategies to increase awareness of SDF and share the processes and intermediate

outcomes of the Fund was extended to the Multi TV network. The program focuses on

documenting and highlighting the processes and socio-economic changes taking place in

communities and businesses as a result of SDF support. 23 new episodes of the weekly SDF

Diaries were produced and aired on GTV on Wednesdays at 8:30pm and Multi TV on

Saturdays 8:30am. The SDF Diaries formed part of the pivot around which the SDF mass

communication strategies had been built in 2013. This medium continues to be successful in

attracting applications and explaining the SDF initiative in context.

12. COTVET Digest: In a concerted effort to reach a much wider audience and make lasting

impressions on new demographics, as well as creating a presence of mind within the general

public, the COTVET PSU negotiated and secured a full page color advertorial titled “COTVET

Digest” (page 26) of every Saturday’s edition of the leading national Daily Graphic to publish

stories of successful SDF assisted projects throughout the country. By the end of the year, 31

weekly publications representing 31 different projects had been highlighted.

13. SDF Skills and Technology Fair 2014: On the heels of the success realized at the maiden SDF

Skills and Technology Fair in marketing the outcomes of SDF projects, the second edition of

the two-day exhibition was held on 30th September and 1st October, 2014 at the Accra

International Conference Centre. The event was patronized by the deputy Ministers for

Education, Environment Science and Technology Innovation, Development Partners and the

wider skills and technology stakeholder community. Members of the Association of Ghana

Industries, Ghana Real Estate Developers Association, Association of Small Scale Industries,

parliamentarians and various trade associations in Ghana were all present. The much

23

publicized event witnessed the exhibition of the outcomes of 40 selected SDF funded

projects. The Fair afforded an opportunity to prospective applicants to engage with grant

officers and awardees. Over 4,000 visitors patronized the highly successful event.

3.3 Analysis of Grants

Out of Call 4 & 5 applications receivedfor a total of 1352, 375 proposals were approved and distributed across the regions and funding windows. Call #5 is still ongoing. All the Window 4b applications are yet to be considered for approval, and most of the Window 2 applications are yet be assigned to Project Intermediaries. The delay is as a result of uncertainty in securing additional funding. Thus, if these additional funds are not secured, SDF does not want to allocate work to Intermediaries for which grants will not be available to execute. The distribution of grants by Windows and Regions is discussed below.

3.3.1 Regional Distribution of Grants The reporting year 2014 saw further improvement in the distribution of grants across the various regions of Ghana, culminating in the situation illustrated in Table 2 below. The Second Call for Proposal offered support to seventy two grantees, spread unevenly across the country, with Greater Accra region taking close to 50% of all grant projects by number, and over 60% by value. Through enhanced outreach in the underserved regions, the PSU worked to increase the interest in SDF across the country. Thus, by the Fifth Call, the distribution was more even, with Greater Accra receiving the highest number of grants. Also, in terms of value, Greater Accra still obtained the highest, driven mainly by the inclusion of a larger number of the high value Training Innovation and Technology Partnership projects in the grants basket. Grants for the other regions were largely made up of Informal Sector Training Grants. The distribution portrayed above nearly mimics that of private sector businesses across the country.

Table 3.2: Regional Distribution of Grants

Regions

Number of

Grants

Calls 1-5

Grant Value

(USD'M)

Calls 1-5

Ashanti 101 7.82

Brong Ahafo 64 2.9

Central 43 2.71

Eastern 64 3.36

Greater Accra 187 21.49

Northern 24 1.4

Upper East 16 0.56

Upper West 17 0.51

Volta 61 3.21

Western 40 1.48

Total 617 45.44 Source: Compiled from the SDF Grants Database

24

3.3.2 Distribution of Grants by Funding Windows SDF exceeded its targets for Windows 1, 2, 3 and 4a by the end of the Fifth Call for proposals. The Fund also expects to meet its target for the Technology Centre Window (4b) by the close of Call 5, which is due for completion by the end of February 2015. Window 2 continued to enjoy high patronage during the year under review, resulting in a cumulative number of 469 grants by the close of 2015, compared to the targeted 288 by Project design. A similar but less dramatic result was recorded for Windows 1, 3 and 4a.

Table 3.3: Distribution of Grants by Windows

Window 1 81 60

Window 2 469 288

Window 3 27 23

Window 4a 33 30

Window 4b 7 9

Total 617 410

Windows2016 Targets

No. of Grants

No. of Grants

Calls 1-5

Compiled from the SDF Database

3.3.3 Distribution of grants by priority sectors At the design of the Ghana Skills and Technology Development Project of which SDF is a major component, several prioritized economic sectors for financing were identified based on the Government’s overall economic and private sector development strategy. The focus was on those economic sub-sectors that demonstrate that skills and technology are a bottleneck to growth, offer potential for employment or productivity growth, and offer the opportunity to demonstrate clear results from skills and technology interventions within 3-5 years. Initial sectors included ICT, Construction and Housing, Tourism and Hospitality, Livestock and Horticulture. Although these sectors are priority sectors of the SDF, given that SDF is essentially a demand-driven intervention, grants have been awarded to applicants in all other sectors of the economy that have demonstrated strong potential for productivity improvement.

Table 3.4: Distribution of Grants by Priority Sector

Priority Sector SupportNo. of Grants

Calls 1-5

Construction 34

Hospitality and Tourism 121

Livestock 53

Information and Communication 11

All other sectors 398

Total 617 Source: Compiled from the SDF Grants Database

25

As a result of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Creative Arts’ directive to the Ghana Tourism Authority to enforce the food safety and food hygiene requirements of all tourism facilities and food sellers in the country, there has been a high number of grants coming from the hospitality and tourism sector. The livestock and horticulture industry also has a comparatively high number of grants. This is due to the fact that similar discussions were held with the livestock industry, particularly the meat processing establishments, to acquire the skills needed to address food safety and hygiene mandate which led to an increase in grants to the livestock sector.

3.4 Organisation of business associations Prior to Call 3, associations (business membership organisations) in the informal sector were organized by districts. Applications forms were submitted from different districts but all under one specific trade. To make these applications cost effective therefore, a needs assessment was conducted for all trades in the informal sector. The purpose of this was to identify the general needs of each trade to enable members belonging to a particular trade apply under one umbrella, either through the national association or through the regional association. Members in a district could apply only with the approval of their regional or regional office. The cost of the project should fit into the framework that was developed and this was shared with intermediaries during a meeting. The budget was capped at GH₵600 per trainee, split approximately as follows: Training fees – 60%; User facility fees – 20%; Training tools and materials – 20%.The split is indicative. For agricultural projects, the fees tend to be higher. Other training services may cost higher but must be clearly justified. The challenge this approach presents though is the difficulty to ensure that all members of the association are adequately trained. 3.5 Changes for Operational Efficiency

In the course of the year, a number of very useful lessons were learnt which informed the decision of the PSU to recommend changes to a number of the grant processes. These changes, made in response to feedback received from various stakeholders, were contained in memoranda to the SDF Committee for approval and subsequent operationalization. These

SUCCESS STORY Hitherto, there was no institution in Ghana that provided a formally structured technical level education for training in solar panel building for generating power, culminating in the lack of personnel who can install and maintain solar PV energy systems. Recognizing the critical need to bridge this gap, the Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC), in collaboration with Volta River Authority (VRA), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), and Tradeworks Limited a competency based, demand-driven curricular to train members of the Ghana Association of Electrical Engineers (GAEE) in solar PV installation and maintenance. With funding from SDF, GTUC has been able to train members of GAEE from across the country. One beneficiary of the training is currently undertaking his own venture of building solar panels on a pilot basis. His products have been tested by GTUC and proven to be good.

26

include changes to the grant application form and the adoption of a new approach to Technology Center grants.

3.5.1 Changes in Grant Application Form A new approach wasadopted as part of the PSU’s effort to improve the reach of grants to especially informal sector businesses across the country to ensure equity in access to SDF grants for the informal sector. All informal sector grant applicants now need to complete relatively simple pre-application Concept Notes to SDF. Upon review, the qualifying applicants receive due diligence visits from PSU staff; and those that pass the requirement are assigned to Project Intermediaries to help develop full proposals for grant. The immediate effect of the new approach was the increased number of Concept Notesin Call four coming from districts which were previously unable to send in applications due to lack of support from Project Intermediaries. Agricultural applications are specifically assigned to technical intermediaries to ensure the quality of the application, thus increasing its chances of approval.

Because applicants initially submit concept notes before they are assigned to intermediaries, this has reduced the risk of applications being unduly influenced by intermediaries. Concept notes submitted reflect the true needs of the applicants. The PSU made further changes to the grant application forms prior to the Call five based on the feedback it received from stakeholders. The changes were made to ensure the forms are more understandable to applicants and are user friendly. Most notable among the changes made to the grant application forms is the split between the informal and formal sector applications. This was necessitated because of the different requirements of the informal and formal sectors. Another change made to the formal sector application form is the inclusion of expected risks of proposed projects and their mitigating actions. In order to present a good proposal, applicants are expected to identify possible risks that could affect the successful run of a project and the possible actions that would be taken to alleviate the risk should they occur. The effects of these changes are yet to be realized.

3.5.2 Changes to Technology Partnership and Technology Centre Grant Windows For the private sector to obtain the best results from Technology Partnership Grant Window, the following changes were approved for implementation as part of the third Call for Proposal: a. There should be documented evidence of a sustainable partnership established with a

domestic or foreign technology provider, trademark owner or authorized agent of the

equipment or technology to be acquired. The cost of one-off training in the innovation to be

acquired may be included in the proposal.

27

b. The technology to be acquired must be ground-breaking or pioneering, and not merely

standard requirements for the operation of the business.

c. The applicants must be prepared to transform their company or business into an SDF-

designated center of excellence to benefit the Ghanaian public. To this end there must be

documented evidence of partnership with an accredited domestic training institution

whereby members of the public enrolled as students or interns in relevant programs at the

institution will have access to the beneficiary’s operation for the purpose of practical training.

Informal sector operators belonging to recognized associations will similarly be granted

access to practical training. Such training may be fee-based depending on the circumstance.

d. The Upper ceiling for each grant under Window 4a has been reviewed and made

commensurate with the mandate imposed, raising it to five hundred thousand US dollars

(USD 500,000).

e. The matching contribution for each grant under Window 4a has been reviewed to 25% and

made commensurate with the mandate imposed.

Table 3.5: Technology Partnership Grant Window1

Number Amount (USD'M)

Call 1 - -

Call 2 4 1,015,744.55

Call 3 5 987,900.09

Call 4 10 2,790,480.87

Call 5* 14 4,884,008.49 Source: Compiled from the SDF Grants Database

As a result of the changes made, there has been a consistent increase in the number of grants awarded to the technology partnership grant window. The number of grants from the window marginally increased from Call Two to Call Three. However, there has been a notable improvement in grants from Call three to Call Four and from Call Four to Call Five as in seen in the table above. Institutionally-based "technology centers" have the mission to transfer existing technology and related training to the private sector. Technology Centers could be existing or new organizations that, on an ongoing and proactive basis, assist firms with the adoption of new technologies or innovations. A review of the performance of this window shows a very low level of patronage that falls significantly below the target number of grants from the window. In order to mitigate this low patronage, a new approach has been adopted to ensure increased grants from technology Centers.

1*Call 5 is ongoing. More applications from Window 4a are expected to be approved

28

For the Fifth Call for proposals, potential Technology Centers were identified and urged to submit their applications. The new approach is to guide all applications from these Centers until approval stage. The SDF secretariat will work hand in hand with these Centers to ensure that all requirements under window 4b have been satisfactorily met before approval is given to these applications. This will ensure the successful progression of all applications to approval, thus increasing the overall number of Technology Center grants. There are no results yet to share. 3.6 Unit Costs of Grant Projects

The Project Appraisal Document of the Ghana Skills and Technology Development Project (on which the average value of grants discussed below were obtained) projected the following for the Formal Sector Training Grants Window (USD 10 million) • Number of beneficiary firms of 250 • Average value of grant of USD200,000 • Therefore the average cost of training /beneficiary firm is USD40,000 However the actual number of beneficiary firms is 1,051 with an average size of grant of USD136,238. Thus the average cost of training/beneficiary firm is USD9,073. The PAD projected the number of beneficiary firms for the Informal Sector Training Grant Window (USD 10 million) to be 2,500. The average value of grants was projected to be USD40,000 with an average cost of training/trainee of USD1,000. The actual number of beneficiary firms is 32,394 with an average grant size of USD37,726. Average cost of training/beneficiary is USD435.08.The PAD projected an average value of grants of USD500,000. However, the average size of grant is USD282,663. For Technology Center Grants Window, the PAD projected an average value of grant of USD 1 million. The average size of grant however, is USD417,926.For all the Funding Windows, unit cost of training/trainee, technology per firm is significantly lower than what was projected and captured in the PAD. Thus, SDF has proved more efficient than was anticipated. Given that a significant part (up to 25%) of the Dollar book value of grants may be unclaimed, the unit costs will reduce further, resulting in further savings.

3.7 Key Factors Accounting for the Apparent Success of SDF

The Skills Development Fund has achieved significant successes over the past three years of implementation. Effectively, the Calls for proposals were completed in two years instead of the planned three and half years. This relative success has been underpinned by a number of factors which will now be discussed below:

Performance of the SDF Steering: The SDF Steering Committee continued to play a significant role in maintaining the high standard that the Fund has come to be known for. The Committee also continued to offer strategic direction to COTVET on the sectors that might offer the best return on investment in the short-term but also in the long-term. The Committee has worked as a team and built necessary consensus on approvals and rejections

29

relevant reasons which have served as important input into improving the quality of applications developed by applicants and Intermediaries in subsequent Calls.

In the main, the role of SDF Committee has proved to be probably the most important in the long list of activities forming part of the SDF processes. For this, it is strongly recommended that the modus operandi be utilized for helping other market interventions for enhanced success.

User friendly nature: bureaucratic-looking forms intimidate the private sector -even where there is a clear benefit to them. Documentation requirements from beneficiaries in the management of this Fund have been kept relatively simple and straightforward. Grant applicants however are encouraged to utilize the services of Project Intermediaries who are trained to offer hand-holding services to ensure that the inability to master the completion of the grant form does in no way reduce the opportunities for businesses that have a genuine need for support.

Assistance and advice to applicants: it is critical that advice and help are available to companies wishing to apply for grant assistance from the Fund. The handholding support offered to the applicants via the SDF Call Centre, Intermediary support, during the launch of the Fund across the country or via in-person meetings have altogether helped create in the mind of applicants an expectation that support will be given to make a case for grant.

Transparency and freedom from influence, reasonable: all approvals and payment for grants have been transparent and free from external influence. In this regard, the nine-member Skills Development Steering Committee, which has the sole mandate of approving or rejecting grant applications has been ruthlessly thorough in its scrutiny of all applications recommended for its consideration. On the other hand, the Committee has maintained the position that once a grant proposal recommended has the potential for significant impact on productivity or employment, it must be supported, first to address all remaining challenges in presentation and logical flow and then considered for final approval. This reasonable approach has resulted in the approval of grants for businesses that are now showing significant impact but which did not necessarily have the most technically sound proposal to start with.

