Aligning the vocational curriculum with job and business opportunities in Ghana's chocolate and cocoa drink industry

Vocational education and training institutes in Ghana are presently modernising their curricula to make the vocational institutes more relevant to market needs and more appealing to students. This paper presents the results of a study that addresses the question of how farm institutes and agricultural colleges in Ghana could redesign their curriculum to incorporate the new opportunities in Ghana's chocolate and cocoa drink sector. The study is theoretically guided by triple helix literature, while the research methodology involved value chain analysis. Data was collected in the period 2020-2021, via a desk study, personal interviews with 20 public and private organisations, a survey among 23 Ghanaian companies, and a stakeholder workshop. The study provides an overview of the relevant stages of the emerging chocolate and cocoa drink value chain in Ghana and identifies a wide variety of job and business opportunities along this value chain. A stakeholder dialogue was used to develop the groundwork for triple helix collaboration between domestic manufacturers, vocational institutes, and relevant government agencies involved in the industry.