Dr Martin Thompson Ntem, the Director of Training at the Institute for Digital Marketing and Communication (IDMC-Ghana), has said promoting diversification of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is crucial in creating employment opportunities and driving economic growth for sustainable socio-economic development.
He said it encouraged innovation leading to new projects, services, and job creation, which were very critical for the development of the country.
Dr Ntem said this whilst making a presentation in Tamale, as part of a four-day skills development training for about 40 journalists and editors of the Ghana News Agency drawn from the northern and middle zones of the country.
The training was facilitated by the IDMC-Ghana and formed part of the Post COVID-19 Skills Development and Productivity Enhancement Project (PSDPEP)
The PSDPEP is the Government of Ghana’s initiative being funded by the African Development Bank and implemented by the Social Investment Fund, spanning over a five-year period, of which the Ghana News Agency is a beneficiary.
The training was strategically designed to empower participants to effectively advocate for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), public health, gender, and climate change related issues to facilitate Ghana’s economic recovery.
It was geared towards maximising the role of journalism in Ghana’s recovery and rebuilding efforts after the pandemic, and to enable them champion gender equality issues to enhance the holistic human resource development in the country.
Similar training would be done in the Greater Accra, Volta, and Eastern Regions, respectively.
Mrs Beatrice Asamani Savage, the Director of Editorial at the Ghana News Agency, encouraged participants to take advantage of the training to intensify advocacy on challenges confronting vulnerable groups and communities in the country.
She said improving the skills of journalists to appreciate constraints of SMEs for publicity was critical in ensuring speedy recovery of businesses highly hit by the Covid’19 pandemic
Mrs Melody Darkey, the Executive Director of Women in Law and Development in Africa, who took participants through gender sensitive reporting, expressed need for journalists to desist from stereotyping people based on their gender.
She urged journalists to advocate for marginalised groups to ensure that their voices were heard for government and other stakeholders to act accordingly in addressing their plights.
GNA