Performance and target orientation: cost sharing funds are usually successful when a large number of beneficiaries participate. They are also time limited and operate within a fixed time frame. This requires results orientation in managing the Fund in order to generate sufficient applications to result in approval and disbursement within its lifetime. Detailed planning, target setting and tight management are essential to ensure successful delivery of the quantitative and qualitative targets of the Fund. This was at the heart of the operation of the Skills Development Fund.

Targeted promotion of the fund: this requires a deep understanding of potential clients, broad-scale and regular promotion of the Fund to decision makers – through mail shots,

30

telephone contacts, brochures, workshops, intermediaries such as consultants, business membership organizations and other networks. In addition, existing private sector support funds operating in Ghana were encouraged to promote the Fund as a complement of their own support. SDF, through this broad-scale awareness creation using mostly the stories of successful grant applicants, has become a household name in Ghana and is demonstrating that market interventions such as this could achieve good results.

3.8 Key Challenges to Fund Management

In spite of the successful management of grant processes, there are a number of key challenges that plague the PSU. The challenges are discussed: 3.8.1 Rising costs Grant operational expenses were higher than anticipated especially during the first three years of the operation of the Fund. This is the outcome of a deliberate attempt at addressing a core issue of trust in matching grant management in Ghana. Ghana has had a checkered history of Matching Grant Facility management, plagued by abuses by the private sector, on the back of very weak systems of control on inbound operations and even weaker oversight of post disbursement activities. This has resulted in decrease of trust in the potential of such an intervention to bring about any improvement in the outcome of the Project, namely productivity improvement and job creation. A new pathway had to be charted, and COTVET spared no expense in deploying very robust grant operation system with demonstrably strong system of controls and sufficient staff strength and other resources to enforce such controls to assure the private sector of fairness, of speedy turnaround time. Initially, funding from the World Bank (partners of this Project) was not forthcoming. COTVET had to use more of DANIDA funding to build the very foundation of what would become a successful grant operation. Additionally, a broad-scale nationwide outreach campaign to improve the image and transparency of grants-making through sharing of results of grant projects, and hand-on monitoring; and post approval support aimed at ensuring that every dollar invested in grant support yields significant returns was executed. These activities were anticipated at program inception but have been executed in more depth than planned. COTVET has thus, had to expend resources to, as it were, set a new high benchmark against which all future support to the private sector may be measured. The increased number of SDF sub-projects has attracted concomitant increasing expenditures. At Project inception, the total estimated number of sub-projects to be funded by SDF (including both DANIDA and World Bank funding) was 449. The number of approved grant projects by the end of July 2014 was 510, with an anticipated 100 additional grants projects by the end of 2014. Staff are regularly deployed to conduct due diligence to ascertain the existence and the viability of the projects across the country. This is in addition to the numerous implementation support visits by the Finance, Procurement, M&E and Communication Teams at the COTVET-PSU to assist

31

grantees in the management of their respective projects. Managing such large number of sub-projects spread across the country has involved significantly high administrative and operational costs.The hands-on monitoring of grant projects has left grantees in no doubt that COTVET will require accountability for every Cedi of grant fund disbursed, and this has fed on itself. Going forward though, COTVET anticipates significant reduction in the cost of managing the Fund. The highest expenditure item, Communication and Outreach required to create broad-scale awareness of the Fund, has been scaled down by about 70%. This is because SDF has now become a household name; its processes are well known, and credibility established as an acknowledged instrument for supporting the private sector on Ghana to address issues of productivity for competitiveness through skills and technology development. The frequency of post approval monitoring has also been reviewed downward for the same positive reasons.

3.8.2 Post Approval Implementation Support Firstly, the rapid rate of grant awards has required an increase in the number of Project Monitors to collect baseline and other information to help track the results of the intervention. However, the Monitors are not experienced and/or do not have the mandate to offer implementation support to the grantees. This assignment has to be carried out by the Grant Officers at the PSU, who are primarily focused on inbound grant operational activities. Thus, additional personnel would be required to support post approval activities and work to ensure that grant projects are executed on schedule and on budget.

3.8.3 Closeouts Another significant challenge encountered by SDF is the sometimes long delay in completion and close-out of grant projects. By the close of November 2014, 96 projects had been completed, compared to the projected December 2014 figure of 120. Whilst this is not far from the targeted figure, SDF will put more effort in ensuring that project actually complete on schedule. All Grant Officers in charge of inbound grant operations are now assigned to ongoing projects to ensure that challenges that usually lead to delays are tackled on time.

3.8.4 Identity of signatories In order to allay the risk of having unauthorized signatories at the signing of contract, the PSU has employed a new strategy to resolve the issue. The appropriate signatories of contracts will present a photo identification of themselves to PSU staff at the due diligence stage. These representatives must be the same as those that present themselves to sign grant contract and all subsequent communication with the PSU. This will ensure that grantees are represented by properly designated signatories.

3.8.5 Inadequate Technology Centre Applicants The results obtained so far (from the first two Calls for Proposal) indicate that access to technology results in significant improvement in productivity of grantee firms. However, the number of technology Centre applicants has not increased in tandem with training assistance

32

grant applicants. To deepen the impact of SDF’s intervention on the private sector of Ghana, the PSU has increased its effort at reaching out to more potential applicants in this category. However, given that SDF is essentially a demand-driven fund, the market has to be allowed respond to any such promptings.

3.8.6 Quality of Technical and Financial Proposals The quality of technical and financial proposals continues to be a major challenge to the SDF. The SDF Committee offers provisional approval to grant proposals that meet the minimum quality standard. The applicants then have to address a myriad of issues precedent to final approval. This exercise could be quite tedious and consumes significant resources of the PSU in hand-holding support. To save the time, the PSU has to continue offering training to Project Intermediaries and applicants to thoroughly address questions especially those related to sustainability.

3.8.7 Timely execution of grant projects All the projects that have been completed were significantly delayed, some by as many months as the original duration of the project. These delays then require more monitoring hours from the PSU. The delays are mainly due to the inability (and in some cases unwillingness) of the grantees to submit to the financial management and procurement documentation requirements of the PSU. New improved methods of training will be deployed in 2015 address this bottleneck. Additional measures may include penalizing grantees (and where applicable, Service Providers) who unduly delay in projects execution.

SUCCESS STORY

The Suhum Heifer Milk Producers Association was constrained by inadequate feeding and poor market mechanisms as members’ cattle were unable to attain optimal nutritional levels which aid the production of milk. Generally low demand for raw milk, which stems out of public concerns over safety and hygienic conditions, was another major issue the association faced. In the wake of these problems, the association applied to the SDF for grant to enable them to upgrade their technical skills and build their capacity in entrepreneurship. The Chairman of the association stated that the transfer of knowledge gained after the training has impacted positively on the health of their cattle, leading to a reduced number of cattle diseases. This has also resulted in an improvement in the quality of milk produced, resulting in better profit margins for the members of the Association.

33

CHAPTER FOUR: GOVERNANCE AND THE STRENTHENING OF COTVET AND THE TVET/TVSD

SECTOR

The period under review has been characterized by a lot of activities. Some of these were sector wide activities whilst others were very critical to COTVET and the TVET landscape. Among the activities that the Council engaged in were: Managing COTVET’s Strategic Plan, Facilitating the alignment of the mismatches in the demand and supply of skills in industry, capacity building for COTVET staff, Public Education on regulations in the TVET sector and many more which were supported by DANIDA. All these, were necessitated by the demands of the sector and society which falls in the ambit of the mandate of COTVET coordinate and oversee all aspects of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)/TVSD across the formal and informal sectors.

4.1 Capacity Building for COTVET Staff As part of the training plan for the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training

(COTVET) for the year 2014, two sets of training programmes were organized and coordinated by

the Council’s Human Resource and Administrative departments. The first part covered Report

Writing, Terms of Reference (TOR) preparation and Proposal Writing whilst the second part

covered Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation and Risk Management. The trainings

were delivered by Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and Lucky

trust venture Consult. The first set of training was organized in the third quarter whilst the

second set was in the last quarter of 2014 specifically within the period 24th November to 10th

December, 2014. All members of staff benefitted from these capacity building programmes.

Participation in the programmes was very impressive especially for the first set of training. The daily attendance was very high and participation in the workshop by the participants was very good. They contributed very much to the discussions and where necessary raised questions to seek clarification of issues. Participants showed great enthusiasm with respect to the various topics and, where possible, were willing to share their personal experiences with other participants. All the training programmes that were carried out were informed by the Staff Development Plan

that had been put together earlier and other vital considerations. Project Management,

Monitoring and Evaluation and Risk Management play a key role in the success of any project,

programme and process. COTVET is implementing a number of projects that that have been

running concurrently and at different stages at a time. Although the Project Support Unit of the

Council is directly responsible for the implementation of these projects, the implementation is

being done hand-in-hand with the staff of the mainstream COTVET.

34

It is thus important that the capacity of staff should be built in Project Management, Monitoring

and Evaluation interlaced with Risk Management for staff to understand and effectively

participate in the ongoing project activities, monitoring and evaluation, project reporting, and

the identification and handling of risks. The knowledge of Monitoring and Evaluation, and Risk

Management are not only critical for project management but are essential for the day-to-day

operation of the Council as an organization.

Additionally, Report writing, Terms of Reference preparation (TOR) Proposal writing also

constitute a key aspect in reporting developments appropriately and understanding the essence

of certain deliverables.

4.2 Development of a TVET Guide The “TVET Guide” is document with information for all persons who find themselves at the point of making decisions related to skills/competencies acquisition, training and education towards their career development. It can be used as a complete unit and also as a complementary tool and a valuable guide. It will give them an insight into which kinds of subjects, they need to study to gain access to technical institutions, which institutions offer which courses, the kinds of grades they need to enter the institutions, and the career options available to them after their studies. For teachers it will be a tool that will assist them to give advice to students who may be finding it difficult to make the critical career decisions. The objectives of the TVET Guide are as follows:

1. To give students, parents, and teachers, a comprehensive list of TVET institutions in the

country, and the courses they offer.

2. To give an insight into the career options available in TVET.

3. To provide information on career guidance and education and training progression,

4. To introduce and promote the CBT mode of education to Ghanaians.

5. To provide information on the trades areas in the informal sector

6. To develop a criteria for determining high and low performing Technical Institutes and

Polytechnics by publishing

7. To highlight the importance of COTVET on the TVET landscape

8. To give students information at an early stage on the kinds of subjects they need to study,

if they intend to choose TVET

Currently, the procurement of consultant to execute this task is in progress

35

4.3 Organize Skills Competition /Exhibition As part of the 2014 work plan of the Council, three Skills Competitions were to be held during the year, involving both the formal and informal sectors. Two zonal competitions were organized. The first focused on the Pre-Tertiary and the Informal Sector at AgonaSwedru in the Southern part of Ghana (Central region) whilst the second focused solely on the Informal sector and was held in Sunyani in the Northern part of Ghana. The National event was shifted to January, 2015. Both events were well patronized by teachers, parents, the general public, students, and COTVET officials. Also present were staff of NVTI in AgonaSwedru, lecturers from the University of Education Winneba, a representative of the District Director of Education, Proprietors of some private TVET institutions and the Tech/Voc coordinators. The exhibitions were also well patronized and various items produced by the practitioners and students were put on display. These items included furniture, bags, sandals, baskets. The competition also attracted a lot of people who were interested in what was being produced and who would emerge as winners. These two zonal activities were highly successful

4.4 Public Education on regulations in the TVET sector TVET Providers (Public and Private) and Trade Associations through their federation and the general public were sensitized on COTVET's regulatory activities. "Time with COTVET", a live media broadcast was one of the vehicles used for the campaign. This ran for six weeks. Time with COTVET was broadcast on Citi 97.3fm from 13th August to 1st October. Also a documentary educating stakeholders and the general public on the need for TVET providers to obtain registration and accreditation from the Council was produced and broadcast on national television.

4.5 Facilitating Partnerships for the alignment of mismatches in the demand and supply of skills in industry Again, the Council has been working on the skills needs of industry survey. In Ghana, engagements with Industries, Training Providers and other stakeholders have revealed that among the factors contributing to youth unemployment is the issue of products from training institutions not meeting the skills requirements of industry. This has the effect of creating an imbalance in the demand and supply of skills in industry. This, when not addressed could lead to increased unemployment of the youth, under productivity in industry, loss of confidence in training providers and educational institutions and a general drag on the economic growth and development of the nation. As part of the process Public TVET Providers and some selected industry experienced the Institutional visits on skills needs of industry. This was done across the 10 regions of Ghana to supplement data or information already gathered that will be very useful for developing partnerships among/between stakeholders

36

Also, the evaluation of EOIs for the consultancy aspect of facilitating partnerships between TVET providers and industry has been done and the procurement process in progress.

4.6 Strengthening Industry Participation in the implementation of the WEL Policy Preparations for the development of the guidelines for Industries and Training Providers (TP’s) on the effective participation in the implementation of the WEL is completed and participants will are expected to complete their task before the close of January, 2015. Also, sensitization on the implementation of the WEL Policy has been on-going. It was emphasized strongly at the Conference on bridging the gap between education/training and industry organized by the Ministry of Education in Accra and also on other platforms and institutions.

4.7 Managing COTVET’s Strategic Plan To manage the Council’s Strategic Plan, an Action Plan Worksheet (APW) was designed purposely to track progress made in the implementation of COTVET’s Corporate Strategic Plan (2012 -2016). This was one of the pressing activities that had to be carried out by the department to drive the Corporate Plan. The APW provides the means for collating information from the various departments of the Council to complete the tracking matrix. The Policy Unit with the information collated from the departments, populated the APW and went further to discuss it with the Management of the COTVET. This will be a regular feature till 2016 when the plan is reviewed. COTVET’S STRATEGIC PLAN (2012 – 2016) among other things outlines six goals which guide the workings of each department of the Councils. These goals cut across department/divisions within the Council and these goals are:

i. Build the capacity of COTVET and TVET providers

ii. Develop and harmonize legal, institutional and regulatory framework for TVET /Skills

development

iii. Enhance the perception of the TVET system for national development

iv. Improve quality and access to TVET and Skills development programmes

v. Achieve sustainable financing system for COTVET and TVET programs and

vi. Build the capacity of the informal TVET systems

Analysis of the COTVET Act in relation to sister agencies and institution 1. The Council again led a team to analyze the Acts of institutions that had similar roles or

mandates as COTVET’s. A summary of the recommendations / suggestions made have been

listed below.

i. Engage with relevant bodies to resolve potential conflict areas e.g. through dialogue

to build synergies e.t.c.

a. Document agreements between and among parties

b. Engage with the Rectors of Polytechnics and heads of TVET Institutions

ii. Share this presentation with the Legislative Committee of the Ministry of Education

37

iii. Develop effective marketing strategies to make it more attractive to all

stakeholders on the TVET landscape

4.8 Harmonization of TVET activities across MDAS, Training Providers and Industry Key stakeholders were engaged to map out the emerging TVET areas and advocated how they will be incorporated appropriately into the TVET landscape. The key stakeholders that were consulted included the National Youth Authority, NVTI, ICCES, OIC, Technical Institutions and the Association of Private TVET Providers. This consultation took the form of administering survey instruments that were processed and analyzed. The final report on the emerging TVET areas will be incorporated into the draft TVET policy. Additionally, the Council led the exercise on reviewing the data collection tools used to populate data related to the TVET/TVSD provided. This was carried out with other agencies as part of a programme that was coordinated by the Ministry of Education The Parliamentary Select Committee on Education has also been updated on the progress of work at COTVET and their inputs considered towards enhancing the activities of the Council on the TVET landscape. Consultation on the various and effective approaches for TVET financing has been carried out recently, inputs from MDAs on the emerging TVET areas has also been sought and so also has the engagements on the implementation of the National TVET Qualifications Framework been. This has been going on through engagements at workshops and meetings with stakeholders. For example1: the Legislative Committee of Education meeting; meetings on skills mismatches at the ministry level and many other programmes

4.9 Conclusion The discourse above is a representation of activities that were supported by DANIDA and COTVET’s efforts at streamlining and enhancing the efficiency in the TVET landscape. Though, some successes have been achieved a lot more needs to be done.

