Constance Elizabeth Swaniker
The 3rd Annual National Precision Quality (PQ) Conference to deliberate on employment creation is scheduled to be held on Friday 9th September 2022.
The Conference, an initiative of Design and Technology Institute (DTI) in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, aims to highlight the critical role Precision Quality plays in providing the skills and mindset needed for the production and delivery of high-quality goods and services.
This year’s conference is on the theme, “Using the National Precision Quality Policy Framework to transform the informal sector and create jobs through holistic systems change”.
The conference forms part of a three-year “Transforming youth TVET livelihoods for sustainable jobs’’ partnership between DTI and the Mastercard Foundation, as part of the Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy in Ghana.
The programme aims to create 40,000 direct and indirect work opportunities for young people in the country.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DTI, Constance Elizabeth Swaniker, said the conference will bring together stakeholders from the public and private sectors to deliberate on employment solutions.
She said the conference will enlighten participants to see the need for a mindset change and adopt new ways of developing and delivering products and services to meet consumer needs while creating jobs for the youth.
She said the theme is as critical, explaining that there are concerns about poor product quality and service standards in the informal sector hence the need for holistic systems change.
“We are therefore seeking to use this conference to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, information, and experience among stakeholders in the public and private sectors to brace ourselves with the systems change ahead of the full implementation of the National Quality Policy, the Ghana Standards Authority Act 2022 and the National Precision Quality Policy Framework Document in this era of high-quality standards globally,” she said.
“It is therefore imperative for businesses to be conversant with the policy which among other things aims at improving customer service, increasing productivity, stimulating local production capacity through quality inputs and enhancing employment opportunities,” she added.
The 2022 Precision Quality Conference will have the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah as the keynote speaker.
It will also be attended by a broad range of stakeholders, policy makers and business leaders including Rosy Fynn – Country Head Ghana, Mastercard Foundation and Prof Alex Dodoo – President of the African Organization for Standardization (ARSO) and Professor-In-Residence at DTI.
During the conference, the youth will deliberate on and share their views on youth unemployment and job creation in the form of a manifesto titled the ‘Accra Manifesto on Skills and Jobs for Africa’s Youth’ which will provide a blueprint for creating sustainable jobs through skills acquisition, hands-on training, Precision Quality training and business support services.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri