Denmark’s critical support for human capital dev’t

The international community, including Denmark, has taken important initiatives in recent years to make development assistance more effective through various key interventions which aim at contributing to the creation of a more enabling business environment for the development and growth of the Ghanaian economy. 

Denmark’s strategy in Ghana is investing in human resource development to fight the many faces of poverty and promote coherence between policies. 

In order to do this efficiently, a scholarship scheme in Denmark, offered by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and administered by Danida Fellowship Centre, has been instituted to empower professionals in both the public and the private sectors to influence public policy formulation by undertaking appropriate research, developing evidence-based policy positions and advocating those positions with government and other private sector institutions that may be targeted by the action.

The Danida Fellowship Centre has a five-year scholarship programme to assist selected entrepreneurs and emerging business leaders from Danida’s programme countries to take the full-time Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS); the full-time Sustainable MBA at Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University; or the Master in Science in Agricultural Economics with a focus on agribusiness at University of Copenhagen.

Commending the Danish government for the opportunity to be part of the fellowship programme, Dr. Toni Aubynn, Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, told B&FT that, “I have benefitted greatly from this scholarship in Denmark offered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and administered by Danida Fellowship Centre.

“It was a new learning curve altogether. The teaching style was different and it was inducing how to think independently in different situations. We were taken through a number of management issues in helping to grow the country’s development strategy. 

“We had the opportunity to see examples of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects in Denmark.

“We also played various roles in the game of PPP, and in my own work I went there from the Chamber of Mines and so I was very excited that this was a case that we could push two governments from even the private sector point.” 

Upon completion of the fellowship and returning to the country, the training and knowledge gained by Dr. Aubynn has impacted immensely his negotiation and decision-making skills.

He explained that the exposure to PPPs, which took the centre-stage of the programme, was extremely beneficial, considering the developmental path Ghana is travelling on, especially in the area of infrastructure development.

It came to light that PPPs must be embraced by Ghana as a preferred concept to accelerate infrastructural growth and promote rural development.

“Although provision of new investment in infrastructure in Ghana is increasingly being carried out under a range of PPP structures, based on the principle of private sector risk taking participation in the provision of public infrastructure, there is the need to deepen the initiative to cover a wide range of sectors in the country,” Dr. Aubynn said.

He observed that the Danish government’s development paradigm leverages its infrastructure economy through the introduction of partnerships between the public and the private sector.

Through this initiative, a number of projects have been completed to support the country’s economic growth.

Representing the mining and metals industry from Ghana, he said the time has come for the nation to push for the PPP concept in the mining sector to enhance the provision of infrastructure project to the mining communities. In this way, the infrastructural gap will be bridged in the mining regions.

He called for massive legal reforms in the provision of public infrastructure in this direction so that government’s burden will be reduced with the support of the private sector.

He said PPP concepts have been seen as the best way of making infrastructure amenities accessible to the general public.  

“In the mining sector, I taught  it was an opportunity and I had previously said this that maybe government could look at talking to companies and giving them the opportunity  to contribute  directly to big-time development projects and for them to get back their investment.

“Some people call it creating shared value because if a company invested in the construction of a road, maybe its own workers will use it,” Dr. Aubynn said.

His observations come at a time when government is seriously preparing to implement the PPP strategy in the country to boost infrastructural development.

A PPP law is expected to be passed by close of this year to leverage public and private sector resources and expertise in order to close the infrastructure gap and deliver efficient public infrastructure and services.

The law will support the implementation of the national PPP policy that was launched by the government in 2012. 

It is expected to give confidence to both local and international investors who would want to participate in PPPs with the government.

Under the legislation, Parliament shall be the final approving authority for PPP projects -- subject to the provisions of the policy -- to ensure the protection of the public interest.

The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has been mandated to prepare a national infrastructure plan for Ghana, and every PPP project initiated by contracting authorities shall emanate from this plan.

Dr. Aubynn thanked the Denmark Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the opportunity offered Ghanaian professionals like him to partake and learn the opportunities in e PPPs to better accelerate development in Ghana.

He asked that such programmes be extended to cover a lot more public sector leaders. In this way human capital development will be strengthened to champion the developmental growth of the country.