The annual fair, which is slated for November 29, 2023, and dubbed “Ghana Career and Migration Fair,” will be held at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).

It is an engagement and orientation platform for job seekers and employers on career prospects and skill demands on the local and international labour markets.

It is being organised by the Ghanaian-European Centre (GEC) for Jobs, Migration and Development, in partnership with the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR), its agency, the Labour Department, the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and the EU.

Objective

The Director for Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the MELR, Gloria Noi, mentioned the objectives of the fair to include sensitising job seekers to relevant global labour market essential requirements for employability.

“It is also to promote fair recruitment opportunities in Germany, the European Union and in ECOWAS, to enhance employability and entrepreneurial skills of vulnerable groups in the labour market and also promote regional and international work and educational opportunities.

“I assure stakeholders of the ministry’s support towards this laudable yearly intervention,” Ms Noi said.
 
Capacity-building

The Component Manager of the GEC, Kwaku Yeboah, said: “Our fair this year is also to build the capacity of the youth and workers who intend to take advantage of further education prospects across the world. 

“We, therefore, call on all job seekers and labour migrants to take advantage of the unique opportunity presented by this annual fair,” he said.

Mr Yeboah explained that the GEC was commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and implemented by the GIZ in Ghana, in collaboration with MELR.

“GEC’s objective is to advise on employment and educational perspectives for Ghanaian job seekers, returnees and intending migrants alike,” he added.

Mr Yeboah further said that the centre provided counselling and information on labour market demands in the country and beyond, as well as opportunities in regular labour migration.

“The centre, which is an outgrowth of the Ghanaian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration, has provided over 70,000 counselling measures and over 40 active labour market measures since 2017, through short-term TVET training, job placements, business set-up, counselling and psycho-social support.

“This includes people who have received counselling sessions, benefited from economic start-up programmes, vocational and technical training such as hairdressing, tailoring and catering,” he added.

 The acting Chief Labour Officer at the Labour Department, Alhaji Ibrahim Dauda, said the department, being the technical wing of the MELR, was a key stakeholder since it was mandated to ensure people travelled through safe pathways either for employment or studies.

He said as the Ghanaian-European Centres intended to stretch its boundaries to include labour migration, proper regulation facilitated by the sector ministry was required.

Alhaji Dauda said the department would support such initiatives to ensure more youth gained employment while positioning the country to harness opportunities presented by labour migration.