The Dean of the School of Continuing and Distance Education (SCDE), Professor Michael Ayitey Tagoe, says the school will hold mini-workshops in the regions, with the support of some institutions, to sustain discussions around key issues flagged at the 68th New Year School.
He said a communiqué issued by participants in the New Year School would be widely circulated to communities for other Ghanaians to keep abreast of the issues discussed.
Prof. Ayitey announced this at the closing ceremony of the Annual New Year School (ANYS) in Accra last Thursday.
“We shall facilitate mini-workshops in the regions with the support of some of the institutions that have participated in the School,” he said.
He also said that policy briefs would be produced on the various sub-themes discussed at the School and widely disseminated both locally and internationally.
“We shall also create the environment for national dialogue with experts and policy makers to determine the need for an e-agriculture policy,” he said, and added that the SCDE would encourage the creation of inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral collaboration towards the development of the policy.
“We shall ensure the creation of a Community of Practice (CoP) among stakeholders to share knowledge, new ideas and innovation among the agricultural sector and other institutions outside the sector.”
Gratitude
Prof. Tagoe expressed gratitude to the sponsors of the 68th ANYS, which included the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Citi FM, Exim Bank, Ghana Cocoa Board, KOSMOS Energy, and the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER), the Public Affairs Directorate of the University of Ghana and INFOCUS PR for their support.
He announced the continued collaboration with the GCGL in the dissemination of the information gathered at the 68th ANYS with the creation of a column in the Daily Graphic for the dissemination of information for the rest of the year.
Pledge
The dissemination efforts have become crucial in the wake of doubts about the impact and patronage of the ANYS, decades after its introduction by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President.
Organisers of the event have argued that estimating the impact of the School was difficult, but were quick to point to some policy efforts by state institutions to demonstrate that the discussions had been acted on by some sector ministries.
A Pro-vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Kwame Offei, who chaired the closing ceremony, described the 68th ANYS as productive and urged participants to create platforms to continue sharing ideas.
Participants
The 68th ANYS had 114 participants, with more than half being between the ages of 21 and 40.
According to the Founder Dean of SCDE, Prof. Yaw Oheneba-Sakyi, the 2017 edition was unique in many ways with a sitting President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, being present at the opening session, as well as a keynote address by the Minister designate for Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto.
The 68th ANYS also had a mini-fair mounted to showcase some agri-business enterprises, the first of its kind.
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