The training Programme in Economic Policy Management (EPM) was borne out of the inadequate skills and competencies in EPM in the public sector of African countries to develop, analyse and manage economic policies. The ability of the Programme to amend this constraint was further limited to the inadequate institutional and human resource capacity of the implementing agency (EPM-Ghana), the lack of access to the EPM training and lastly, limited collaboration between EPM Programmes across the region, leading to low peer learning and networking. The EPM training Programme therefore evolved to improve these constraints. After successfully implementing four phase of the programme, from 1998-2016, the new phase of the programme will be launched to consolidate the gains of the previous phases in a paradigm shift. This current phase (Phase 4), which began in 2013 and being sponsored by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and the World Bank (JJ/WBGSP), will be closing officially in July 2016.

The overall goal of EPM-Ghana Programme is to improve the performance and efficiency of the public sector in Anglophone West Africa sub-region countries. The goal is to be achieved through the following two specific objectives:

Goals:

• Enhancing the skills and competencies of policy analysts and economic managers in the public sector in the Anglophone West Africa; and
• Strengthening the institutional and human capacities of the University of Ghana for effective delivery through EPM-Ghana

  Implementation:

  • (a) Institutional Strengthening - The institutional strengthening will entail improving the human and infrastructural capacity, so EPM-Ghana V can function in an effective and efficient manner. The component includes the identification of suitable trainers for the Masters and short term courses, organizing international seminars, producing teaching materials, student and graduate monitoring and effective functioning of the interconnected equipment.
  • (b) Training – This component will entail: (i) training of 50 policy analysts and managers with Master of Arts degree in Economic Policy Management every year; (ii) training of 200 economic policy managers and practitioners through short-term training Programmes yearly.
  • (c) Networking - This component will involve an effective platform of interaction among stakeholders. Specifically, it will include the EPM network (EPMAN) meetings, promoting the national associations of EPM graduates, organizing exchanges of trainers and promoting partnership agreements.