GIZ To Help Ghana RMG Sector

Apparel, Footwear, Fashion

GIZ To Help Ghana RMG Sector

A development partnership aimed at building and sharpening the vocational skills for managers and workers to drive Ghana's apparel manufacturing sector was launched in Accra recently. It is dubbed the: "Socially Responsible Jobs in Ghana's Emerging Apparel Sector" and being championed through a private sector expertise and the German Development Cooperation. The project forms part of the German government's develoPPP.de programme, set up by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is to ensure the private sector was developed to the point where business opportunities and development policy initiatives intersect, and to provide financial aid to companies investing in developing and emerging countries. The apparel sector project is a partnership between Dignity Do the Right Thing (DTRT) Apparel, West Africa's largest apparel manufacturer and exporter of sports lifestyle apparels, the Ethical Apparel Africa, a profit sourcing company that provide apparel brands, and the GIZ, a German organisation providing international cooperation services for sustainable development. Dr Gerd Muller, Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, launched the partnership at the DTRT premises in Accra while Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, witnessed the signing after which they toured the DTRT facility to familiarise with work there. The German Minister and his entourage also took the advantage to explore investment opportunities in the textile sector. "With this new strategic partnership, we are strengthening the apparel manufacturing industry in Ghana. The sector has the potential to creating high-quality jobs at scale and contribute to Ghana's development without exploiting its workers," he said. "Therefore, it is about fair wages for decent work and a prosperous economic future for Ghana." Ahenkorah later told the Ghana News Agency that the partnership was a good venture, which the government was ready to support to revamp the textile and garment sector that started around 2002 under former President Kufuor's PSI (Presidential Special Initiative.) He said the garment sector, which had dipped over the years, was being brought back to life so it could employ many of the youth. Ahenkorah said the DTRT, which employed about 2000 workers with 80% being women, and shipping about 600,000 sporting wear to the USA monthly, needed to be supported to operate smoothly.