MCC, the World Bank and Ghana’s Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) today that will help strengthen public procurement around the world.

The MOU provides professional-level curriculum and modules for the World Bank to use in its education programs worldwide, which will establish a path to stronger procurement practices.   

This is an exciting collaboration that allows us to share our experiences and promote procurement professionalization. Strengthening the accountability and administrative functions of governments improves governance, creates greater efficiencies and ultimately helps reduce global poverty.

The modules were first developed under the Procurement Capacity Activity of Ghana’s recently completed $547 MCC compact and were the basis for degree programs to enhance procurement in the public sector. The program represented a new national approach to educate Ghana’s university students and civil service on international procurement standards. About 300 public procurement personnel and students received training, with many others still enrolled; 1,250 students participated in procurement internships at government offices, and 200 of those landed permanent or temporary jobs.

This MOU builds on a previous memorandum signed between the Ghanaian and Liberian governments in 2011—with help from MCC—to provide curriculum and modules to train Liberian procurement professionals. The sharing of best practices is already working; 24 students in Liberia recently graduated with a postgraduate diploma in public procurement.

As my colleague Allan Rotman of the World Bank explained, “The new approach to procurement professionalization developed with MCC assistance builds skills and experience in a critical young procurement profession, and African governments are in need of these scarce skills as they modernize their civil services.”