38

CHAPTER FIVE: FINANCIAL REPORT

5.0 Financial Management Financial Management processes in the year under review was in accordance with the World Bank’s guidelines per the project implementation manual (PIM). Best practices in relation to the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) were also applied where necessary. The PMT in 2014 initiated the development of an Accounting Procedures and Policy Manual (APPM). The finance team in 2014 was equipped with 3 additional staff which contributed largely to the good financial governance of the PSU. Financial training and monitoring of the sub-projects activities were intensified in 2014. These trainings and monitoring visits contributed to the sub-project’s improvement in reporting. There is however more room for improvement. In addition to the new grantees on board (courtesy call 5), the finance team intends to embark on more frequent monitoring visits and also better review financials reports submitted by the sub-projects to expedite project closure after the core activities are completed. The PSU’s finance team continues to maintain ethical financial management practice in the implementation of its duties ensuring adherence to internal controls in place and ensuring effective record keeping of financial data per implementation.

5.0.1 Status of Financial Reporting During the year under review, the PSU duly prepared and submitted its quarterly interim financial reports. Timing as well as a few reporting requirements were however a challenge but measures have been put in place to improve on all reporting requirements in the future. Despite these challenges all other accounting requirements expected of the PSU’s finance team were undertaken as required which immensely contributed to the 84% budget outturn in 2014. This was the highest yearly outturn since project inception.

5.0.2 Financial System The finance section in the year 2014, fully adopted the SUN Systems with the upgraded version 6.1 as its financial application. The PSU went live with real time use of the system in July 2014. By end year both the 2013 and 2014 data were fully uploaded unto the system. 2010 to 2012 data per the ‘data clean-up and upload road map’ is to be completed by end March 2015. The PSU’s MIS team with the use of the MS Excell/MySQL platform developed the payment voucher (PV) generation software for the finance team in September 2014. This has rendered much efficiency with the PVs generated and has helped to better keep track of payments made.

39

5.1 Summary of key finance developments and accomplishments in 2014 GSTDP (IDA)

The total number of finance staff increased from five (5) to eight (8) in 2014 to strengthen the department for the increasing number of tasks as the number of grantees continued to rise.

Total SDF commitments to end 2014 amounted to US$34.94 million (per Calls 1 to 4). As at end 2014, 47.9% of the total commitments had been disbursed. Disbursement in 2014 however constituted 72.3% of the total 47.9% disbursement from 2012 to 2014.

The finance department carried out financial monitoring and training visits to some Call 1, 2, 3 and 4 Grantees advising them on how to keep simple financial records for the grants received by the use of the approved project financial templates.

Twenty-five (25) withdrawal applications amounting to US$17.7 million (i.e. 55 .3% of the total inflows from inception) were processed to the World Bank for replenishment. All applications were favourably approved and honoured.

2013 external audit was successfully conducted with an unqualified opinion. The audit was unconditionally approved by the IDA (World Bank).

The IDA’s periodic financial reviews of Nov. 2014 had the financial management processes being rated satisfactorily from its initial rating of moderately satisfactory.

SPSD II (DANIDA)

Total SDF commitments to end 2014 amounted to US$ 4.76 million (per Calls 1 to 4). As at end 2014, 95.4% of the total commitments had been disbursed. Disbursement in 2014 however constituted 79.5% of the total 95.4% disbursement from 2010 to 2014.

The finance department carried out financial monitoring and training visits to some Call 1, 2, 3 and 4 Grantees advising them on how to keep simple financial records for the grants received by the use of the approved project financial templates.

Two (2) fund request amounting to US$ 2.9 million (i.e. 24.8% of the total inflows from inception) were favourably approved and honoured by Danida in 2014.

2013 external audit was successfully conducted with an unqualified opinion. The audit was unconditionally approved by the Danish Embassy.

DSIP (AfDB)

The DISP project supported by African Development Bank was effectively launched in 2014.

Government of Ghana’s counterpart funding for project execution was received.

2013 external audit was successfully conducted with an unqualified opinion. The audit was unconditionally approved by the Bank.

The AfDB’s periodic financial reviews of Nov. 2014 had the financial management processes being rated satisfactorily from its initial rating of moderately satisfactory.

40

5.2 Financial Summary for the year 2014 Tables 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 below present the analysis of the project allocations against disbursement (i.e. expenditure) from project inception to Dec. 31st 2014. Table 5.1: GSTDP FINANCIAL OUTLOOK (USD & XDR)

Note:

* XDR to USD rate of exchange on Appraisal was USD 1.59902 to XDR 1.00

** XDR 44.9 million allocated to the project's US$ equivalent as at 5th Nov. 2014 is US$ 66.164 million

*** Cumulative Disbursement to the total Project allocation is 46.10% as at December 2014 (i.e. based on the US$ equivalent of XDR 44.9 million as of Nov. 2014)

**** XDR to USD rate of exchange as at 31-12-2014 was USD 1.44357 to XDR 1.00

***** The 'Undisbursed Funds' represent the fund balance as at 31st December 2014

41

Table 5.2: SPSD II (DANIDA) Financial Summary (USD & DKK)

Note:

* DKK to USD rate of exchange on Agreement date was USD 1.00 to DKK 4.81

** DKK 65 million allocated to the project at inception was USD 13.5 million. As at 31st Dec. 2014 was equivalent to US$ equivalent 11.72 million

*** Cumulative Disbursement to the total Project allocation is 90.22% as at December 2014

**** Average USD rate of exchange from inception to 31-12-2014 was USD 1.00 to DKK 5.54

***** The 'Undisbursed Funds' represent the fund balance as at 31st December 2014 DANIDA’s support for the project was scheduled to end in 2014, however one and a half years extension has been granted to June 2016 with a proposed additional SDF funding of US$ 5 million. These funds are however yet to be approved and granted.

42

Table 5.3: DSIP (AfDB) Financial Summary (USD & UA)

Note: UA to USD rate of exchange on Agreement USD 1.60137 to UA 1.00 XDR to USD rate of exchange as at 31-12-2014 USD 1.60137 to UA 1.00 Tables 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 above also outlines the cumulative variance in terms of the project’s allocation and the expenditure from project inception to date (2010 to 2014).

i. As at 31st December, 2014, the total disbursement for the GSTDP for the period 2012 to 2014 stood at US$ 29,882,665.00 i.e. XDR 20,700,463.00 representing 46.10% of the total credit proceeds of XDR 44.9 million equivalent to US$ 66,164,191.00 as at 05/11/2014.

Category disbursements remained as follows: 35.88% for Category 1 (Skills Development Fund), 94.56% for Category (SDF Operations) 88.76% for Category 3 (Institutional Strengthening of Skills Development /Project Management & Administration) and 37.20% for Category 4 (Institutional Strengthening of Science and Technology.

ii. Total disbursement on the SPSD II for the period 2010 to 2014 stood at US$ 10.25 (DKK 58.64 million) representing 90.22% of the total SPSD II grant allocations.

Category disbursements were as follows: 95.39% for Category 1 (component 3A - Skills Development Fund), 81.25% for Category 2 (Component 3B - SDF Operations &Cotvet Institutional Strengthening) and 92.25% for Category 3 – Component 4 only (i.e. Project Management & Administration).

43

iii. DSIP total disbursement from project inception to Dec. 31st 2014 stood at US$ 3.19 million, i.e. 2.57% of the total project portfolio.

Component disbursements were as follows: US$ 1.13 million, US$ 0.71 million and US$ 1.35 million for component 1, 3 and 4 respectively. No disbursement on component 2 for the 23 months of implementation to December 2014.

5.3: 2014 Budget Outturn Tables 5.4 and 5.5 below presents the budget outturn for the year under review on all 3 projects with details on the variances in absolute values per the project components as well as the percentage funds expensed in comparison to the budgeted.

Table 5.4: GSTDP & SPSD II 2014 Variance Analysis

Based on the variance analysis report above showing the budget outturn for the year 2014, category 1 (component 3A) realised a positive outturn per implementation which is laudable and should be commended although with an adverse variance in relation to the GSTDP. The overrun/ adverse variance was as a result of the project’s inability to have the budget adjusted for the PSC’s approval before end year when it was realised the sub-projects rate of implementation and the approval of call 5 grants will lead to an increase in funds disbursed to grantees for project implementation. The variation was however within the acceptable limit of 5-10% cumulatively. In 2014, category 2 (component 3B) with the funding from the IDA and Danida in total realised a favourable variance of 41%. This was due to the project management team’s initiative of efficient cost management. Measures like a reduction in DSA rates, vivid review of project travel trips, reduction in communication and outreach programmes etc… were initiated. These measures

44

were however taken not at the expense of achieving the needed project targets as per the project indicators. Category 3 (component 1) realised a favourable variance but NOT a commendable outturn. The 2014 implementation adversely affected the attainment of the planned component 1 targets for the year under review and that for the 3 years period from project inception. These were due to gross delays from the service provider – CADENA Incorporated – who are the TVET technical advisors to the COTVET secretariat. As per the contract terms, the non-submission of the required deliverables by Cadena does lead to non-payment of their fees which stalls disbursement targets. CADENA’s contract values about 43.6% of the entire component 1 allocation. The effect of these delays led to the cotvet secretariat’s inability to undertake the other project interventions which inputs are the outputs by the service provider. Lastly was the delays in the selection and pre-qualifications of the 10 TVET institutions (Tis). The selection of these 10 Tis are the pre-requisites for the minor renovations and equipment’s purchase activities. These two interventions value about 32.4% of the entire component 1 allocation. The non-performance of these three (3) interventions automatically leads to low disbursement rates. The PMT has however in December put measures in place to ensure these delays are curtailed in the year 2015. In 2014, category 3 (component 4) in total realised a favourable variance due to the project management’s initiative of efficient cost management. For instance, the 3 additional staff planned for were no more procured on the basis of tapping into the expertise of the existing in-house consultants. Lastly, category 4 (component 2) realised a favourable variance but with an adverse effect on project implementation. This was due to gross delays with the construction of the STI Directorate building and slow implementation of the other STI interventions. The STI Research Institutions (i.e. sub-component 2.2) however performed satisfactorily. Plans have been put in place to expedite implementation of the STI directorate building in the year 2015 to enable the achievement of the project component indicators before or by June 2016.

Table 5.5: DSIP 2014 Variance Analysis

45

DSIP outturn of planned activities in the 2014 was very low, i.e. 29%. This was due to the AfBD’s delays in granting the needed ‘no objections’ to the project to allow for swift implementation within the planned period. GoG counterpart funds were released to the project on 27th December 2014. Hence none of the projected GoG interventions could be executed within the period under review. Lastly the low disbursement as also due to the fact that major activities planned by the project, i.e. consultancy for the design, supervision and quality control and supply and delivery of Tools, Equipment for students in Apprentice Program and other training programmes could not be undertaken as planned.

5.4: Budget Projections for the period January 2015 to June 2016 Budget projections for the SPSD II and the DSIP projects is only for the year 2015. Projections for the GSTDP on the other hand are for the remaining 18 months period to project closure in June 2016. Table 5.6 below presents an overview of the 12 and 18 months period project budgetary projections from January 2015.

Table 5.6: 2016/2016 Budget (in summary per components)

46

In summary: 18 months projections / commitments on the GSTDP to June 2016 therefore amounts to US$ 30,662,347.33 (XDR 21,209,454.40) leaving an uncommitted balance of US$ 4,271,492.53 (XDR 2,990,082.82). These budgets can however be implemented based on the World Bank’s approval of the re-allocation request since categories 2 and 3 funds are in deficits. 12 months projections / commitments on the SPSD II amounts to US$ 0.93 million. Any excesses on project funds not budgeted will be committed to the Skills development fund. 12 months projections /commitments on the DSIP amounts to US$ 25.05 million, with US$ 21.98 million and US$ 3.07 funded by the AfDB and the GoG respectively.

5.5 Additional Financial Details

5.5.1 Value of Grant or Credit Proceeds as of December 2014 Project allocations on inception were XDF 44.9 million, equivalent to USD 70 million and DKK 65 million equivalent to USD 13.5 million respectively for the GSTDP and the SPSD II.

47

Project funds however as at 31st December 2014 had lost value by way of foreign currency exchange fluctuations of USD 5.183 million for the GSTDP funded by the IDA and USD 1.772 million for the SPSD II funded by Danida. The effect of an exchange loss of this magnitude, i.e. USD 6.955 million in total can adversely affect project outcome against the planned targets. The table below outlines the value of the project allocations and the exchange loss as at end year 2014:

Table 5.7: Value of Grant / Credit Proceeds as at 31-12-2014 and Exchange Losses

It is however worth noting that the project has still recorded a very impressive midterm achievement in comparison to the envisaged project targets of the core project indicators in relating to the SDF. The implementation outcomes/ results to date have been detailed in the projects’ 2014 annual report.

5.5.2 Proposed Changes to the GSTDP Approved Category Allocations In order to ensure a successful implementation of the GSTDP till its completion in June 2016, the project management team (PMT) in the last quarter of 2014 realized the insufficiency of some of the category and components approved allocations. It was noted that to ensure the full realization of the project objectives and to sustain its outcomes, there was the need to propose an adjustment to the allocations in terms of reallocating funds from some components with possible excess funds.

48

From consideration of project progress in March 2015, and the achievement levels in comparison to the project targets per its indicators, the PMT proposed the following revised changes to the project’s approved budget via the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Finance.:

i. A reallocation of US$ 6,120,000.00 of the uncommitted funds under Category 1 to finance the implementation of Categories 2 and 3. This reallocation will reduce the Category 1 budget to US$ 40,507,463.00 (XDR 27.96 million) from US$ 46,627,463.05(XDR 32.30 million)

ii. An allocation of the unallocated amount (balance on project preparation advance) of US$ 1,291,562.63 to finance the implementation of Categories 2 and 3.

