A sod-cutting ceremony has been performed for the construction of a multi-purpose office complex for the Ghanaian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration.
The centre, estimated at the cost of 500,000 dollars, would provide advisory services on employment promotion and economic perspectives in Ghana, aid migrants’ social and occupational integration as well as facilitate data collection and research on labour issues to inform government decision on migration.
The facility, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), would comprise conference room, administrative block, central court yard, offices and landscaping.
The Tacoa Construction Company Limited is the contractor for the project and it is expected to be completed by September, this year.
At the sod-cutting ceremony in Accra on Monday, Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, said the financing of the construction of the building showed the deepening of collaboration between Ghana and Germany and celebration of the manifestation of common interest and good faith kept between them.
The Minister underlined the need for decent job opportunities for the teeming unemployed Ghanaian youth to help prevent illegal migration, which expose people to abuses and vulnerable situations, hence the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Ministry and the German Development Corporation put job creation at the centre.
He said job creation and employment promotion interventions alone were not enough labour migration irregularities adding that effective labour migration requires putting in place systems and mechanisms that would create synergies between the various aspects of the phenomenon.
He said the establishment of the centre would strengthen the governance system of the labour migration and expressed the hope that it would create a conducive office environment for the Labour Migration Unit of the Labour Department to play its regulatory and coordinating roles effectively.
The Minister called for revamping of public employment centres to facilitate job creation and coordinate labour activities at the district and regional levels.
Dr Stefan Oswald, the Director-General of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, pledged German Government’s support towards Ghana’s development strategy, noting that fighting unemployment is part of that effort.
He gave the assurance that Germany would support Ghana’s efforts towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) 2030; hence she would support safe, responsible migration and mobility of people.
Dr Oswald said it is the common goal of both countries not to hinder migration but to manage it well, provide useful information on job opportunities in Ghana, develop a framework for regular migration as well as offer training and counselling services.
The centre, currently temporarily housed at the GNAT Height Complex off Independence Avenue has so far, conducted 6,700 counselling sessions, offered 4,500 training to clients and more than 600 people were mediated into employment or supported to set up their own businesses.
Dr Ralf Sanftenberg, the Head of the global project “Programme Migration for Development” of the Deutsche Geselleschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), expressed optimism that the construction of the office complex would ensure a new dawn of Ghana and German cooperation and supported both nations’ efforts to provide job opportunities for the youth.
Ghana’s Minister of Employment and Labour Relation, Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah and Dr Stefan Oswald, the Director-General of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, planted a young tree at the site of the construction, to symbolically showcase the deepening of cooperation between the two nations.
Source: GNA
