Eni inaugurate business and agric training center
Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Ghana’s Senior
Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo and Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi, last week, together
witnessed the inauguration of the Okuafo Pa Agricultural Training Center sited in
the Dormaa East District, Bono region,
The center is a pilot initiative of the Africa Project which
aims to support economic diversification in the agricultural sector through
skill transfer and business support, in particular by means of self-sustaining
agricultural consortia.
Eni and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, in its capacity of
financial institution for international cooperation for development, also signed
a Cooperation Agreement for the definition of sustainable development
initiatives in the agri-business sector. The agreement also provides for a
joint definition of mechanisms to facilitate access to credit in favour of the
local communities and to use available international funds to promote
sustainable development initiatives.
"Professional training and skill acquisition is a
precondition for social and economic development. Eni intends to play an active
role in defining virtuous paths for sustainable growth in the countries in
which it operates, and this project is a concrete example of what we can do if
we pool our resources and those of our partners,” said Claudio Descalzi.
The Okuafo Pa campus extends over an area of 40 hectares and
includes experimental laboratories and farming areas; it will provide
theoretical and practical vocational training to 800 students per year in the
agricultural, agri-food and zootechnical fields. The training courses are
developed in collaboration with local universities, and trainees can focus
either on farming courses or agri-business courses.
The project, developed by Eni in collaboration with the
Government of Ghana, is now enhanced by the collaboration with Cassa Depositi e
Prestiti which will ensure the identification of the most appropriate
mechanisms to access credit, as well as Coldiretti and Bonifiche Ferraresi, which will guarantee
support in the start-up of agricultural activities.
This initiative is aimed at achieving the United Nations
2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in particular SDG 1: no
poverty; SDG 4 quality education; SDG 5: gender equality; SDG 6: clean water
and sanitation; SDG 8: decent work and economic growth; SDG 12: responsible
consumption and production; SDG 17: private public partnerships.
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