These two requested changes are to be apportioned as follows:

i. Additional funding of US$ 3.110.109.79 to Category 2. This will result in a revised project allocation of US$ 8,740,051.15 (XDR 6.05 million).

ii. Additional funding of US $ 4,301,452.84 to Category 3 (i.e. US$ 631,864.94 for Component 1 & US$ 3,669,587.90 for Component 4). This additional funding will intend increase the category 3 allocation to US$ 10,941,896.49 (XDR 7.58 million). The revised budget amount is represented by US$ 3,216,566.90 for Component 1 & US$ 7,725,329.59 for Component 4.

The proposed changes are detailed in table 5.8 below.

Table 5.8: Proposed GSTDP – Category Re-Allocation

49

5.6 Summary of key Challenges encountered in the year 2014 GSTDP (IDA)

The allocation for category 2 and 3 was largely exhausted. Reallocation request not finalised by end 2014.

SPSD II (DANIDA)

Additional funding for the year 2015 was not finalised before end year. DSIP (AfDB)

Disbursement was still on the low side. Only 1.5% of the project allocation disbursed after 2 years of implementation.

50

In conclusion, the project management team (PMT) is keenly focus on ensuring efficiency and budget credibility in managing the project. The PMT however amidst the huge fund shortfall due to exchange fluctuations aims at attaining a favourable variance on all 3 project fund categories or components at project closure.

CHAPTER SIX: GSTDP MONITORING AND EVALUATION AND MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

6.0 Monitoring and Evaluation Presented in this section are the results of the various indictors by PSU Components. The PSU

monitoring and valuation framework mandates the project to collect data, performance analysis,

and report on indicators at PDO and other levels. The PDO level indicators include:

a. Labour Productivity by participating Firms

b. Investment by participating enterprises in skills and technology.

c. Satisfaction with skills by trainees.

d. Satisfaction with skills by participating firms.

e. Direct project beneficiaries of which (%) are females as measured by number of people

trained.

M&E system is about measuring outputs; assessing efficiency, effectiveness and impact;

identifying challenges; appropriate strategies to addressthe challenges; and drawing lessons and

experiences, with emphasis on the PSU Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (PMP)

and/or the Results Framework. Over the year under review, the PSU has made significant

progress implementing approaches to improve skills and technology development, transfers and

adoption.This effort has effectively included on ongoing strategies to develop and implement

systems to assess the PSU’s progress towards the achievements of relate objectives and targets.

The subsequent subsections provide further details of the key results and accomplishments of

the M&E division in complementary to the efforts of the other Divisions of the PSU.

6.1 Major Accomplishment

6.1.1 Monitoring of Projects’ Implementation

Monitoring of active subproject continued during the period under review. FY 2014 started

with78 active sub-projects and expecting over 160 more for call 3. Call 4 was also expected to

come on board during the middle of the same fiscal year. As a result of the expected increases in

the number of sub-projects, the number of SDF Intermediary Service Providers (sub-projects’

Monitors) were correspondingly increased from 10 to 23. This ensured that each of the active

projects received, at least, one visit each month. Monthly implementation progress report was

submitted for each of the subprojects.

51

Table 6.1: Testimonies from Beneficiaries “Our Lady of Mercy Community Services’ project seeks to empower women and young girls in the kassena-Nankana District, in the Upper East Region in 2013/2014 and it is having impacts on the beneficiaries in the communities. We received a grant of GHC 52,875.00 to provide employable skills training for 60 school dropouts and reformed commercial sex workers and 90 artisans in batik, tie dye production, weaving, soap making, beads making and floral arrangements and decorations. One of the beneficiaries of the project is IVA DAMBABIA and she narrated her story as follow: “I am a lady of 26 years, a single mother with a child. Before I joined the training programme I was a hair dresser with JHS qualification. It became a boring trade as I was not getting customers as I used to and the business was almost collapsing. So I started thinking of doing something else to survive as it could no longer sustain me as a single mother. I was then introduced to Our Lady of Mercy Community Services skills training programmes in June 2013 by a friend. I decided to register for the Beads making, soap-making and batik (tie dye) training because these were new products. I became perfect in all the three after four Months of training, but we were further taking through entrepreneurship development and small business management training for two more Months. This helped me to sharpen my business skills. After completing the training in December 2013, I decided to start my trade in liquid soap production because the initial capital was reasonable and I could afford through the help of my parents. I started the trade with an initial capital of GHC120.00. Today I am producing and selling to some distance communities such as Sandema, Chuchuliga, Chana and other nearby communities. The market is reasonably good and I am making good returns to my little investment.Sometimes, I reap 100% profit. Furthermore my household does not need to buy soap any longer and that is an additional saving for me. Another point worth noting is that I have been asked to move from the location where I used to do my hair dressing to give way for the development of the land, If I had not undertaken these skills training I would have become jobless. It is for this reason that I wish to express my sincere gratitude to COTVET-SDF for sponsoring this project, which has today helped change my story and others. I wish that COTVET would increase their support to the organization to help them train more people like me. May God bless COTVET-SDF. Amen.”

IVA DAMBABIA

The monthly progress reports

incorporate success stories,

management of finances of the

projects, alerts related to the

implementation of the projects,

challenges confronting the

implementing mechanisms,

number of people benefiting

from the project, and the quality

of implementation especially

related to alignment to the sub-

projects’ contracts. Table 7.1

presents a sample of success

stories submitted by one of the

intermediary service providers.

6.1.2 Baseline Data Collection:

The PSU M&E framework

mandates the GSTDP to conduct

baseline assessment at sector

and sub-project levels. At the

grantee level, baseline

assessment is conducted for a

selection of SDF sub-projects.

During the year under review,

baseline assessment was

conducted for calls 3 and 4 the sampled sub-projects. The sub-projects baseline data collection

takes place immediately after the contract signing by the grantee and the implementation of the

activities.

The sector level baseline which started in November 2013 was completed at the end of April and

the final report submitted to the PSU in July 2014. The assessment clearly established the

baseline for the priority sectors of GSTDP/SDF: horticulture, building and construction, ICT,

hospitality and tourism, and livestock. Benchmarks for assessing the efficacy of GSTDP strategies

were established: labour productivity; investment by firms; satisfaction with skills by employees;

satisfaction with skills by employers; collaborations between technology providers and private

sector; employer rating of the competencies of employees; certification and/or qualification of

employees; existing training courses; and collaboration between firms and technology centres.

52

The study concluded that the TVET policy landscape had been fragmented and uncoordinated

with different policies failing to complement each other. The report has since been shared with

development partners and other stakeholders of GSTDP.

6.1.3 End of 2014 Assessment

Due to circumstances beyond the control of the GSTDP, the end of 2014 performance

assessment data collection could not start in December as was the case in the preceding year.

The project was confronted with thorny operational financing issues leading to minor

readjustments of the GSTDP loan agreement including re-allocation of funds from other

components to the operational budget line. The end of year data collection was thus moved

from December 2014 to January 2015. Data collection in January 2015 was challenging because

most of the key respondent were not available for the interviews leading to a number of

rescheduling of meetings. Some of the grantees had to be visited about 4 times instead of the

planned one day visit. Datawas collected by a selection of SDF Monitors and covered a sample of

60 grantees. The objective of the end of year assessment was to:

a. Gather information to enable the PSU demonstrate to the DPs and stakeholders, the

extent to which GSTDP project implementation (and by extension the Bank) contributes

to the achievement of project objectives and expected results in line with the

expectations and the Government of Ghana and the Development Partners (DP);

b. Enable GSTDP to report qualitative and quantitative information to the Bank who can

therefore report to the public, the results achieved with stakeholders’ or member

countries’ funds;

c. Ensure GSTDP staff and advisers have all the necessary qualitative and quantitative

information needed to monitor progress, measure performance throughout the life of the

project, identify key challenges and are able to address issues/make necessary

adjustments on a proactive basis;

d. Strengthen project management capacity among partners (demonstrating what success

looks like);

e. Promote M&E approaches that enable iterative and interactive learning of project

development and delivery of good practices.

All of the grantees were assessed in the various key and other performance indictors as

aforementioned. The Project Appraisal Document (PAD) mandates the PSU to track 5 PDO level

indicators and 15 additional intermediate level indicators. In addition to these indicators, the PSU

included a minor data collection in employment to enable assessment of the contribution of the

project to job creation. Though employment is not directly included in the project indicators, the

GSTDP strategy includes an expectation that the skills and technology development will support

agendas to reduce poverty and increase competitiveness of Ghanaian businesses. Better skills

53

and technology use cancontribute to the efficiency and competitiveness of Ghanaian firms both

in the formal andinformal sectors, thereby creating new job opportunities and reaching the

poorest.

The assessment activities havegenerallybeen planned to be carried out annually, measure

performance progressacross the various departments of implementation of the projects:

Component 1 (Strengthened Government and institutional capacities in planning, coordination,

quality assurance and service delivery towards improved quality, relevance, accountability and

effectiveness in skills development); Component 2 (Institutional strengthening of science and

technology development); and Component 3 (Demand driven financing increases productivity

of businesses in priority economic sectors). PSU plan to intersperse the annual assessments with

minor semi-annual and ongoing tracking of output level indictors to enable effective all year

round evidence based management.

Baseline assessment has been ongoing as the various aspects of GSTDP, especially related to

component 3, have been planned to be implemented in cohorts. Baseline assessments are

immediately conducted as the cohorts become active. During the year under review, baseline

data collection was conducted for SDF calls 3&4.

6.2 Sampling In the previous assessments when only two SDF calls had been completed, data collection had

included all 78 active projects. As the number of approved projects increased astronomically

with the addition of calls 3 and 4, the data collection was carried out based on the GSTDP

sampling plan in the M&E framework. overall, 60 grantees were selected from the 510

projectsthat had so far received full or provisional approvals for the various SDF Calls using

stratified random sampling technique. Expected and the actual sample sizes are presented

inTable 6.2 below.

Table 6.2: Sample Sizes

SDF Application Window Total

Number of

Grantee

Respondents

Window 1 Window 2 Window 3 Window 4

(4a & 4b)

Window 2 Windows 1, 3, 4

Calls 1 and 2 4 8 4 4 20 90 12

Call 3 5 7 4 4 20 119 12

Call 4 4 8 4 4 20 79 12

Total 13 23 12 12 60 288 36

54

The GSTDP data collection strategy provides the flexibility for different sections of some of the

instruments to be administered to different people to increase reliability. These additional

consultations have not been included in the actual sample sizes presented in Table 7.2. GSTDP

was able to collect data in the expected number of grantees except one grantee (Emmafrique)

where all efforts to reach the respondents proved futile. Various degrees of difficulties were

countered with a number of other grantees leading to incomplete responses for a number of

question or items. Reports from data collectors, for example, indicate increasing unwillingness

on the part of the grantees to provide data on finances and investments. Questions related to

finances and investments were mostly postponed by the grantees and mostly took a number of

additional visits by the monitors and, in some cases, took the intervention of some PSU staff

before some data was provided. Actions are currently being taken to ensure that subsequent

data collection will be as smooth as possible.

The results of the end of 2014 assessment were overwhelmingly positive with most of the Key

performance indicators (KPIs) demonstrating significant improvement over those of June and

December 2013 data collection occasions. Component 3 showed great progress and exceeded

most of the KPI targets. Components 1 and 2 showed mixed progress as most of the activities

delayed. The Component 1 Project Implementation Progress Tracking Sheet (See Annex 1)

presents a snapshot of the status of implementation of GSTDP Component 1. Most of the

activities are now gathering momentum and showing great promises of catching up with the

time wasted. Delay in the recruitment of the consulting firm, which was a major setback to

smooth implementation of the component, was address during the first quarter of 2014 and the

consultant has since been working hard and enjoying maximum cooperation of COTVET. Details

of component 1 accomplishments are presented in Chapter 1 of this report.

Component 1’s contribution to the PDO level indictors is expected to be assessed through the

downstream beneficiary firms who collaborate with the CBT providers. The Component’s

contribution to the PDO level indicators will be assessed at the levels of the formal and informal

enterprises benefiting from the CBT providers or technical institutes. Component 2 also faces

similar problem of week alignment to the PDO level indictors and this has been addressed

through the 5 selected research and technology institutions who are expected to address the

research and technology needs of the industry. Productivity and investment data will be

collected from the enterprises benefiting from the research and technologies developed or

transferred by the five institutions. Refer to Annex 2forthe progress of implementation of each of

the key activities.

55

6.3 Progress in KPIs: Components 1&2

Table 6.3 presents details of Components 1 and 2’s performance in the variousKPIs and includes

comments providing additional information related to the levels of performance shown.

Table 6.3: Components 1&2 progress in the KPIs

Indicator Compon

ent

Baseline 2013 2014 2016

Actual Targ

et

Actu

al

Targ

et

Actu

al

Targ

et

PDO Level Indictors

1. Increase in labor productivity by

participating firms disaggregated by

economic sector and size (small,

medium, large).

1&2 NA NA NA NA NA NA

2. Increase in investment by participating

enterprises in skills and technology

development (disaggregated by

economic sectors; size (small, medium,

large); skills and technology).


3. Satisfaction with skills by trainees

(disaggregated by sex, region) 1&2 NA NA NA NA NA NA

4. Satisfaction with skills by participating

firms disaggregated by economic

sectors; region; size (small, medium,

large)


5. Direct project beneficiaries , of which

(50%) are female 1&2 NA 50% - 50% - 50%

The GSTDP M&E framework mandates the M&E Division to track the PDO level indicators relevant to

Components 1&2 at the downstream level. Components 1.2 (Support to TVET providers) and 2.2

(Strengthening Science and Technology Providers) provide support to a selection of TVET and Science

and technology providers to implement demand driven capacity building programs, including

training, to the priority economic sectors. Under the component 2.1, the project is helping to

improve the capacities and incentives of 5 selected research institutes, universities, and technology

providers to develop, adapt, and diffuse technologies to private sector enterprises on a demand-driven

basis. The PDO level indicators relevant to these components are tracked at the level of the private

sector enterprises benefiting from the selected institutions. During the period under review, 15

institutions,Comprising 10 TVET institutions for Component 1 and5 Science and Technology

56

institution for Component 1, were selected to benefit from the project. Component 2 awarded $0.5m

to improve upon the governance and technology development and transfer activities of their

research and development departments. The selection of Component 1 institutions initially delayed

due to its dependence on the recruitment of a consulting firm, which also delayed. During the year

under review, the consulting firm was successfully recruited and currently providing directions for

implementation of most of the component 1 activities. No values were recorded for any of the PDO

level indicators for these two components, because no private sector enterprise has so far been

connected to any of the 15 institutions. Baseline data will be collected as soon as private enterprises

are engaged by any of the selected institutions.

Component 1 Specific Indicators

Indicator Compon

ent

Baseline 2013 2014 2016

Actual Targ

et

Actu

al

Targ

et

Actu

al

Targ

et

1. National Skills Strategy developed and

adopted 1 No Yes No Yes No Yes

2. COTVET management information

system for skills development is

functional

1 No Yes No Yes No Yes

3. Guidelines for quality assurance

systems including certification are

developed and adopted.

