Ghana to scientifically determine unemployment rate

The Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations would soon roll out a Labour Market Information System to facilitate scientific studies into labour market issues, including the determination of unemployment rate in Ghana.

The move is coming off as a result of the Capacity Development Mechanism (DCM) being implemented by the government to help improve service delivery in public institutions.

Mr Louise K. Amo, the Coordinator for the CDM, disclosed this at a knowledge and experience sharing workshop in Koforidua, involving 16 pilot public agencies.

The CDM, which is a joint effort between the Government of Ghana (GOG) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) now the Department of Foreign Affairs Trade and Development (DFATD), is a new GOG approach towards capacity development in a holistic and harmonized manner across the Public Services.

Its main aim is to increase and deepen capacities across the public service of Ghana to ensure transparent, accountable, timely, efficient and effective performance to achieve the overall goals set out in the Ghana Shared Growth Development Agenda (GSGDA).

The CDM started in 2012 with a 5.2 million Canadian dollars funding from the DFATD and is being implemented in 16 government agencies on pilot, using purely Government of Ghana systems and procedures.

According to Mr Amo, through the CDM, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had acquired and installed a Wide Area Network (WAN), which had enabled applications for EPA permits to be processed online with no need for people to travel to the head office.

He said the mechanism had helped to develop and automate business processes within the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP), which has caused a major shift from paper-based communication to an electronic one, resulting in faster work processes and higher outputs.

“The CDM had helped the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to acquire a Truscan machine that enables the detection of counterfeit drugs and foods in real time,” Mr Amo added.

The machine, he said, had enhanced capacity to protect public health.

Mrs Bridget Katsriku, the Chairperson of the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Implementation Steering Committee (ISC) of the CDM, lauded the CDM initiative, saying, “it is improving service delivery at the public sector.”

She was impressed about the tangible achievements chalked by the 16 institutions so far, especially in improving and increasing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure at their respective places to enhance service delivery to Ghanaians.

Mrs Katsriku said the CDM would make a greater impact by meeting the needs of the citizenry if it is extended to all the public institutions in the country.

The 16 beneficiary institutions in the CDM were selected from a total of 29 through a competitive selection, and were classified into three categories as Central Management Agencies (CMAs), Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Sub-vented Agencies (SAs).