CILT Ghana supports Transaid programme

International development organisation Transaid has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Ghana, aimed at promoting mutual cooperation in the area of road safety.

The agreement follows less than a year after Transaid began developing a professional driver training programme in the country’s capital, Accra; its first project of this kind to be launched in West Africa.

With funding secured from Puma Energy Foundation, Transaid has set out to raise training standards and expand training capacity for heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers.

The MOU was signed by Engr. Mark Amoamah, National President of CILT Ghana, and Caroline Barber, Transaid Chief Executive.

Barber says: “We have a long and rich history of collaborating with CILT Ghana and I am delighted to be partnering with them again to deliver this life saving work. They have already played a key role to support us in setting up this project, and it’s fantastic to see the relationship formalised.”

The signing of the MOU coincides with Transaid delivering the first ‘Training of Trainers’ module, designed to build training capability in Ghana, following a format used successfully by Transaid on similar projects in Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi.

It follows a busy period gathering and analysing training material currently used in Ghana, establishing a national technical standards group and collaboratively assembling both a theory and practical training curricula, plus an instructor’s manual, to ensure the project got off to a successful start.

Barber says: “The provision of quality professional driver training will be expanded to increase access to training and ensure that drivers are trained to the highest standards. Our initial involvement is for three and a half years, and within this time we want to work with partners to ensure strong foundations are in place to facilitate sustainable and lasting change in Ghana.”

On signing the MOU, Engr. Amoamah announced that he planned to further support the initiative by offering free CILT Affiliate Membership to all those training as trainers.

Transaid is planning to put the first cohort of HGV driver trainers through both the theory and practical training within the next three to four months.