1 No Yes No Yes Yes Yes

4. Institutional Development Plans (IDP)

for training providers developed and

implemented.

1 0 6 0 8 0 10

Component 1

Though the GESDP has not been able to achieve any of the targets for this component, a significant

progress was made for all of the indicators during the year under review. Two consulting firms

(Transtec and CADENA) have been working at different levels leading to a significant progress

towards each of the target. Thought Transtec was engaged through AfDB, its efforts are

complementing those of CADENA to ensure rapid progress towards the targets. Almost all of the

activities were dependent on the selection of the consulting firms (CADENA) to provide technical

assistance for effective implementation of thissubcomponent. CADENA International Development

Project/IBF International Consulting resumed work on March 1, 2014 and has since made significant

progress in most of the activities: The 10 TVET institutions have been selected and needs assessment

towards the development of the IDPs in progress; the MIS was about 40% completed at the end of

the year under review; 23 Quality assurance manuals, guidelines and guide to certification have been

developed, validated by stakeholders and approved by the Council; training needs assessment for

57

COTVET has been completed; consultation for the review of COTVET vision, policy, and sustainable

TVET financing had made a significant progress; and stakeholder consultation for the development of

the National Skills Strategy is far advanced. CBT quality assurance manuals had been developed,

validated, approved and adopted by the council at the end of 2013. All of the targets are expected to

be achieved by the end of the project in June 2016.


Indicator Compon

ent

Baseline 2013 2014 2016

Actual Targ

et

Actu

al

Targ

et

Actu

al

Targ

et

1. STI Directorate established with full

complement of staff. 2 No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

2. New collaborations between supported

technology providers and private sector

for adaptation and diffusion of

technology.

2 0 5 0 10 0 20

3. Information system available for STI

Directorate use 2 No Yes No Yes No Yes

Comment: Component 2

Over the period under review, a significant progress was made toward achievement of the targets

for the component 2 indicators. Most of the activities, especially those under Sub-component 2.2,

got started. The activities of the targeted science and technology providers continues and currently

implementing their second tranches. These targeted institutions received approval to implement

activities to improve upon their capacities to effectively respond to the needs of industry.

Component 2’s contribution to the PDO level indicators will mostly be generated at the industry

level. All of the institutions set up their research and technology transfer and/or commercialization

centres during the period under review; fully furnished, staffed, and equipped with all the necessary

resources.

At the STI Directorate level, 5 staffs were appointed during the preceding fiscal year through

secondment for the various key positions. The Ministryhas provided a temporary office space (two

rooms) whilst awaiting the construction of a much bigger and permanent space for the STI

Directorate. A plot of land for the project has been allocated and a contract has been awarded for

the three storeybuilding project to commence. Social and environmental impacts assessments are

currently under consideration and expected to be completed early enough to enable the

construction to begin. The STI Directorate has been established to provide technical support to

MESTI to coordinate the implementation of STI policies and programmes in the country. The

Directorate is expected to beef-up its staff strength once the construction of the permanent office

58

space has been completed. Optimization of the STI Directorate will have direct impact on the

achievement of the targets at the PDO level as the quality of implementation of Component 2.2

activities will be greatly enhanced.

The TOR for development of a Management Information System (MIS) for the Directorate has been

developed but procurement is yet to begin. Final installation of the MIS is expected to form part of

the office space project. The websites of all of the 5 selected institutions have been developed or

enhanced and are regularly updated.

6.4 Progress in KPIs: Components 3

Table 6.4: Component3 progress in the KPIs

Indicator Compon

ent

Baseline 2013 2014 2016

Actual Targ

et

Actu

al

Targ

et Actual

Targe

t

PDO Level Indictors

1. Increase in labor productivity by

participating firms disaggregated by

economic sector and size.

3 0% 10% 68% 25% 104.28

% 60%

2. Increase in investment by

participating enterprises in skills and

technology development.

3 0% 10% 40.7

% 20%

136.48

% 40%

3. Satisfaction with skills by trainees 3 % 0%

77.6

% 50% 84.4% 70%

4. Satisfaction with skills by

participating firms 3 37.4% 0%

87.2

% 50% 66.7 70%

5. Direct project beneficiaries , of

which (50%) are female 3 0 3,500

5,947

(F-

36.16

%)

8500

(F-

50.00

%)

26,339

(F-

34.44%)

24,000

(F- 50%)

Increase in Productivity of Participating Firms. GSTDP defines productivity as output per labour hour

and it is calculated using value added prices of products by the participating enterprises. Productivity

is the only intermediate level indicator at the PDO level with all other indicators contributing to it. It

must be noted that this result is mainly based on calls 1&2 to ensure consistency and enable

effective assessment of progress over the various data collection points. The data has been gathered

from the same set of grantees and corresponding respondents to ensure reliability. GSTDP M&E

observed that combining grantees from the other SDF calls with those of calls 1&2 may potentially

distort the uniformity within the dataset and may also affect the reliability of the results. FY 2014

59

productivity results show an encouraging percentage increase in productivity. In December 2013

when the second data collection was conducted, the project observed a 68% increase in productivity

of the participating firms over the baseline productivity value. The 104.28% increased in productivity

of participating firms observed in December 2014 seems to aptly confirm the increases observed in

December 2013. Further details of productivity have been presented in section 7.9 below.

Increase in investment by participating enterprises.This indictor measures improvement in

investment in skills and technology by the participating enterprises over the period under review.

This includes the enterprises’ matching contribution to the SDF funds. Total investment by the

participating enterprises increased from GH₵3,836,156.04 in December 2013 to GH₵9,071,788.51 in

December 2014 representing a gross percentage increase of over 136.48%. Refer to Section 7.10 for additional

analysis and interpretation of results for this and the other PDO level indictors.

Satisfaction with skills by trainees. It is worthy to note that most of the GSTDP targets have been exceeded as at the end of December 2014 and further improvement is expected over the remaining 16 months. For example, 24,000 people were targeted to directly benefit from for the project. As at the end of the fiscal year under review (FY 2014), 26,339 people had directly benefited from the project. Satisfaction with skills by trainees improved from 77.6% at the end of December 2013 to 84.4% at the end of December 2014. This exceeds the end of project target of 70%. The trainee satisfaction data has been collected in connection with the implementation of SDF projects (Window 2). The assessment was based on the same sample, including respondents, used for the December 2013 assessment to ensure consistency. The analysis for calls 3&4 will be included in the next semi-annual assessment as some of the sampled grantees for these calls had not signed their contracts at the end of December 2014. This indicator (satisfaction with skills by trainees) provides a self assessment opportunity for the trainee. It enables the trainees to self-assess the impacts of the SDF supported training on their own performance. Satisfaction with skills by participating firms also requires the employers (mostly supervisors) of the SDF window 1 grantees to assess the skills of their employees who directly benefited from the SDF capacity building support. Like the other indicator, the overall employer satisfaction with skills of employees improved significantly from 37.4% at baseline to 66.7% at the end of December 2014. Though the December 2014 result indicates a decline from the December 2013 results, it shows a dramatic improvement over the baseline values and remains very close to the end of project target of 70%. As clearly explained above, the assessment was based on 12 grantees and 228 workers randomly selected during the baseline assessment. GSTDP will continue to use the same sample elements for all subsequent assessment to enable effective assessment of progress of the employees over the life of the GSTDP project. Results for calls 3 and 4 will be included in the June 2015 semi-annual assessment. All sample grantees are expected to have signed their contracts and started implementation by then.


60

Indicator Compon

ent

Baseline 2013 2014 2016

Actual Targ

et

Actu

al

Targ

et

Actu

al Target

1. Employers rating of competencies of trained employees (Window 1):

3 37.4% 50.0% 87.2% 60.0% 66.7% 70.0%

-Practical understanding of roles

71.0% 50.0% 89.6% 60.0% 75.5% 70.0%

-Attitude to work

45.8% 50.0% 80.0% 60.0% 72.8% 70.0% -Technical understanding of roles

46.6% 50.0% 88.8% 60.0% 71.4% 70.0%

-Communicative competencies

32.8% 50.0% 74.4% 60.0% 66.0% 70.0%

2. Number of Industry/service provider

collaborations (Window 1) 3 0 100 120 150 341 200

3. Increased proportion of those

trained that become certified

(disaggregated by gender and age)

(Window 2)

3 0% 10

%

13.5

% 30% 25% 50%

4. New training courses/new

partnerships established (Window 3) 3 0 12 8 16 61 20

5. New technologies adopted by

participating firms (Window 4) 3 0 40 8 70 52 120

6. Collaborations between enterprises

and technology centers (total for all

centers receiving project support)

(Window 4)

3 0 12 1 24 23 60


Employer rating of competencies of trained employees continued to stay well above the baseline

values and very closed to the end project targets. The results shows marginal decline from 87.2%

recorded in Dec 2013 to 66.7% in December 2014. From the analysis of the qualitative data, the high

values obtained during the December 2013 assessment was influence by enthusiasm around the

support and the motivation on the part of the trainees to try the new skills received. At the point of

the December 2013 data collection, the projects were at their very early stages and the euphoria

might have caused some level of exaggeration in the rating of the employees. The December 2014

assessment is most likely to present the true picture of the performance of the employees as the

employers have had enough time to study the employees. Each of the competencies (practical,

behavioral, technical, and communicative) recorded a dramatic improvement over the baseline (June

2013) values as shown in table 6.4. From the results, the communicative competency which

measuresemployees’ ability to communicate around the trade, present products to their clients

and/or customers, impart knowledge to subordinates, and explain the various stages of the

production process, seem to have been challenging to a lot of the employees. Though consistent and

noticeable improvement has been observed since the baseline assessment, with values improving

from 32.8% in June 2013 to 66.0% in December 2014, it continues to be the only competency

61

performing below the end of project target of 70.0% and seems to have contributed to the decline in

the overall value of the indicator.

All of the other indicators made significant progress towards the end of project target with about 18

month to complete the project as shown in table 6.4.

6.5 Progress in KPIs: Components 4

Table 6.5: Component 3 progress in the KPIs


Indicator Component Baseline Dec 2013 Dec 2014 2016

Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target

1. Grant Agreements for SDF

sub projects signed 3 0 175 78 300 495 440

2. Sub-projects satisfactorily

completed 3 0 175 0 300 116 440


It is important to note from table 6.5 that the end of project target for the number of grant

agreements signed has already been exceeded. Additional 132 projects have been approved for call

5 and these, together with the outstanding calls 3&4 grantees, are expected to be signed by the end

of the first quarter of 2015. Further details related to these indicators are presented in the next

section.

Actually, 358 projects were planned to be completed by the end of FY 2014. Though the results

show quite an intimidating gap between the actual number of projects completed and the planned

or targeted, most of the ones that were expected to be completed by the end of the year were

implementing their second or last tranches and expected to be completed by the end of the first

quarter of 2015. For example, 66 of the 75 calls 1&2 projects that were expected to be completed by

the end of December 2014, had either been completed (52 projects) or implementing their second

or last tranches (14 projects). The remaining 9 projects (still implementing their first tranches) had

all submitted requests for their second tranches.

6.6 SDF Sub-Projects Implementation Summary

During the period under review, the 116 of the expected 358 sub-projects were successfully

completed (32.4% of the projects that were expected to be completed). The number of

approved sub-projects increased from 78 at the end of December 2013 to 495 at the end of

December 2014. This represents over 550% improvement over the 2013 approvals. The 495

62

projects are distributed by economic sector and window as presented inTable 7.5. Though

windows 1 and 2 form about 90% of the total projects approved, it translates to only 57.49% of

the funds approved. Overall, 65.24% of the amount approved has gone to the formal sector

enterprises (Window 1, 3, 4a, and 4b) which received only 27.88% of the sub-projects.

Table 6.6: Distribution of SDF Sub-Project by Window and Sector

Window/Sectors

Number of Projects (Dec

2013)


2014) Total Value of Project (GH₵)

% of Total

Project Funds

Window 1 15 88 16,561,210.85 17.78 22.74

Housing and Construction 33 3,824,176.00

Business & Other Service Activities 3 909,445.60

Electrical and Electronics 1 237,490.00

Financial Intermediation 9 675,616.45

Horticulture (Crops) 4 1,174,075.00

Hospitality & Tourism 14 4,400,642.70

ICT 2 580,732.10

Information & Communication 1 326,292.00

Livestock and Animal Husbandry 1 102,074.60

Manufacturing 18 4,021,868.80

Service 1 127,400.00

Water & Sewerage 1 181,397.60

Window 2 47 357 25,313,855.96 72.12 34.36

Business & Other Service Activities 2 133,370.00

Fisheries & Fishing 3 241,639.00

Health & Social Work 14 644,661.00


Hospitality & Tourism* 115 9,889,285.03

Livestock and Animal Husbandry 30 1,884,111.00


Service 97 6,611,308.45

Transport 1 58,590.00

Window 3 8 24 12,661,540.63 4.85 17.38

Education 19 9,844,313.23

Horticulture (Crops) 1 826,260.00

Manufacturing 2 330,379.90

Oil and Gas 1 950,000.00

Service 1 710,587.50

Window 4.1 4 20 10,374,757.37 4.04 14.24

Fisheries & Fishing 2 632,368.19

Health & Social Work 4 2,242,385.68


Information & Communication* 1 372,500.00

63

Window/Sectors


2013)


2014) Total Value of Project (GH₵)

% of Total

Project Funds

Livestock and Animal Husbandry 1 928,810.00


Oil and Gas 1 624,752.25

Window 4.2 4 6 7,923,692.60 1.21 10.88

Education 2 2,754,627.77

ICT 1 1,708,688.00

Livestock and Animal Husbandry 1 1,606,969.42


Grand Total 78 495 72,835,057.41 100.00 100.00

GSTDP Priority Economic Sectors.So far, 17 economic sectors have benefited from the fund and

the subsequent calls (Calls 5 and 6) are expected to bring some additional economic sectors on

board. It is worthy to note that the number of projects approved for the GSTDP priority sectors

increased from 28 subprojects (48.19%) to 250 sub-projects representing 50.51% of the total

number of subprojects. Major beneficiaries of the increase were Tourism and Hospitality, which

improved from 3 to 129 projects, and Livestock and Horticulture which also enjoyed a noticeable

improvement from 19 to 83 projects. The other priority sectors were: ICT (maintained the same

number of project 3); Oil and Gas (increasing from 1 to 2 projects); and housing and construction

(increasing from 1 to 33 projects). For the non-priority sectors, service increased from 26 in

December 2013 to 99 in December 2014; manufacturing increased from 13 to 83; and fisheries

increased from 2 to 5. The new

economic sectors that came on

board over the year under

review (FY 2014) included

transport, Electrical and

electronics, water and

sewerage, and business

(distribution of goods).

6.7 Regional Distributions of

Sub-Projects

All of the 3 Components of

GSTDP have elements of

regional distribution which the

project strives to ensure

reasonable levels of equity.

