Mr Christian Wollnik, a Team Leader at Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), has observed that the garment industry could become a job engine for Ghana.He said GIZ was, therefore, considering the expansion of its engagement in that sector beyond its existing projects.

Mr Wollnik said this during a training session for representatives of 12 Association of Ghana Apparel Manufacturers (AGAM) member companies on how to prevent transmission of the coronavirus in a factory setting.

The training is aimed at supporting the positive development of the industry, which has seen a significant improvement in recent years.

He said, “AGAM is, of course, our first point of contact for this.”

The training was led by experienced public health experts and provided recommendations on how to develop robust hygiene concepts for the production sites.

Mr Wollnik said the training was a starting signal for a deepened cooperation between AGAM and GIZ.

Mr Gregory Kankoh, the President of AGAM, expressed satisfaction with the training, saying: “For our members, the training was helpful. We are all doing our best to get through the crisis and even though many of our factories are already well-positioned: there is always room for improvement.”

He said the great thing was that the factories could learn not only from technical experts but also from each other.

Participants of the training were encouraged to organise pieces of training themselves and pass on the acquired content to their staff.

At the end of the training, the participating factories were presented with some poly tanks, veronica buckets, face masks and sanitisers.

Participants also discussed the handling of a possible COVID-19 outbreak, such as how the workforce should be informed, who needed to be tested, and how to ensure that production could be maintained in the event of an outbreak.