Adams Alhassan is a careers, education, training and employment strategist at Humanics Lab, a centre for human-centric innovation in education, training, and employment.
Ghana’s National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP), launched under the National Youth Authority (NYA) and the Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment, is a pivotal step towards addressing youth unemployment and aligning skills development with labour market demands.
With a GH¢300 million allocation in the 2025 budget and a mandate to formalise Ghana’s largely informal apprenticeship system (80–90% of basic skills training), the programme’s potential is undeniable. However, its success hinges on systemic alignment ensuring collaboration across government agencies, private-sector actors, educational/training institutions, and communities.
Drawing on insights from labour market trends, technology-driven innovation, and human-centric design principles, this commentary explores how Ghana can transform the NAP into a globally competitive model for workforce development.
The NAP’s effectiveness depends on harmonising efforts among stakeholders who have historically operated in silos. Key agencies like the National Training Authority (NTA), Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council, and Ghana Labour Market Information System (GLMIS) must collaborate under a unified framework. A systemic alignment that bridges silos for cohesive implementation.
The NTA’s alignment with International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards provides a global benchmark for quality assurance. The NAP can adopt these standards while decentralising implementation through regional TVET colleges, ensuring localised relevance.
Linking apprenticeship outcomes to GLMIS ensures curricula evolve with labour market trends, avoiding mismatches between skills and job opportunities. For instance, if GLMIS shows a surge in demand for solar technicians, the NAP can rapidly adapt its modules.
Establishing a National Apprenticeship Coordination Unit (NACU) under the NYA would unify oversight, streamline funding, and prevent duplication with existing programmes like the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP). This will ensure a cross-agency coordination for effectiveness.
This integrated approach reduces redundancy, pools resources, and creates a seamless pipeline from education, training to employment.
Ensuring a curriculum modernisation that aligns with skills for future workforce needs. The NAP’s focus on “technical and vocational” skills must evolve to address emerging sectors like fintech, renewable energy, and climate-resilient agriculture. Ghana’s labour market is shifting rapidly. The World Bank estimates 80% of future jobs will require digital literacy, yet the programme’s rollout prioritises traditional trades such as welding and tailoring and others.
Collaborate with tech hubs and renewable/climate tech firms to embed coding, AI tools for trades and green/climate technologies into apprenticeships to ensure future-proof skills.
Beyond technical ability, prioritise “human-centric skills” such as problem-solving, empathy, and adaptability. These qualities, critical for collaboration in AI-augmented workplaces, are increasingly valued by employers and global adaptation.
Entrepreneurship integration by partnering with the NEIP, National Enterprise Agency to offer business development modules, enabling apprentices to transition into self-employment or micro-enterprises
By blending technical and human-centric competencies, the NAP prepares youth for both current and future labour demands.
Commitment to equity and inclusion in ensuring the closing of the gap in regional and gender gaps. The NAP’s commitment to inclusivity—welcoming all Ghanaians regardless of gender, ability, or background—is commendable. However, structural barriers persist, particularly for rural youth and women.
While stipends reduce financial barriers, rural apprentices remain underserved due to limited infrastructure. Deploy mobile training units and subsidise internet access using the National Social Protection Strategy database to target the poorest households and rural access.
Set quotas for female participation in non-traditional sectors (e.g., engineering) and partner with organisations like UN Women Ghana to address cultural barriers and to create gender balance.
Ensure training centres and digital platforms comply with accessibility standards, fostering an inclusive workforce and ensuring disability inclusion.
These measures ensure the NAP does not replicate existing inequalities but instead becomes a tool for social mobility.
Technology-Driven Solutions enhancing accessibility and monitoring with technology-driven solutions. Humanics Lab’s expertise in AI-powered career guidance and data analytics offers scalable tools to future-proof the NAP.
Predictive analytics can identify emerging sectors and adjust apprenticeship modules dynamically. For example, if AI-driven models predict growth in Ghana’s solar energy sector, the NAP can rapidly scale related training and skill furcating.
Hybrid Learning Models that expand access via hybrid training (offline, online + in-person), particularly in rural areas with limited internet connectivity. Platforms like Humanics LMS with over 7,000 tech courses, Humanics Lab’s Career Compass, Online Enterprise Incubation Learning and Network, The Universities/Higher Learning Incubators/hub ecosystem partnership, Raise, Induct, Support and Employ (RISE Partnership with employers) could offer modular courses in training into work, entrepreneurship, coding or fintech through to business management and leadership.
A real-time monitoring by developing dashboards to track KPIs such as job placement rates, wage improvements, promotion, skill improvements and employer satisfaction. This ensures accountability and adaptive management. Technology integration mitigates inefficiencies and ensures agility in response to economic shifts.
Key to success is employer engagement and strong business development to build mutual value. The NAP’s reliance on voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) investments risks repeating the failures of past initiatives like the 2017 AISDP, where only 18% of enrolled firms fulfilled commitments. To ensure employer buy-in:
Offer Tax Incentives to firms hosting apprentices, particularly SMEs can improve intake and serve as an incentive to firms.
Legislate requirements for large firms (greater than 50 employees) to host apprentices, tying compliance to CSR ratings or licensing renewals. In a form of mandatory quotas to ensure compliance.
Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), collaborate with multinational firms, large national and private firms and industry associations to co-design apprenticeships aligned with sector-specific needs (e.g., the Humanics RISE partnership that works with employers to design specific training modulars for employment).
By aligning corporate incentives with national goals, the NAP can transform apprenticeships from cost centres into talent pipelines.
Monitoring and Evaluation with Data as a Catalyst for Improvement as the NAP’s promise of “transparency and accountability” must be operationalised through robust metrics.
Define clear targets KPIs, such as percentages in enrolment and completion, percentage of job placement within six specific or targeted timelines and post certification/training tracking and progression in jobs and wages or skills improvements.
Engage independent evaluators to assess programme outcomes, ensuring credibility and identifying gaps.
Use AI-driven and other tools for surveys to gather apprentices’ and employers’ feedback, refining curricula and mentorship practices iteratively to create and ensure an effective feedback loop.
Data-driven insights ensure the NAP remains responsive to evolving challenges.
Ghana’s NAP has the potential to become a regional benchmark for youth empowerment by prioritising systemic alignment, equity, and technology. By fostering collaboration among the NYA, NTA, GEA, TVET institutions, and private-sector actors, the programme can avoid the pitfalls of fragmentation and deliver sustainable impact.
Humanics Lab’s principles of human-centric design and AI-driven innovation offer a roadmap for ensuring apprentices are not only job-ready but also adaptable to the uncertainties of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
As Ghana embarks on this journey, the focus must shift from isolated interventions to integrated systems—a model where education, training, industry, and policy converge to build a resilient, future-ready workforce. This, at Humanics, we are sure if executed based on these recommendations and advice, will make the NAP a blueprint for a regional and Africa’s blueprint for workforce development for successful industrialisation.
The author, Adams Alhassan, is a careers, education, training and employment strategist at Humanics Lab, a centre for human-centric innovation in education, training, and employment.
He advises governments and institutions on bridging the skills gap in Africa’s dynamic labour markets.
Email: adams@humanicslab.com
www.humanicslab.com
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
