Finance Ministry Academy staff attend capacity building course
A capacity building training for staff of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP)’s Academy ended on Tuesday.
The training programme was designed to help build the capacity of officers of the Ministry and its allied agencies by equipping them with requisite hands-on skills and knowledge on various subject areas which are crucial for effective Government service delivery.
It was funded by GIZ Good Financial Governance (GFG) on behalf of Germany Federal Ministry for Development Cooperation (BMZ) and the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Cooperation (SECO).
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Fifii Kwetey, a Deputy Minister of MOFEP, said the Ministry initiated the Academy concept to work with the best human capacity Development Institutions to deliver courses tailored to suite its needs.
He said the Ministry in efforts to achieve its mandate had been working with staff with a complex combination of skills and competencies in areas such as economic, public finance, banking, accounting, auditing law, budgeting, and revenue mobilization.
“To improve the efficiency and productivity of staff, we need to constantly upgrade and develop their capacity to be at the cutting edge of new ideas and best practices in these areas.” He noted.
Mr Kwetey indicated that MOFEP, as part of its mission was was committed to the pursuit of excellence, transparency, probity and accountability in the management of financial resources of the country.
“Our long term vision is to establish a first class specialist institution, in collaboration with the best specialist in all aspects of the financial management and governance to sustainably deliver tailor made courses not only for our staff, but other MDAs.”
He expressed the hope that the various suggestions for improvement that came out of the evaluation report would be applied in designing the next training programme.
Mr Enoch Cobbinah, Chief Director, MOFEP, mentioned that the idea of the Academy was conceived following the successful organisation of a Summer School on Taxation for some staff members in 2011.
“With the establishment of the MOFEP Academy we now have a more comprehensive approach to a tailored training programme and one that provides some degree of institutional anchorage to overcome challenges in public financial management in Ghana”
He said sixteen courses were organised, including Leadership, Macroeconomics and Forecasting, Monitoring and Evaluation, Debt Management, Public Financial Management, Budgeting, Effective Communication, Revenue Mobilization, among others.
Dr Maria Teklueve, Head of Cooperation, German Embassy, expressed satisfaction at the success of the programme, saying that Germany would continue to support such laudable initiatives.
Mr Harold Kuppers, Programmes Manager, SECO, said Switzerland was happy to be a part of the success of the training programme, adding that it had achieved the desired impact of building the capacities of the staff of the Ministry’s agencies and departments
Source: GNA