Country meeting for Ghana
The Country Meeting for Ghana will be held Friday 1 September 2023 at 11:30 – 1 pm (Oslo).
The meeting will be held on Microsoft Teams. To register and receive your meeting details, please email nina.kristin.snyder@norad.no
Please accept the link to this meeting to confirm participation. We noted that many of the participants were planning on attending virtually to the original event and as of next week all our presenters are in Ghana. We will be using the chat function actively to network and ask questions.
We hope as many as possible can join as we are lucky to have a great line up of presenters!
Country Meeting for Ghana
Ghana has been praised for stability and good governance. However, after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war, Ghana is now facing what is being referred to as a serious economic crisis. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recently approved a loan of 3 billion dollars in exchange for austerity measures, the year before the election.
Norad has invited Norway's Ambassador Ingrid Mollestad, The African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) and Trades Union Congress Ghana to discuss the consequences of the economic crisis and what it may mean for Norwegian Development aid to Ghana. There will be plenty of time for questions from the audience and discussion.
Agenda
11:30-11.40 (8.00 am Accra) – Welcome and Brief Overview of Norads portfolio in Ghana
11:40 -12:00 Ambassador Ingrid Mollestad informs on general political and economic trends in Ghana and Norway’s work in Ghana
12:00-12:10 Questions for the Ambassador
12:10 -12:25 ACET’s Dr. Edward K. Brown and Dr. John Asafu-Adjaye at the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) presents the IMF loan and what the implications are.
12:25 -12:35 Questions
12:35 -12:45 Director of Research and Policy Dr. Kwabena Otoo from Trades Union Congress Ghana presents the role of the unions and how they work in times of economic crisis in Ghana.
12:45 -13:00 Questions for TUC
Please bring your lunch to the screen and come learn more about Ghana and please spread the word.
Short bio of speakers from ACET and TUC:
John Asafu-Adjaye is a Senior Fellow at the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET). Prior to joining ACET, he held a tenured position as an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Australia. At ACET John leads the research program on agriculture and climate change. He also assists with providing advice to African policymakers and economic actors to help prosecute the transformation agenda. He has an extensive track record in research and consultancy in agricultural economics, climate change, energy economics, and economic development in a variety of countries and regions around the world.
Edward Brown is currently Senior Director, Research, Policy, and Programs at the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), based in Accra, Ghana. He has more than 35 years’ experience in international development and public policy, more than half of which were spent at the World Bank. He has worked extensively in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central and East Asia. Currently at ACET, he manages a pool of in-house senior policy advisors, researchers, and economist, drawing on a worldwide pool of experts to assist African policymakers respond to specific challenges and opportunities—with the explicit goals of transferring knowledge, building local capabilities, and spurring economic growth and transformation. His main interests are in public policy, economic management (public resources mobilization and expenditure management, including institutional and organizational reforms and development strategies). He has extensive experience in private sector development, and in 2019, he set up a private sector unit at ACET to shore-up investment readiness of SMEs and support their integration into regional and global supply and value-chains. He holds a PhD and MA in Development Economics and Demography from the University of Pennsylvania.
Kwabena Nyarko Otoo (PhD) works with the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Ghana as the Director of Research and Policy. He has been with the TUC for the past 15 years. He has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics (University of Cape Coast, Ghana) and a Master of Philosophy Degree also in Economics (from the University of Ghana). Kwabena also has a PhD in Economics from the University of Kassel, Germany. He also trained as a professional teacher. Kwabena has been instrumental in formulating the policy positions of the TUC-Ghana and in response to economic and social policies of the Ghanaian government. He works closely with ITUC-Africa assisting the regional organisation in research and policy engagement at regional and international levels. Between 2010 and 2011, Kwabena worked with the world bank as labour market specialist having been nominated by ITUC. His research interests centre on Labour/employment, Earnings and Poverty; trade, economic growth, and development.