Though the project strives for a

Figure 6.1: Regional Distribution of Sub-Projects

64

higher level of equity across the administrative regions of the country for each of the three

components, in the case of SDF, it does not have the corresponding level of control over this as

the distribution is highly influence by the number and quality of application received from each

regions. Over the years, the SDF has managed this by organizing outreach program to ensure

each of the regions has equal knowledge and understanding of the SDF facility. GSTDP has also

made personnel (intermediary service providers) available for each of the regions to reduce the

effect of quality of the application on the distribution of the subprojects across the regions.

During the period under review, GSTDP observed a significant increase in percentage of projects

for 6 of the 10 regions (Asanti, BrongAhafo, Northern, Upper West, Volta, and Western). It is

worthy to note that 4 of these regions were among the regions that did not perform to the

expectation of GSTDP during the previous fiscal year (FY 2013). The percentage of projects for

the Volta Region, for example, increased from 5.13% (4 of 78 projects) to 10.10% (50 of 495

projects) representing 100% improvement in the proportion of projects received. Western

regions, which performed worryingly low during FY 2013, observed a significant increase from

1.28% (only 1 of 78 projects) in FY2013 to 6.4 (32 of 495 projects) at the end of 2014. Though

Greater Accra continued to be the highest performing region, the proportion of the projects

received at the end of FY2014 reduced quite noticeable from 41.03% (32 of 78 projects) at the

end of FY 2013 to 29.29% (145 of the 495 projects) at the end of FY 2014.

The current distribution largely reflects the configuration of the outreach programmes designed

for calls 3 and 4. For Greater Accra, the focus of these outreach activities was shifted from all

economic sectors to only the Window 4a eligible formal large scale production firms. As a result,

the number of Window 4a projects in Greater Accra increased dramatically from 2 at the end of

FY 2013 to 13 at the end of FY 2014 representing 65% of the total Window 4a projects. The

reduction of emphasis on other Windows, however, caused a significant drop in the Greater

Accra’s share of Calls 3 and 4 projects for the other 4 windows (1, 2, 3, and 4b) from 38.16% (30

of 78) in the case of Calls 1 and 2 to 24.16 (102 of 417) projects in the case of Calls 3 and 4. The

reverse was the case with the other regions where more emphasis was placed on the informal

sector. Significant improvement was observed in each region’s share in the Windows 1, 2, and 3

projects. It is obvious from the above that the outreach activities organized for the 3 previous

Calls were very effective clearly determining the volume and quality of applications received.

65

6.8 PDO Level Indicators:

Productivity of Participating

Firms

GSTDP defines productivity

as output per labour hour.

The overall productivity

value for GSTDP is expected

to be derived from data

collected from sub-projects

of the various sub-

components of the project.

Currently, sub-projects for

Components 1 and 2 that

eligible to contribute to the

GSTDP productivity indicator

are yet to be identified or

selected. Therefore the

productivity analysis for FY

2014, as was the case at the

end of FY 2013, is derived based on data collected from only Component 3 sub-projects. The

assessment includes firms in all application windows and expected to be disaggregated by

component.

The theory of change underlying the GSTDP is that improved skills, technology, innovation, and

labour market efficiency lead to improved competitiveness of businesses. Diversification,

productivity, and competiveness cannot be achieved without commensurate investment in

human capital. At the intermediate level therefore, it is expected that SDF’s investments in

human capital, innovation, and technology will lead to increased productivity, at least, of the

participating firms and ultimately trickle down to the entire economy. Productivity improvement

is a major factor in accelerated development and this places the GSTDP project very close to the

heart of the development of the country.

SDF defines skills as the individual’s ability and capacity to carry out activities ranging from

simple to complex in a job setting, typically developed through education(formal or non formal

training measured in qualifications, competencies, or occupational progression). So far, over

Figure 6.2: Labor Productivity of Participating Firms

66

26,000 workers have or are receiving training in various skill areas through the SDF with the

objective of increasing productivity. The stakeholders of this process have included employers,

employees, trade and industry associations, public and private training institutes, and individual

service providers or consultants, Universities, Polytechnics, and local and international agencies

engaged in technology development.

In the short term, the project is expected to benefit employers and employees of the targeted

economic sectors. Over the years of active implementation of GSTDP, employers have received a

wide range of support including entrepreneurial capacity building, improved skills of workers,

provision of innovative training to workers, investment in technologies, and investment in

technology centres to provider sustained support in research and technologies to the firms in the

targeted economic sectors. Through component 2.2 of the GSTDP, for example, technology

incubation, transfer and/or commercialization centres have been developed to bring the

targeted research and technology institutions closer, as much as practicable, to the firms in the

targeted economic sectors. From the chart or figure 6.2 above, these interventions are expected

to: help improve the satisfaction with skills of employees by participating firms; satisfactions with

skills by employees themselves; and increased in investment skills by the participating firms. It is

also expected that as many females, as their male counterparts, will directly benefit from each of

the components of the projects. These immediate level indicators are expected to directly

contribute to productivity.

6.9 Productivity of Participating Firms: Results

In July 2013, the PSU conducted a baseline assessment for calls 1&2 SDF grantees through the

methodologies prescribed in the GSTDP M&E framework. Similar assessment was repeated in

December 2013, and quite recently for December 2014 covering the same grantees, respondents

and, indicators to assess the progress made over the years of active implementation of GSTDP

across the various Components and sub-components. As indicated in Table 6.7, labour

productivity, which measures averaged change of output per hour of employed persons (output

per labour hour), recorded significant increase of104.28% at the end of FY2014. This represents a

real increase of 70.37% (discounted by 16.60% inflation rate of December 2013).

Table 6.7: Labour Productivity

Window Output per Labour hour (December 2013)

Output per Labour hour (December 2014)

% Change Real % Change (16.60% inflation)

1 11.01 16.30 48.11 23.52

2 5.21 4.37 (16.10) (30.03)

3 18.15 108.46 497.71 398.49

67

Window Output per Labour hour (December 2013)

Output per Labour hour (December 2014)

% Change Real % Change (16.60% inflation)

4a 20.92 35.03 67.43 39.64

4b 2.26 5.28 133.33 94.60

Overall 12.69 25.93 104.28 70.37

From the table, each of the windows recorded various levels of increases in productivity with the

exception of window 2 which recorded a decline of about 16%. The value of output per labour

hour reduced significantly from GH₵5.21 in December 2013 to GH₵4.37 in December 2014.

According to the respondents, the decline in productivity of Window 2 is mainly the result of

instability in power (electricity) supply which directly affected output (quantities produced) of

each of the employees. The Window 2 sample is dominated by SMEs that depend heavily on

electricity (hairdressers, electrical repairers, tailors and seamstresses, etc.). Activities of the

informal sector depend heavily on the national grid, as most of the firms cannot afford

generators and other alternative sources of electricity. The productivity of the National

Association of Garment Makers, which is one of the selected Window 2 firms heavily depending

on electricity, reduced significantly from GH₵9.61 in Dec 2013 to GH₵4.36 in Dec 2014

representing about 120.41% decline. The grantee’s value of output produced per week decline

from GH₵10,570 to GH₵7,845. From Table 6.8 below, the other Window 2 firms e.g. Ghana

Electronics Servicing and Technicians Association (GESTA) – Accra and Progressive Electronic and

Technicians Association of Ghana (PETAG), which also depend heavily on electricity, incurred

significant declines in productivity.

Table 6.8: Productivity of the Selected Calls 1&2 Grantees

Sampled Calls 1&2 Grantees Window

Dec 2013 Dec 2014

productivity Discounted by inflation

Value of output/ Week (GH₵)

Output/ labour hour

(GH₵)

Value of output/ Week (GH₵)

Output/ labour hour

(GH₵)

3 Oaks Company LTD 1 3,214.40 15.31 - - -

Agric commercial services limited 1 - - 5,111.89 7.61 5.40

Gold coast fruits limited 1 59,848.75 10.84 114,894.24 17.73 12.59

MUSIGA 1 1,038.94 1.08 - - -

ApamCanor Fishermen Cooperative Society 2 10,479.00 4.41 38,318.50 13.31 9.45

Cotton farmers division of GAWU 2 45.31 0.30 1,513.24 3.15 2.24

Ghana Electronics Servicing and Technicians Association – Accra

2 17,169.00 11.45 3,863.75 2.15 1.53

Ghana National Association of Garment makers 2 10,570.00 9.61 7,845.00 4.36 3.10

NABH - New Juaben 2 1,310.00 1.04 3,836.25 1.78 1.26

NABH-Dormaa 2 1,182.50 0.62 4,005.00 1.78 1.26

68

Progressive electronic and technicians association of Ghana

2 15,015.00 7.72 7,667.50 8.87 6.30

VORAB –HO 2 449.23 1.87 812.84 3.08 2.19

Cape Coast polytechnic 3 5,884.62 21.02 6,057.69 21.63 15.36

Centre for development partnership 3 114,169.50 45.31 14,233.50 40.67 28.88

Local Enterprise and Skill Development Limited 3 123,700.00 74.97 459,450.00 291.71 207.11

Regional Maritime University 3 23,230.77 2.48 49,563.20 18.53 13.16

AinooAnsah Farms 4.1 4,500.00 7.81 11,250.00 23.44 16.64

KNUST Juabeng design and Technology centre 4.1 34,667.31 26.75 41,156.08 115.24 81.82

Biotechnology and nuclear Agriculture Research

4.2 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -

Department of Geography and Resource Development

4.2 1,153.85 3.30 2,692.31 7.69 5.46

With the few unfavourable Window 2 cases notwithstanding, the overall picture shows a

dramatic improvement compared to December 2013. The overall productivity improved from

GH₵12.69 at the end of December 2013 to GH₵25.93 (i.e. GH₵18.41 discounted by 16.60%

inflation rate) representing a real changed of about 70.37%. The Value added output per person

(per week) employed increased from GH₵535.54 2at the end of FY 2013 to GH₵1,157.83

representing over 80% real improvement (discounted by an inflation rate of 16.60%). From the

values, the support by SDF seems to neutralize the slow productivity growth at the national level.

Twelve of the 20 selected calls 1&2 firms or grantees recorded various levels of real increases in

productivity and this is inclusive of about 63% of the selected Window 2 grantees presented in

table 6.8. In addition to the increase in quantities and real values of the products, the respondent

provided testimonies of improvement in the quality and many other aspects of their products

ostensively due to the skills upgrading and technology support received from the SDF. The

responses received for asking the question “what improvements have you observed related to

the quality of your product and the production process since you received support from the

SDF?” indicate that most of the firms have awaken to the realization of the constant need to

improving productivity and quality of their products. The employees have also awakened to the

need to play their part in the agenda of productivity improvement and this is manifested in their

work ethics and ownership of the quality of the products turned out by the production process. A

few of the testimonies have been summarized as follows:

1. Black Mask Ltd:Attitudes of workers have improved dramatically. “We have effortlessly

achieved tremendous improvement in attitude to work”. Working period is maximized as

unnecessary waste of time and loafing has been observed to have reduced after the

training. Black Mask has also observed tremendous improvement in the finishing of the

2 FY2013 Value of total output = GH₵ 427,728.25 and the number of employed workers=817 FY 2014 value of total output = GH₵772,271.00 and the number of employed workers =667

69

products. “Workers understand the need to pay more attention to the finishing stage of

the production process”. Through the training, the workers became aware of their stake

in and the benefit they will derive from improvedproducts finishing. Generally, workers

now see themselves as part of the business than they used to before the SDF support:

machines are handled with better care; protective adornments are used and taken good

care of; preventive maintenance seem to have been self instituted; etc.

2. KNUST Jewelry Design and Technology Centre: the CAD/CAM technology acquired

through the SDF has immensely improved precision and accuracy of finishing of the

products. The current products look outstandingly beautifully and attractive.

3. Kakaltuo Young Farmers Cooperative:‘We now know the best way to store our harvests;

production of groundnuts has increased from 1 bag per acre to 2 just by adopting the SDF

trainers’ production techniques; and patronage of our ‘kebabs’ seem to be improving

sharply due to good customer service’.

4. Regional Maritime University: Students have comprehensive understanding of the

programmes and the course units, because lecturers are able to demonstrate most of the

components of the various course units using the engine room simulator. Additional

modules or course units have been introduced since the technology, acquired through

the SDF, was installed.

5. Nzema Maale Pig Farmers Association:‘Though the project has not been completed, we

are very happy about the modules completed so far: we have better understanding of

how to apply chemicals; we know the significance of keeping records on the animals,

assets, and the farm in general; and we also know the techniques to maintain good health

and weight of the pigs’.

6. Centre for Development Partnership:‘Our trade (handicrafts) requires time, patience,

consistency, and understanding of the need to work to specifications. We have received

very good feedbacks from our clients recently; orders have increased in sizes, numbers,

and frequency. Materials are now treated with chemicals increasing their durability and

the finishing has improved tremendously’.

7. Apam Canoe Cooperative Fishermen: ‘There is marked improvement in the handling of

the fish by both fishermen and fish mongers. Attention to hygiene has improved

markedly’.

8. Ainoo-Ansah Farmers: Through SDF, we have increased our production capacity from

40,000 fingerlings to 450,000 fingerlings per month. As a result of the technology

acquired through ADF, the farm has improved dramatically in terms of uniformity (size

and weight), relevance, and low mortality of the fingerlings. Products of the farm have

become attractive to many farms across the African Continent and we have received

orders from a few African Countries and expected to expand rapidly. E.g. we have

70

recently been selected by the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa to supply

fingerlings for their research purposes.

9. Agri Commercial Service Ltd: The farm has observed improvement in the following:

physical damage of the fruits has reduced; shelf life of the products has almost doubled;

and the products now look more presentable and easy to sell. The farm is able to regulate

the quantity produced within specified time periods. This has made the Company one of

the reliable sources of supply of vegetable to the supermarkets in Ghana.

10. Progressive Electronic Technicians Association of Ghana: Members of the association

have improved in troubleshooting of machine through the SDF training. A lot of them

have added repairs of computers to their jobs and their relationships with customers

have improved dramatically. Members are able to keep their promises to their customer

for collection and payments for their machines. This is due to improvement in members

fault troubleshooting abilities as a result of the SDF training.

11. DannesAnnointedEnterprise:Worker of the company have become very fast in the gari

processing. Each worker is now able to process, at least, 20 sachets of gari (1.5 kg) each

day compared to only 10 sachets before the SDF training. The types or brands of gari

processed by the company have increase from 1 (raw gari) to 4: raw gari; gari with soya

beans; gari with palm oil; and gari with margarine. The packaging of the product has also

improved. The SDF training encouraged the company to explore the export market and

now the company is exporting the products to London, Dubai, and Germany. The SDF

supported skills and entrepreneurship training have been very beneficial to the

enterprise.

