The Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) Directorate of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) has organised a two-week Capacity Building Workshop for students enrolled in the Ghana Power Compact’s Internship and Mentoring Programme (GPCIMP).

One hundred and eighty (180) young females undertaking courses in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in various tertiary and second cycle institutions, participated in the virtual workshops.

According to Dr Cherub Antwi-Nsiah, Director for GSI at MiDA, the COVID-19 pandemic had significantly impacted on its activities planned for placements and in-person Orientation workshops for students in 2020.

The GSI Directorate, therefore, decided to meet their objectives by organising a number of virtual Capacity Building Workshops for the students, to allow them to gain the knowledge and necessary skills that will prepare them for future work placements and their personal development.

The GPCIMP is an activity under the Ghana Power Compact Programme, funded by the United States Government, through its Agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which provides young Ghanaian females in STEM Programme, with training, technical know-how and practical skills that will facilitate their recruitment into jobs in the energy sector and allow them to pursue careers in their chosen STEM fields.

The topics covered during the Capacity Building Workshops included Personality Style and Career Planning, Leadership Skills, Sexual Harassment, Mentorship, Communication, Workplace Environment and Human Resource Issues.

MiDA started the two-month Internship and Mentoring Programme with 50 Interns in 2018.

And since then, the Programme has supported more than 400 female students with workplace internships during their long vacations in private and public sector Institutions, who operate in the STEM field.

The programme also allows the Interns to participate in and benefit from Mentoring Sessions led by resource persons drawn from the Women in Engineering, Ghana Institution of Engineering, Women in STEM Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.