Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is undertaking a series of infrastructural reforms to ensure an improved aviation industry following Ghana's assumption of the position of an aviation hub within the West African sub-region.
Officials say safety of an air¬space and the attractiveness of using the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) had seen several carriers giving preference for the country as a major operational route, with three other major airlines expected to join the fleet by December this year.
The Director General of the GCAA, Air Commodore Kwame Mamphey (rtd), announced this at the just ended Women Aviators in Africa (WAFRIC) conference held in Accra.
The three-day conference, which was on the theme: "Succeeding as a woman in aviation: Lessons from Africa" was aimed at increasing opportunities for career development and mentorship for young African women to pursue careers in the aviation sector.
Participants from Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leonne, Senegal, Ireland and the United States of America took part in the three-day programme.
Commodore Mamphey indicated that brain drain had become a major challenge affecting various sectors of the African economy, thus the GCAA had recognised and refocused its attention on the contributions of women to its development.
He explained that women's desire to pursue careers at home as against several men who had developed a preference for further career advancement in elite economies such as the USA, Middle East and Asia had seen the GCAA in particular putting up frameworks meant to develop a well-experienced and co-ordinated women workforce.
He expressed optimism that the conference would afford young people better opportunities to diverse careers in the sector.
The vice-president of the WAFRIC, Ms Chloe Grant, explained that the organisation had put in place a rural community project that incorporated education and mentorship for young women particularly in rural impoverished areas in Kenya.
The programme, she said, was being extended to other areas of the continent, as studies showed that only six per cent of women were pursuing careers in the aviation industry compared to other sectors of the African economy.
"The organisation of conferences such as this is to afford WAFRIC the platform to identify communities and young people, who although might be interested in pursuing careers in the sector are miles apart as a result of inadequate finance and lack of information, Ms Grant stated.
She further indicated that the forum, which was also to ensure the group's recognition across the continent, would further enhance gains made by women in various aviation settings across board.
A transport and infrastructure expert with the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), an economic development programme of the African Union (AU), Dr John Tambi, who delivered a paper on the role of women aviators, expressed regret that Africa's inability to fully adapt aviation was as a result of people viewing it as the most alien of all technologies exported to Africa.
The aviation concept, he said, was misunderstood as being reserved for the white man exclusively, while airlines inherited were under governmental control, resulting from wrong strategy.
That, he said, led to an isolatory development of the sector, which was only a sub-sector of the transport sector thus giving a major advantage to France to overtake the industry and raking in millions of revenue which were repatriated for their economic development.
Regrettably, he said, the entire African continent currently could only boast three major airlines, and therefore, called on African airports to come together and pursue a regional concept that would ensure a resurrection of the African aviation vision.
WAFRIC, a Kenya-based non¬profit organisation, was established in 2008 by a Kenyan student pilot, Ms Kaju Laiboni, with the aim of increasing opportunities for career advancement and mentorship for African women and youth pursuing careers in the aviation sector.
The organisation has over the last three years provided scholarship for young people from impoverished backgrounds to pursue careers in related fields.
Story by Ghana/Daily Graphic
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