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The British deputy high commissioner to Ghana, Keith McMahon (third from right), visited Transaid’s professional driver training programme in Tema, Greater Accra, to see how the international development organisation is improving road safety in the country.

During the visit he observed practical refresher training with a group of 11 HGV driver trainers, who have collectively trained almost 1,000 professional drivers to new or improved standards within the last 12 months.

Transaid’s work in Ghana forms part of a three-and-a-half-year project which began in 2021, funded by Puma Energy Foundation, to raise training standards and expand training capacity for HGV drivers – in a country where almost 95% of freight is transported by road.

McMahon said: “With HGV traffic on Ghana’s roads set to increase, ensuring access to improved standards of driver training is paramount.

“Transaid’s ‘train the trainer’ model is helping the country to develop and retain these skills locally, and it was fantastic to meet the team behind it.”

The initial three-and-a-half-year project in Ghana is set to run until July 2024, by which time Transaid expects to have helped deliver training to more than 1,500 HGV drivers.

The World Health Organisation estimates that around 7,000 people lost their lives on the road in Ghana in 2016.

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