The Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, has stressed the need to translate existing policies and commitments into practical action to build a productive human capital ecosystem in Ghana.

Speaking at the sixth annual Precision Policy Conference, held under the theme “Human Capital at Work,” she noted that Ghana already had several policies, institutions and legislative frameworks to support human capital development, but the priority was to ensure their effective implementation. She urged stakeholders to build on existing frameworks and focus on delivering tangible results rather than continually developing new policy documents.

“Please, let us work with what we have and translate these existing commitments into tangible change,” she said.

Dr Amoah emphasised that human capital development required coordinated action across health, early childhood development, education, skills training, employment and enterprise development. She explained that the different stages of human development needed to reinforce one another to ensure that people acquired relevant skills and applied them productively.

She further underscored the importance of moving from policy commitments to implementation, supported by adequate financing, monitoring, evaluation and learning.

“Let us move from policy to plans, from plans to budgets, and from commitments to implementation,” she said.

Dr Amoah expressed hope that the conference would generate practical recommendations to strengthen the proposed Human Capital Development Strategy and link the various policy areas into a coherent and productive ecosystem.

The Founder and President of the Design and Technology Institute (DTI), Constance Swaniker, said Ghana’s ambition to become a high-income nation by 2057 would depend on the productivity and capabilities of its people.

She cited the World Bank’s Human Capital Index, noting that a child born in Ghana today was expected to attain about 45 per cent of the productivity potential associated with full health and quality education.

Ms Swaniker described human capital as a productive asset and urged stakeholders to look beyond educational qualifications to consider people’s ability to contribute meaningfully to the economy.

“Human capital is built by all of us, or it is not built at all,” she said, highlighting the shared responsibility of government, industry, academia, development partners and young people.

END NDPC PR- UNIT