By Ernest Nutsugah/Khadijah Musah
Accra, Feb. 29, GNA – Ms Momoko Suzuki, Chief Representative, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), has expressed confidence in Ghana’s Civil Service Training Centre (CSTC) becoming the Centre of excellence in human resource capacity development in the West Africa sub-region.
She believed the Centre was well-positioned to train staff in the civil and public service and also provide support for neighboring countries in human capital development.
Ms Suzuki was speaking at a media engagement in Accra on JICA’s collaboration with CSTC over the past 15 years, which among other things, had culminated in the establishment of an ultra-modern e-learning platform called the ‘Learning Management System’ (LMS) at the Centre.
The platform, formed part of JICA’s technical cooperation projects implemented at the CSTC over the years.
It will help deliver online courses to personnel in the civil service as the Centre continued its in-person capacity development and career advancement mission.
The well-equipped Centre, provided by JICA, has hybrid training rooms, studios, laptops, video cameras, and other learning essentials for trainees and facilitators.
Ms Suzuki was impressed with the cordial working relationship between JICA and CSTC, as it continued to extend support to the Centre through the provision of physical infrastructure and logistics.
She highlighted the importance of human resource development stressing that “a highly motivated civil service” contributed to a stable State and enabled citizens to “have trust in the government”.
Ms Suzuki said a part of JICA’s global agenda was to “strengthen good governance and institutions”, adding that capacity building and improvement in “administrative practices and systems” were essential to the mission.
“Our collaboration has grown from strength to strength…I’m very proud to see this evolvement of CSTC and how the Centre has brought herself to this level and its high ownership and the enthusiasm to become more better.
“We see CSTC as the Centre of excellence not only in Ghana but in the sub-region. We believe that Ghana can support the neigbouring countries in the capacity development of the civil service.
“CSTC is now one of the leading institutions to provide support to other countries, which would also enable the stability of the neighbouring regions,” she noted.
Ms Suzuki expressed JICA’s commitment to work with the government of Ghana to develop the country’s human resources and achieve economic growth.
Mrs Dora Dei-Tumi, Principal, Civil Service Training Center, described JICA as “a beacon and catalyst of CSTCS phenomenal change”.
The said the myriad of support received from JICA had led to the grooming of high level facilitators, who in turn offered technical expertise to trainees.
Apart from training low and middle level civil service personnel, Mrs Dei-Tumi said the Institution also accommodated high level staff in both the civil and public service.
She noted that the new e-learning facility would augment the in-person training offered by CSTC, and called for more collaboration from other institutions.
Mr. Masashi Yamanaka, JICA Expert, also touched on the importance of training and investing in people.
He praised the interactive and well-designed interface of the e-learning system, which would allow trainees to assess online courses on their phones and computers.
He highlighted other benefits of the system and expressed confidence in its effectiveness and efficiency.
The Ghana News Agency was told that four new e-learning courses had been run on the platform with positive feedback from participants.
Subsequently, JICA and CSTC would develop courses for practicing ‘Kaizen’ — the Japanese concept of ‘Continuous Improvement Learning’ in the public sector.
GNA