The Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology, Prof. J.K Mintah, has charged participants of the skill training programme organised by the Department of Vocational and Technical Education (VOTEC), to put the knowledge they had acquired to good use to enhance their businesses. Prof. Mintah urged the participants to keep learning and encouraged them to top up the programme next academic year. He commended VOTEC for the initiative to equip the Youth with employable and entrepreneurial skills to enable them to secure jobs or start their own small businesses, instead of going round looking for non-existent white collar jobs. Professor Mintah was speaking at the Closing Ceremony for a three-week skill training programme for traders, students and academicians to harness their skills to competently manage businesses. The training included sugar craft, macramé, food presentation techniques and, advanced batik and tie-dye. The main objective of the training was to equipped participants with the essential skills to help improve their businesses, as well as monitoring them to establish their own businesses. The programme also afforded the participants the opportunity to engage in discussions and share experiences. The Head of the Department of VOTEC, Dr. Augustina Araba Amissah, encouraged beneficiaries of the Workshop to utilize the knowledge and skills they had acquired from the training to better their lot and that of others in the society. She advised them to develop positive attitudes to make the skills they had gained meaningful in the world of work. She indicated that the skills programme would go a long way to help many people to acquire employable skills to become self-employed. For her past, the immediate past Head of VOTEC, Dr. Christine Boateng, said the workshop formed part of the social responsibility of the Department. She urged the participants to take advantage of the skills they had acquired and contribute meaningfully to the socio- economic development of Ghana. She enjoined them to be good ambassadors of the skills training programme and advised the unemployed beneficiaries to start their own small businesses to earn a living, in order not to become rusty at home. As part of the programme, the participants exhibited variety of foods and cakes they learnt during the workshop to the public. Each participant was awarded certificate of participation.  

The University of Cape Coast, UCC, has won the 2017 Community Service Award. The award scheme, initiated by the Osei- Kusi Foundation (OKF) and Selfless for Africa, was aimed at providing financial support to students to help them undertake developmental projects in their communities. The University was represented by a team of five (5) students with a code name “Team Solutionists” at the competition. They were Messrs Osei Emmanuel, Danso Tony, Godswill Hygienus,and Miss Adeisu Diana Vigah and Miss Adjoa Owusuwaa, all from the School of Agriculture under the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences. Briefing the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K.T. Oduro, on the Community Service Award (CSA), the Executive President of OKF, Dr. Kofi Osei-Kusi, said the scheme had been opening participation for interesting students in tertiary institutions to form a team of three to five with a code name to compete for the award. Afterwards, he said, the scheme tasked participants to select a deprived community, research on it and present a proposal with an action plan to better the lives of the people in that community. According to Dr. Osei-Kusi, the scheme received tons of applications from students in all the public universities, including the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. At the end of the fiercely contested competition, he said, Team Solutionists won the community project, which was to build a modern fish smoking device for fish mongers in a community called Duakro, near Cape Coast in the Central region. At a ceremony held at the Accra International Conference Center, Team Solutionists was presented with a seed capital of 10,000 Cedis to implement the project, Dr. Osei-Kusi added. Dr. Osei Kusi said the gesture was OKF’s widow’s mite to encourage young people to cultivate the spirit of volunteerism, community service and patriotism. For his part, Prof. George K. T. Oduro, commended the participants for making their School and the University proud. He assured the participants that the University would support them in the execution of the project. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor thanked Osei- Kusi Foundation for the initiative to whip up the interest of the youth into volunteerism, which he said “is sine qua non for rapid economic development”. Dr. Osei-Kusi was accompanied on the visit by Mr. Prince Dwomoh, the Finance and Administrative Manager of Osei-Kusi Foundation. The Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Prof. L.K Sam-Amoah, Prof. Okae-Anti of the School of Agriculture, and Mrs. Georgina Asi Owusu, the Senior Assistant Registrar at the Vice-Chancellor's Office, were present at the meeting, which was held at the Council Chamber.  

The Chairperson of the University Council, Mrs. Nancy Olufola Campbell Thompson, has expressed her willingness to work with management of the UCC to put the University on a higher pedestal. Mrs. Thompson gave this assurance when she interacted with management of the University as part of her familiarisation tour on campus.

The Chairperson expressed excitement about the massive expansion the University had witnessed over the years. She noted that it was high time the University gained the needed prominence it deserved. “I’m aware of the numerous achievements of the University and I pledge to help move UCC further to a higher height” she added. Mrs. Thompson, an alumna of UCC, recalled her student days from 1964 to 1968 and added that the University was relatively young during those periods. She indicated that “I normally find myself in places I never expect and I didn’t think that I will have anything to do with the University, especially at this time of my age”.

She commended the various leadership of the University for contributing to the development of UCC as one of the best institutions in Ghana and beyond and called for maximum cooperation from the current management to continue with the good work.

On behalf of management, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, thanked the Chairperson for finding time to interact with them. He promised that they would work closely with her to advance the cause of UCC.

The meeting was attended by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro; Registrar, Mr. John Kofi Nyan and some Provosts and Directors. The Chairperson was later accompanied by the Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Registrar on a tour to various facilities on campus and at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.

A Lecturer at the University of Basel, Switzerland, Dr. Christa Wichterich, has noted that “gender equality effect” is key to the advancement of any economy. She said women were very efficient and drive the growth of any country’s economy. Dr. Wichterich made these statements when she presented a paper on the topic “Womenomics and Commodification of Nature”. The workshop was organised by the Centre for Gender, Research Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) as part of the two-week international summit on the general theme “Land Use and Mobile Livelihood: Intersectional Perspectives on Pastoralism, Migration and Displacement". The lecturer indicated that the development of many countries was lagging behind because of the exclusion of women. She, consequently, called for the inclusion of women at all sectors of the economy so as to maximise growth and production. She highlighted the G20 Marshall Plan Africa and Compact with Africa to the participants. She said the Marshall Plan with Africa would prioritize private investment on the continent, possibly while reducing or shifting official development assistance. Dr. Wichterich also explained Women 20 (W 20), which aimed at promoting women’s economic empowerment as integral part of the G20 process. In 2017, W20 focuses on four pillars, namely labour market inclusion, financial inclusion digital inclusion and strengthening the W20, she noted. Dr. Wichterich stated that the ultimate goal of the W20 is to stop Africans from migrating to Europe. In her presentation, the Director, Feminist Research Institute, UC Davis, University of California, Prof. Amina Mama, paid glowing tribute to African feminists who played roles in the emancipation of women, mentioning the likes of Huola Shaarawi, Claudia Jones, Angela Davis, Djamla Bougired and Charlotte Maxeke. She noted that many feminists advocated for the studies of Gender and Women’s Studies in African Universities. The reasons, she said, for the introduction of the studies included; intellectual and scholarly endeavour, to develop and improve scientific quality of research, overcome epistemological biases in mainstream “men’s studies”, and generate new knowledge, new paradigms, approaches to methodology. She used the occasion to commend CEGRAD for the workshop. The Director of CEGRAD, Prof. Akua Biritwum, stated that “feminist is that whole point of knowledge production should serve an interest and feminists make the chance that we should bring about social changing to better women’s lives”. Because women are gendered, the problem of land interest had compounded, she noted.