6.10 PDO Level Indicators: Investment in Skills and Technology by Participating Enterprises

This indicator measures change in Investments in skills and technology by firm receiving support

from any of the components of GSTDP and includes matching contribution to the grants received

from the project. At baseline, the indictor measured the investment in skills and technology

during the year preceding their support by GSTDP. Investment in skills and technology by both

private and public sectors have been far below expectation. The little investment efforts by

Government into science and technology have yielded limited payoff as the vast majority of

research institutes’ budgets go to salaries and facilities with little left over for research activities

or equipment. As a result, the institutes could only undertake poorly financed research that

resulted in limited impact on the economy or on social wellbeing. Even where research was

relevant, it was not put into use due to limited funding of programs linking research to the

industry or economy.

GSTDP has been design to whip public and private interests in investment in skills and

technology. Each of the components of the project comes with strategies to encourage

71

investments including matching contributions to financing by SDF and the other components.

Investments by beneficiaries of the various components are captured as following:

6.10.1 Component 1. This component is expected to contribute to skills, technology, and

innovation through a selection of 10 institutions. Currently, the sub-component related to the

support for these institutions is trying to catch-up after initial delays and they are expected to

directly and indirectly contribute to skills and technology development soon.

6.10.2 Component 2. The Ministry of Environment, Science, and Technology Innovation (MESTI)

has allocated plots of land for the construction of the Directorate for Science and Technology

Innovation (STI). The Directorate has already been formed with 5 staff and currently

accommodated by MESTI. Additionally, each of the component 2.2 beneficiary institutions made

space available for the establishment of their Research/Technology and Innovation

Transfer/Commercialization Centres. Staffs have also been seconded from the other

departments of these institutions to man the centres. Currently, each of the beneficiary

institutions is implementing various activities including demand driven technology transfer

grants. The beneficiaries of these grants are expected to develop research and technological

products to be transferred by the Technology Transfer or Commercialization Centres. In the long

run, the beneficiaries of these research and technological products are expected to also invest in

further research and development of technological products through the technology centres.

6.10.3 Component 3.

Component 3 beneficiary firms and institutions have generally contributed to investment in skills

and technology through matching or counterpart contribution to financing by the SDF. Tables

6.9a and 6.9b present investments in skills and technology by the participating or beneficiary

firms by the various SDF windows and calls during the period under review and includes total

contribution by window during the previous year (2013).

Table 6.9a: December 2014 Expected Investment or Matching Contribution by Participating firms

Call Window 1 Window 2 Window 3 Window 4a Window 4b Total

1 148,128.80 33,629.00 0 0 208,128.00 389,886.8

2 1,353,321.32 395,916.40 860,067.88 3,294,760.10 4,731,116.05 10,635,183.75

3 1248529.16 1307381.8 1443791.49 1240707 2107636.2 7348048.65

4 1621928.59 541708.19 507254.98 2250102 1061294.18 5982291.94

Overall 4,371,907.87 2,278,635.39 2,811,114.35 6,785,569.10 8,108,174.43 24,355,411.14

Table 6.9b: December 2014 Actual Investment for Matching Contributionby Participating firms Call Window 1 Window 2 Window 3 Window 4a Window 4b Total

1 49,361.00 17,044.00 0 0 39,529.00 105,935

72

2 1,936,359.24 339,171.54 187,862.56 1,429,134.66 1,232,373.24 5,124,903.24

3 364882 794122.82 673304.31 579063.22 85906.97 2497282.32

4 138289.97 156802.4 0 1048571.58 0 1343667.95

Dec 2014 Overall

2,488,892.21 1,307,140.76 861,166.87 3,056,769.46 1,357,809.21 9,071,788.51

Dec 2013 Overall

1,413,748.64 306,489.54 187,358.56 926,414.66 1,002,144.64 3,836,156.04

% Change 76.05% 326.49% 359.64% 229.96% 35.49% 136.48%

The overall totals represent cumulative contributions by all participation firms for each of the

years (FY2013 and FY2014) compared. At the end of FY 2014, total investment in skills and

technology by all 495 active beneficiary firms stood at GH₵9,071,788.51 representing 136.48%

increase over the accumulated total at the end of December 2013. Though the end of FY2014

total represents only 37% of the expected investment by the participating firms, considering the

fact that only 23% of the 495 active calls 1-4 sub-projects have been completed GSTDP is

confident that the expected contribution will be exceeded by the end of all of the subprojects in

June 2016.

6.11 GSTDP Employment Creation

Each of the three components is expected to directly or indirectly generate employment,

especially at the downstream for the various targeted sectors. Components 1 and 2 are now

gathering momentum and yet to be effective in creating new jobs. However, at the institutional

level for component 2, each of the beneficiaries has set up its own technology incubation or

commercialization/transfer centre which is expected to directly provide jobs. Currently, with

exception of Ghana Telecom University College where about 4 new staff were brought on board,

all of the vacancies have been filled through secondments, where staff were deployed from

other departments within the same institution to occupy the vacancies. Each of these centresis

expected to expand quickly and provide more direct and indirect employment opportunities for

the targeted sectors.

In the case of Component 3 (SDF), various downstream intervention have been implemented and

over 500 firms including few public sector firms, have received funding for various purposes all

geared toward increasing productivity. Though provision of direct employment, does not form

part of the SDF’s key objectives, it is expected that as the downstream projects are implemented,

the targeted firms will become more productive and competitive leading to the creation of

employment opportunities and/or new jobs. Primarily, the beneficiary firms are only allowed to

request for funds to: address the skills needs of masters or owners of SMEs, master craftspersons

or people who are already in employment; support development of training modules to provide

capacity building or innovative training opportunities for private sector practitioners; supplement

73

the efforts of the formal private sector firms to acquire ground breaking technologies; and to

support in the development of technology centres. It is important to note that each of the

aforementioned windows of support to the beneficiary sectors by SDF, targets firms and

individuals who are already engaged in various forms of businesses and will only effectively

create employment indirectly.

The above SDF focus notwithstanding, the project has been able to generate some level of

employment in the targeted economic sectors. During the December 2014 assessment, GSTDP

included a slot to assess changes in employment, for each of the selected enterprises, before and

after they received SDF’s support. Overall, the number of new jobs by the beneficiary

enterprises were observed to have increased by over 19.50%. Further analysis of the Data by

windows showed a dramatic improvement for each of the windows. As presented in the Figure

6.3 above each of windows 1, 4.1 (4a), and 4.2 (4b) had more than 30% improvement comparing

the status before and during SDF support.

It may be difficult to attribute these changes entirely to SDF as creation of new jobs is not one of

the major objectives of the project. However, one cannot lose sight of the fact that improving

productivity has direct and indirect positive impacts on job creation. As the beneficiary

enterprises and institutions become more efficient productively and gain marketing skills,

demand for their products may expand with time and this may lead expansion of workforce. In

the long run, therefore, the SDTDP is expected to have positive impacts on job creation. The

December 2014 assessment indicates that 674 of the 4057 employees of the 60 calls 1 to 4

enterprises sampled, came on board as a direct result of the SDF. About 35% of these new jobs

were created by Calls 1&2 enterprises (window 1 (36), window 2 (123), window 3 (71), window

4a (5), and window 4b (0). The remaining 439 are distributed by calls as follows: Call 3 (256) and

Call 4 (16).

Figure 6.3: Employment Creation through SDF

74

6.12 COTVET & PSU Management Information System 6.12.1 Major Accomplishments

6.12.1.1 TVET-EMIS Under CADINA Component 1 Project The team at both the PSU and Main COTVET collaborated to ensure the TVET-EMIS platform being developed under the GSTDP Component 1 Project by CADINA meets both Institutional (Server Providers) and COTVET specific needs. The platform will be able to collect data (offline) from the field without need for complex computer systems/networksand transmitted later for processing. A web-based management platform shall be deployed to facilitate central management and ease of access for live or online data collection and reporting. 6.12.1.2 M&E Information Sub-System The Monitoring & Evaluation sub-system integrated to the Grant MIS has been developed. The system allows for the creation of Forms for data collection instruments, setting up of Data collection users, creating and assigning Tasks for data collection to users from the field. Data analysis/reporting and data export components is to be integrated upon completion of field trails.

6.12.1.3 Re-design of IT Infrastructure As part of measures to enhance network accessibility and improve productivity newly designed architecture and services was submitted to the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) in a bid to upgrade internet bandwidth, deploy collaborative suite (e-mail, calendar, tasks, etc), enterprise server services amongst others. This process has received a technical and financial proposal which currently under review by the Procurement Unit of PSU.

75

Information System The Grant Management Information Sys 6.12.2Current and anticipated challenges

A. The issue of delay in the final delivery of the Grant MIS will impact on data capture and

integrity as all paper based grant applications and operational files/documents of approved grantees must be uploaded into the system. This also has had an impact on the implementation of the M&E sub-system.

B. The continuous development of independent systems/platforms such as Grant-MIS,

TVET-EMIS, and Finance/Accounting Systems still leaves a lot to be achieved with systems integration. Providing management reports from such segregated or independent system can be wrought with human errors arising from manual data extraction, translation and presentation.

C. The development of institutional-wide policy on IT is critical. Documents to govern

processes such as Data Security, Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity, IT Disposal are not in place to put COTVET in the right governance path in achieving standards such as ISO9001 which may be critical to position it as a contender in the TVET space.

D. Continuous learning and professional development in the space of computer systems is a

challenge for most users. This has led to in some cases the breach of computers by the installation of Trojans, Spyware, and Malware amongst others with affects users day-day computer usage as well as put the entire organization at risk.

6.12.3 Steps to addressing the current and anticipated challenges

A. The grant team is to be trained in the use of the Grant MIS, however, there will be need

for commitment from the Fund Manager to commit specific, dedicated human resource

76

to both capture and supervise to minimize if not eliminate possible data integrity issues. Again on this front, the Fund Manager must ensure the consistency of all grantee files ahead of any form of capture.

B. The possible implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planner (ERP) to automate

internal processes and merge activities cannot be over emphasized. Though not a possible budget item, plans must be made and budget allocation made to facilitate it’s procurement and deployment ahead of possible project closure in 2016/17

C. Funding must be provided for the procurement of services to enable for the development

of Documents to govern processes such as Data Security, Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity, and IT Disposal.

D. Senior management must take exceptional interest in the continuous learning and

professional development in the space of computer systems for users. Where in-house capacity building activities are organized, such staff must be made to be on time and fully participate not giving excuses or reasons why they cannot participate. Else where, this will be a mandatory Performance Deliverable target and will be tracked by all.

77

CHAPTER SEVEN: GSTDP PROCUREMENT

7.0Staffing Position

Total number of PSU Staff stood at fifty-four (54) out of which thirty (30) are for the GSTDP. Of the GSTDP staff, eighteen (18) are contractual / consultants whilst the remaining twelve (12) are non-contractual / supporting.

7.1 Procurement of Goods and Non-consulting services

7.1.1 Goods All planned goods were procured and delivered in time

Quality assurance materials

Policy documents for Component 1

SDF brochures

2015 SDF calendars and diaries

Office stationery

7.1.2 Non-consulting service The procurement process for the Provision, Configuration and Installation of Contact Center Platform for the SDF Outreach (Interactive Voice Response) was successfully started and concluded.

7.2 Procurement of Works

7.2.1 Minor rehabilitation of 10 TVET institutions did not start as the institutions could not be selected on time. 7.2.2 Rehabilitation of STI Directorate at MESTI. Bid document for the works was prepared (NCB + post-procurement review) and would be advertised in 2015

7.3 Procurement of Consultants’ Services

7.3.1 Institutional strengthening of skills - the consultant started the assignment following contract signature. 7.3.2 Market-oriented programmes - the 5 institutions (technology providers) continued with the assignments carrying out proposed activities 7.3.3 Supervision of STI Directorate Rehabilitation works - the consultant submitted the final design report and tender document 7.3.4 PSU Staff - contracts were renewed for 7 staff? 1 Grant Officer resigned and was replaced. Two (2) additional Grant Officers were recruited. 7.3.5 Audit of 2013 GSTDP Accounts was started in April

78

7.4 Training and capacity building

Staff development and training programs (institutional training and capacity building) were organized for PSU Staffin November (10th – 13th) 2014 in Accra

7.5 Complaints and Comments by Bidders

No complaint or comment was received from any bidder

7.6 Performance of Suppliers, Contractors and Consultants

7.6.1 Suppliers Suppliers delivered supplies within contract duration 7.6.2 Contractors Not applicable as no work contract was awarded 7.6.3 Consultants 7.6.3.1: Institutional strengthening of COTVET- the consultant has delivered the inception report which has been accepted by the Client. The final draft report is to yet to be concluded 7.6.3.2: Market-oriented programmes for the private sector- the 5 technology providers carried out the proposed activities and submitted the deliverables within the required time frames. 7.6.3.3: Supervision of STI Directorate Rehabilitation works-the Consultant has successfully undertaken Phase 1 of the assignment. 7.6.3.4 PSU Consultants: All the Consultants performed their assignments as are required of them 7.6.3.5: 2013 GSTDP Audit- audit report was submitted on time in June

7.7 Contractual Disputes

No contractual dispute was reported during the year under review 7.8 Proposed Activities for 2015 are detailed in the 2015 procurement plan

79

ANNEXES

ANNEX 1: COMPONENT 1 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS TRACKING SHEET

The tables below present the major deliverables or expected outputs of GSTDP Component 1. It is expected to be completed semi-annually by the Coordinator of Component 1. It is completed by checking either Yes (means achieved) or No (not achieved) for each of the items based on their respective progress. Additional details of progress made have been provided in the comment column.

Expected Result Status Comment Yes No

1.1 Development of COTVET technical capacity, strategic systems, and policies

1. Vision, policy, and sustainable

financing to align TVET with

overall Government strategy and

with specific economic (i.e.

productivity) and social (i.e.

employment) outcomes

maintained or achieved.

The existing vision, policy, and sustainable financing to be reviewed as part of the CADINA’s technical support for COVET. Draft of the document has been submitted and feedbacks have been provided by COTVET for final review and submission.

2. National skills strategy developed

to align TVET with Government

strategies and linked to specific

economic and social outcomes.

This is yet to be developed. It is part of the deliverables of the Technical Assistance to support the implementation of Component 1.

3. Overall skills strategy approved

by COTVET Board

Overall skills strategy not yet developed for approval.

4. Medium-term and annual

budgets for skills development

established.

This is dependent upon the completion and approval of the COTVET Strategic Plan (Vision, Policy, and Sustainable Financing) currently being developed by COTVET with CADENA’s technical support.

5. National skills strategy adopted

at all levels (COTVET and

institutional) to align TVET with

Government strategies and

linked to specific economic and

social outcomes.

This is dependent upon the completion and approval of the COTVET Strategic Plan (Vision, Policy, and Sustainable Financing) currently being developed by COTVET with CADENA’s technical support. Achievement of this output is also dependent on the outcome of the GSTDP’s reallocation request, which is expected to make fund available for the activities related to this output.

6. TVET Management information

system (covering all public and

private providers) established.

The COTVET MIS has been designed, developed, and ready for testing.

7. Processes and structures to

coordinate, monitor, and

Development of monitoring and evaluation framework for COTVET is currently in progress.

80


evaluate services across sectors

and agencies established.

8. Guideline for standards and

qualification/certification and

other services to assure quality

for training developed.

