MDPI TRAINING IN THE SHEA INDUSTRY, TAMALE
The Management Development & Productivity Institute (SCORE Trainers) won a contract to train and coach ten enterprises in the shea industry in tamale as part of the Productivity Ecosystem for Decent Work (PE4DW).
Productivity Ecosystems for Decent Work (PE4DW) is a global multi-country programme with operations in Ghana, South Africa and Vietnam. The governments of Switzerland and Norway through the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) respectively fund it. The programme sought to promote productivity growth for decent work, combining different approaches that strengthen productivity drivers across policy, sector, and enterprise levels in the textile and shea industry.
The major challenge in the sector included chronic underperformance despite comparative advantages. As a result, MDPI (SCORE team) were assigned to deliver productivity improvement training to enhance the productivity and working conditions of selected shea enterprises in Tamale.
The specific objectives were to:
- Improve the capacity of management to enhance the organisation of workers and processes for improved performance at the enterprises.
- Introduce standard operating procedures (SOPs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for productivity improvement and to establish the procedures to measure those improvements.
- Establish productivity improvement teams and systems to ensure continuous improvement and measurement of productivity and better working conditions at the workplace.
MDPI’s Delivery
- The five SCORE trainers conducted baseline assessment on ten enterprises in
Tamale to determine constraints to productivity and better working conditions. Based on the baseline assessment report, trainers made and initiated recommendations of the appropriate productivity improvement tools and training to address the constraints identified.
- The trainers organised a 3-day workshop (in-class training) at the university guesthouse conference to build the capacities of the 10 enterprises to adopt best international practices to address the constraints to productivity and better working conditions. Trainers also assisted participating enterprises to prepare Productivity Improvement Plans in line with their ideas to change their current practices.
- Trainers followed-up on enterprises and in-factory coaching to facilitate their implementation of their Productivity Improvement Plans and develop a road map for continuous improvement at enterprises.
- Trainers prepared and submitted reports on baseline assessments, workshops, infactory coaching and evaluation.
- Trainers entered the generated report into the project Monitoring and Evaluation database.
Certification & Results Sharing
Certification for the first batch of ten enterprises was at Mariam Hotel, Tamale on 4th April 2024. Some enterprise owners for the ten enterprises were excited for the sudden transformation in their various enterprises. They spoke about bookkeeping, labelling, visuals, SoPs, waste management and safety. Others also praised trainers for their diligent work. Below are some statistics and pictures.
