By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani (Bono), Oct. 26, GNA – The College for Community and Organisational Development (CCOD), a private technical university, has launched its 10th anniversary celebration with a call for the development of a national coaching and mentorship policy to guide organisational growth and workforce development in Ghana.
“Our public and private sectors suffer from low productivity not because Ghanaians are lazy, but because there is no structured coaching for performance improvement,” Dr Gabriel Gbiel Benarkuu, the President of the CCOD, which specialized in organisational development (OD) courses, stated.
Speaking at the launch ceremony in Sunyani, Dr Benarkuu described the country’s youth unemployment situation as a “mentorship crisis,” explaining that many graduates possessed academic qualifications but lacked mentors to guide them in the transition from school to work.
The anniversary celebration is on the theme: “Celebrating 10 Years of OD Education in West Africa: Ghana Should Develop a National Coaching and Mentorship Policy.”
The celebration seeks to showcase the institution’s achievements and highlight its impact on individuals, institutions, and communities over the past decade.
Dr Benarkuu expressed concern about the increasing migration of young people abroad, attributing part of the trend to the absence of local mentors to help them identify and leverage opportunities within the country.
“From family businesses to District Assemblies, Ghana is losing institutional memory because we do not have a national framework that mandates experienced professionals to mentor the next generation,” he stated.
He noted that countries such as the United States, Germany and Singapore had established national coaching standards, stressing that Ghana would find it difficult to achieve its development aspirations without a comprehensive coaching and mentorship policy for the workforce.
Dr Benarkuu said OD was not merely theoretical but focused on transforming people and systems.
He explained that over the past 10 years, the college had supported communities, institutions, religious organisations and young people through transformational programmes.
“We have seen young people from deprived backgrounds become OD consultants, social entrepreneurs, and community leaders, and these are our most significant change stories,” he stated.
Dr Benarkuu announced that the college intended to document at least 100 of such success stories during the anniversary celebration to demonstrate the impact of organisational development and the need for its expansion across the country.
He called on President John Dramani Mahama, the Ministries of Education and Employment, the Ghana Enterprises Agency and the National Youth Authority to partner with the CCOD and its Institute of Organisational Development (IOD)-USA partners to develop a national coaching and mentorship policy bill.
“The CCOD is ready to lead the technical process with our 10 years of experience and our global partnership with IOD,” he added.
Professor Joseph Amikuzuno, Chairman of the Governing Council of the CCOD, said organisational development had enormous potential to enhance workforce productivity and institutional effectiveness.
He noted that, beyond improving productivity, organisational development helped preserve institutional memory and therefore supported the call for the development and implementation of a national coaching and mentorship policy.
GNA
Edited by Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Reporter: Dennis Peprah
Email: [email protected]