13 manuals and 10 guidelines have been completed.

9. Manuals for qualification/

certification and quality

assurance systems as well as for

transferability of skills and

recognition of prior learning

developed.

13 manuals and 10 guidelines have been completed.

10. Institutional support to selected

formal skills development

institutions provided.

Needs assessments for the development of the Institutional development plans have been completed. The targeted institutions have been selected. However, all related subsequent activities are currently on hold based on recommendations of the 2014 AIDE Memoire and request for re-allocation of funds by the GoG/PSU.

11. Sector-specific skills

development strategies including

assessments of supply and

demand of skills, market failures,

and opportunities for public

interventions developed.

A Preliminary sector study has been conducted. A much more detailed sector study, a continuation of the preliminary study, has been commissioned and expected to start in April 2015.

12. Processes to coordinate,

monitor, and evaluate services

across sectors and agencies to

provide policy makers with up to

date information developed.

Development of monitoring and evaluation framework by CADENA is currently in progress. This framework is expected to dovetail into the COTVET MIS which is currently very close to completion.

13. Strategies to identify skills and

technology demand, supply

factors, market failures, and

opportunities are in place.

This is part of the objectives of the Sector Studies expected to continue in April 2015.

14. A TVET monitoring and

evaluation system to identify and

monitor sector performance

through indicators, including

Development of monitoring and evaluation framework by CADENA is currently in progress. This framework is expected to dovetail into the COTVET MIS which is currently very close to completion.

81


access and equity, quality,

relevance, job placement,

financing, efficiency and

effectiveness developed.

15. Policies and financing

instruments for supporting TVET

providers developed.

This is dependent on the completion of the review of the COTVET strategic plan.

16. Biannual skills development

performance reviews

consistently conducted.

Dependent on the establishment of functional M&E and Management Information Systems for TVET. Development o f these systems are currently making good progress.

1.2 Support to TVET providers.

1. The criteria for selection of

formal TVET institutions

developed and include the

necessary autonomy and

flexibility to respond to market

conditions.

Done

2. Formal TVET institutions selected

for direct support by COTVET.

Done

3. Technical assistance provided to

support the development of

institutional development plans

including projections for the

profile, training delivery,

resources, staffing, and physical

investments.

Needs Assessment for IDPs completed. Subsequent activities currently on hold pending the PSU’s request for re-allocation of funds.

4. Support for key partnerships with

private training providers

maintained.

Due diligence for partnership possibilities completed. Subsequent activities are currently on hold pending PSU’s request for funds reallocation.

5. Capacity of the targeted

institutions to access the skills

and technology development

fund enhanced.

This output does not seem achievable as SDF is currently evaluating applications its final call.

6. Improved management

including:

Industry partnerships

Needs assessment toward the achievement of this output has been completed. The rest of the activities

82


are currently on hold due to the PSU’s request for funds reallocation.

Diversified resources

Needs assessment toward the achievement of this output has been completed. The rest of the activities are currently on hold due to the PSU’s request for funds reallocation

Better contracts for staff or

specific services


Internal quality assurance

systems


Improvements in specific

facilities or in equipment in

priority training areas.


7. Improved services including:

Better placement of trainees


Improved training programs


8. Improved skills development

services for TVET providers

including:

On-the-job training programs


Guidance and counseling

systems


Practical training solutions.


83


9. Industry Partnerships developed


10. Increased non-public funding


11. Improved skills development

facilities


12. Reports on improved services

widely disseminated.


1. Yes = The Result has been achieved. 2. No = Result has not been achieved.

84

ANNEX 2: COMPONENT 2 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS TRACKING SHEET

The tables below present the major deliverables or expected outputs of GSTDP Component 2. It is expected to be completed semi-annually by the Coordinator of Component 2 or MESTI. It is completed by checking either Yes (achieved) or No (not achieved) for each of the outputs based on their respective progress so far. Additional details of progress made have been provided in the comment column. Component 2.1: Strengthening national STI planning, management, and coordination Dates: January – December 2014

No. Expected Results Status Comments

Yes No

1.

Short-term training for STI Directorate staff

Planning Proposed short term training for the Research Officer has been rescheduled to take place at the Harvard School of Policy in 2015 on Innovation for Economic Development. This training course was planned to be undertaken in 2013. However, it was recommended to be moved to 2014 and been reschedule for 2015. Awaiting no objection from PSU and the World Bank. The staff of the Directorate have not received any training so far.

Management

Coordination of STI policy:

Planning

Budgeting

Procurement

Financial

management

STI policy issues

M&E

2. Organizational Development Plan (ODP) Developed

TOR for engaging Consultant is being developed.

3. Office space provided

FAS Consult as a Consultant to Design, Prepare Bill of Quantities and Supervise the Construction of the Office Building. The renovation works is yet to begin. Awaiting NO to proceed with the engagement of a contractor. The World Bank is currently studying a Social and Environmental Impacts Assessment clearance submitted by MESTI.

4. Technical assistance to develop and maintain an information system procured.

Procurement ongoing and a consultant is expected to be engaged soon.

5. Database of the financing, performance, and impact of Ghana’s STI institutions and programs in the field of technological adaptation and outreach developed.

Database yet to be developed. Procurement is ongoing and a consultant is expected to be engaged soon.

6. Annual reports on the performance of Ghana’s STI institutions and programs prepared.

Reporting Guidelines not yet developed

85

No. Expected Results Status Comments

Yes No

7. Assistance provided to establish data gathering and other M&E mechanisms for STI programs needed to populate the STI information system and prepare the STI annual report.

The process is expected to be driven by MESTI. The Ministry plans to form a team comprising representative from the STI Directorate, PBME, and the PSU to develop the system.

8. Implementation of selected activities outlined in the national STI Development Plan:

Support for coordination meetings between MESTI and STI stakeholders.

A number of coordination meetings were conducted over the year under review: Negotiation and contract signing meetings

Conduct of studies relevant to activities envisioned under the STI Development Plan

Studies yet to be conducted

9. Learning exchanges with African and other countries on best practices in the field of STI policy planning, management, and coordination and the development of S&T related legislation

Bilateral Meetings between Ghana and South Africa on R & D in Biotechnology and ICT held successfully in 2013. Key bilateral projects identified and is to be implemented. Another meeting has been scheduled for May 2015.

86

Annex 3: SUMMARY SHEET OF 2014 ACTIVITIES

S#. ACTIVITY

BUDGETTED AMOUNT

(US$) AMOUNT

SPENT UPDATES ON ACTIVITIES REMARKS PROGRESS/OUTPUTS AND OUTCOMES

1

Capacity building for COTVET staff 30,000.00 20,000

Two sets of training programmes were organized and coordinated by the Council’s Human Resource and Administrative departments. The first part covered Report Writing, Terms of Reference (TOR) preparation and Proposal Writing whilst the second part covered Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation and Risk Management. The trainings were delivered by Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and Lucky trust venture Consult. The first set of training was organized in the third quarter whilst the second set was in the last quarter of 2014

Evaluation will be done to consider the gains made and further training needs required for consideration in 2015

The trainings organised for the staff have increased their knowledge base in the various areas and staff now use. The actual gains made will be established when an evaluation is done.

2

Development of a TVET Guide 71,000.00 0

Evaluation of EOIs completed and procurement of consultant in progress

Procurement process continues in 2015 for the execution of consultant's assignment, The informative potential of the

The TVET Guide has massive informative potential for streamlining the TVET landscape

87

document and its uses makes it a very worthy venture.

3

Organise Skills Competition /Exhibition 65,350.00 40,000

Two zonal competitions were organized. The first focused on the Pre-Tertiary and the Informal Sector at AgonaSwedru in the Southern part of Ghana (Central region) whilst the second focused solely on the Informal sector, This was held in Sunyani in the Northern part of Ghana. The National event was shifted to January, 2015.

Preparations tor the National event is well advanced.

The skills Competition /Exhibition organised boosted the confidence levels of the Master Craft Persons, promoted their sales, increased their innovativeness and have made them more assertive. The feed back from this activity is very positive.

4

Printing and publication of Policy documents (WEL, RPL Policy e.t.c.) 24,500.00 14,500

The Workplace Experience Learning (WEL) Policy and the Reviewed TVET Policy document have been printed.

The RPL Policy and the TVET Guide is to be printed in 2015 when the documents are done.

The Policy documents provides a ready reference for TVET Providers and the industry involved thus imcreasing efficiency

88

5

Update data on TVET/TVSD 100,000.00 0

Various data sources are being accessed that do not have cost implications so this resource will be used in 2015.

This activity has been rolled over to 2015

Data updates from secondary sources have been done and fed unto the MIS platform. This provides stakeholders with easy access to information on TVET issues contributes to proper planning.

6

Public Education on regulations in the TVET sector, Registration and Accreditation of players in the sector 20,000.00 20,000

TVET Providers( public and Private) and Trade associations through their federation and the general public were sensitized on COTVET's regulatory activities. "Time with COTVET", a live media broadcast was one of the vehicle used for the campaign. This ran for six weeks. Time with COTVET was broadcast on Citi 97.3fm from 13th August to 1st October.

The Public Education has been very useful and would have to be intensified

Stakeholders in the TVET landscape have gained more knowledge and understanding of L.I 2195, the regulations in the TVET sector and the National TVET Qualifications Framework Some institutions are now ready to be accredited and log on unto the Framework

7

Development of quality Assurance tools for TVET 70,000.00 0 Activity moved to 2015

This activity has been rolled over to 2015.

Activity is schedule to commence in 2015

89

providers

8

Facilitating Partnerships for the alignment of mismatches in the demand and supply of skills in industry 50,000.00 10,000

Public TVET Providers and some selected industry experienced the Institutional visits on skills needs of industry. This was done across the 10 regions of Ghana. Also, the evaluation of EOIs for the consultancy aspect of facilitating partnerships between TVET providers and industry has been done and the procurement process in progress.

Procurement process and further actions continue in 2015.

The level of enthusiasm from TVET Providers and industry is high and the potential partnerships to be developed or achieved will put TVET in a very good light.

9

Strengthen Industry Participation in the implementation of the WEL Policy 13,000 13,000

Preparations for the development of the guidelines for Industries and Training Providers (TP’s) on the effective participation in the implementation of the WEL is completed and participants are expected to complete their task befor the close of January, 2015.

All other related activities will be completed in 2015

The guidelines provides direction and promotes efficiency in the activities of the relevant stakeholders

10

Capacity building for New COTVET Staff 200,000.00 0

Twelve (12) new critical staff were recruited. The TNA of these staff will be done in 2015 and further actions taken.

Capacity building of the new staff is scheduled for 2015.

Activity is yet to commence

90

ANNEX 4: PROJECT CRITICAL RISKS AND POSSIBLE CONTROVERSIAL ASPECTS AND HOW THEY HAVE BEEN MANAGED

SO FAR

Risk Mitigation Measure Risk

Ratin

g

Risk Management

Performance Rating

Comments

1 2 3

Institutional/Implementation Risks

Capacity of

beneficiary

institutions in

financial

management

and

procurement

Strong PSU with well-

paid, motivated staff.

(Specific procurement

and financial

management risks are

addressed

throughtraining, hiring

of qualified

professional staff and

frequent supervision.)

H √

Capacity of the PSU has

been beefed up with full

staff and competently

providing financial and

procurement

management support, as

necessary, to all

beneficiaries.

Risk of limited

capacity at new

COTVET agency,

SDF

mechanism, and

new

directorate in

Ministry of

Environment,

Science and

Technology

(MEST)

The project provides

for significant

technical assistance

and capacity building

under components

one and two.

MI √

All Capacity issues at

COTVET and MESTI have

been resolved. Currently,

5 staff have been

deployed on secondment

from the other

departments of MESTI in

addition to a Coordinator

and a Deputy Minister of

STI. MESTI technical team

is working closely with

COTVET PSU M&E

Division in joint project

supervision.

Inter-sectoral

nature of skills

and technology

development

and risk of poor

coordination

among

stakeholders

Establishment of

Project Steering

Committee with high-

level

intergovernmental

membership; Project

coordination and

management

MI √

A representative Project

Steering Committee (PSC)

is in place and includes

representation from all

related Ministries,

including MoE, MoF,

MEST, Trade and

Industryetc.

91


Ratin

g

Risk Management

Performance Rating

Comments

1 2 3

responsibility of

COTVET, an agency

with a designated

cadre of qualified

personnel assigned to

promote the skills and

technology upgrading

agenda.

Projectimplementation

and monitoring. The PSC

is Chaired by the Deputy

Minister of

Education/Tertiary.

Insufficient

demand by

private sector

enterprises to

access funds in

collaboration

with public

training

institutions.

Significant resources

have been allocated

to promote the Skills

Development Fund,

work through industry

associations and

conduct outreach to

targeted private

sector to generate

demand and support

the application

process.

MI √

The outreach effort has

been designed to focus on

the regions, riding on the

back of the key economic

activities; on the priority

sector, focusing on the

skills gaps that have been

identified and which

informed the design of

the programme; and on

the specific funding

windows to capture the

core objective of each

window as it contributes

to the achievement of the

overall project

development objectives.

Clients are used

to a supply

driven approach

and the project

introduces new

partnership

arrangement

including the

integration of

skills and

Selection based on

sectors with good

futuregrowth

prospects and

detailedanalytical/dia

gnostic work and

stronggovernment

support. Validation

ofeconomic sectors

required.

MI √

Selection of grantees

based on the strength of

the case – cost

effectiveness, potential

impact, sustainability and

extended benefits/spill-

over effects. SDF is being

marketed as a demand

driven fund. It actively

promotes access by the

92


Ratin

g

Risk Management

Performance Rating

Comments

1 2 3

technology. priority sectors but is

open to other economic

sectors with good

potentials for increased

productivity for

competitiveness.

High costs of

skills and

technology

training limit

fiscal

sustainability.

SDF criteria mandate

that training only be

provided where it is

demanded to

ensurethatprogramm

es are not supply-

driven. Costs sharing

mechanisms will be

introduced through

SDF on a sliding scale. MI √

As structured, only those

applicants that have an

established need for skills

upgrading or technology

acquisition; and are able

to establish a clear link

between the solution that

SDF’s intervention will

being about on the one

hand and productivity

enhancement on the

other, will be offered a

grant. This approach will

ensure that even when

costs are high, the

achievement of higher

value will make the

venture sustainable

Some activities

may not be

completed by

the end of the

project in June

2016

Component specific

road maps towards

the completion of all

activities in place.

Ml √

Road maps towards the

completion of all of the

outstanding activities for

each of the components

have been developed and

shared with development

partners. Also monthly

progress reports on some

of high risk activities

hared with development

partners.

Overall risk rating MI 3

93

1. Risk Rating: H = High, MI = Medium driven by Impact, ML = Medium driven by Likelihood, L = Low

2. Performance Rating: 3 = Effectively Managed, 2 = Moderately Managed, 3 = A lot Needs to be

Done

COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (COTVET… GSTDP 2014... ·...

Documents

Transcript of COUNCIL FOR TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (COTVET… GSTDP 2014... ·...