DTI and Ghana TVET Service Partner to Enhance Vocational Training and Youth Employment

The Design and Technology Institute (DTI) and the Ghana Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Service have entered into a landmark strategic partnership to overhaul the country’s vocational education landscape. Through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Accra on September 15, 2026, the two organizations aim to strengthen industry linkages and create robust employment opportunities for Ghanaian youth. The collaboration focuses on a comprehensive approach to skills training, addressing institutional capacity across more than 235 TVET institutions, improving trainer development, and promoting dual apprenticeship pathways to ensure graduates are job-ready for an evolving economy.

In a parallel move to ensure academic excellence, DTI has inaugurated its Academic Council and Industry Advisory Committees at its Awalete Campus in East Legon for the 2026/2027 academic year. These bodies, comprising approximately 40 professionals across fields such as Welding and Fabrication, Multimedia, CAD-CAM, and Entrepreneurship, are tasked with validating curricula and ensuring compliance with international certification standards. DTI Founder and President Constance Swaniker emphasized that this structured engagement with industry is critical to producing graduates who meet "Precision Quality" standards, noting that technical expertise must be coupled with professional behavior and a quality mindset to succeed in the modern workplace.

At the grassroots level, the National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP) is already delivering tangible support to artisans and trainees. In the Wa East District, more than 90 youth apprentices and master craftspersons recently received industrial machines, including heavy-duty sewing machines and salon equipment, along with training kits and stipends. Member of Parliament Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw highlighted the initiative as a fulfillment of campaign promises to combat unemployment through practical skills. Local leaders emphasized that these tools are intended to build economic independence and will remain the property of training centers to benefit successive cohorts of learners.

These combined efforts reflect a broader national strategy to align technical education with the needs of key sectors such as manufacturing, construction, and energy. Director-General of GTVETS, Engr. Dr. Eric Kofi Adzroe, noted that strong public-private collaborations are essential to making TVET more attractive to the youth and driving Ghana’s economic transformation. By harmonizing skills recognition and embedding real-world industry participation into training programs, the partnership seeks to build a globally competitive workforce capable of sustaining Ghana’s industrial growth.