Invest for Jobs and partners hold kick-off meeting for the BOOST project in Ghana
Aimed at building a skilled workforce for Ghana’s emerging e-mobility sector, the ‘Boosting E-mobility Jobs in Africa (BOOST) project’ works with a host of stakeholders from academia, industry, and government to drive the global agenda towards a cleaner and greener future for all.
In Ghana, the transport sector contributes to 47.7 per cent of energy-related emissions (United Nations Environment Programme, 2022). It is expected that voluntary commitments will bring down emissions by around 15 per cent by 2030. Yet to achieve this, it requires the collaborative efforts of all sector stakeholders through a number of strategic and pragmatic measures, including developing the e-mobility sub-sector in Ghana.
The development of the e-mobility subsector provides a surefire way to lower the amount of emissions produced by the transport industry. In addition, the sector offers immense potential for job creation, with opportunities to acquire new skillsets capable of dealing with the unconventional technology that it brings.
To leverage the potential of e-mobility, Invest for Jobs, in collaboration with the UN-Habitat’s Urban Electric Mobility Initiative (UEMI) gGmbH and local companies in the sector, in a kick-off meeting in Accra on May 28, 2024, launched the ‘Boosting E-mobility Jobs in Africa’ (BOOST) project. With a focus on building a skilled and technically informed workforce, the BOOST project will provide structured training programmes for students and professionals, making them ready to support the growing e-mobility sector in Ghana, Morocco and Rwanda. Trainings within the BOOST project will among other areas focus on battery technology, charging infrastructure, and digital mobility services.
© GIZ Ghana // At the the BOOST Opening Ceremony
In a brief remark at the kick-off meeting, Mr. Nathaneal Boakye Mensah, Technical Advisor at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Ghana, indicated that the BOOST project seeks to create at least 250 new good jobs for youth and women within Ghana’s e-mobility ecosystem by developing the skills and capacity of the local workforce.
According to Mr. Boakye Mensah, by developing the local workforce to be future-ready, the BOOST project marks a crucial step towards a cleaner and more sustainable transportation system in Ghana. He added that the project is being piloted in Ghana, Rwanda and Morocco and could be extended to other Invest for Jobs partner countries upon its success.
By harnessing the power of clean and sustainable transportation, the project will drive inclusive and equitable development, benefiting all segments of the population and creating a more resilient and prosperous future for Ghana.
The kick-off event brought together partners from academia, industry, government, and development organisations to collaborate on the sustainable growth of Ghana’s transport sector.