3 Institutions sign MoU to train waste collectors
The Akenten Appiah-Menka University for Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAM-USTED) has signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Africa Environmental Sanitation Consult (AFESC), a subsidiary of JOSPONG Group, among others, to develop training programmes for informal waste collectors.
The MoU will also identify gaps in the sector and design appropriate programmes to meet these needs and also develop curricula and collaborate in teaching and the provision of consultancy services.
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As part of the agreement, the two parties would conduct research into appropriate technologies and develop training programmes for the informal waste collectors and also provide logistical support and maintenance of the equipment used by the tricycle operators.
The parties will also design short professional courses for practitioners as part of the in-service training to improve on their skills.
At the signing ceremony, the Vice-Chancellor of AAMUSTED, Prof. Frederick Kwaku Sarfo, said part of the mandate of the university was to establish links between it and industries and develop programmes that met their needs and also offer training opportunities for the students.
He said the MoU with AFESC was in fulfilment of that mandate to develop programmes for the players within the sanitation industry, particularly the informal sector to improve on their capacity to enable them to serve the public better.
According to him, JOSPONG Group, being a lead player in the sanitation and waste management sector in the country and AAMUSTED, a skills training institution, it was appropriate that they collaborated to find solutions to the challenges of the sector.
Appreciation
For her part, the Managing Director of AFESC, Dr Abena Asomaning Antwi, was grateful to the institution for the partnership which she said would create an opportunity for AFESC to bring its expertise to bear on the development of programmes to assist the university to train the needed manpower for the sanitation sector.
She said both parties stood to gain from the partnership while also providing an opportunity for the students to also have hands-on industrial attachments.
Related development
In a related development, the university also signed a similar MoU with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Ghana (CILT) for the provision of similar services.
Under the five-year renewable agreement, the two parties would collaborate to design programmes and consultancy services in mutual fields of interest.
They will also develop new market-driven and technology-centred academic programmes and roll out short professional courses and pursue other mutually beneficial activities.