Ghana’s Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations (MoCDI), in partnership with UNESCO and coordinated through the Office of the Head of Civil Service (OHCS), launched a structured AI literacy training programme for civil servants on 24 March 2026. The programme runs in four three-day cohorts between March and May 2026, held at the Best Western Premier Hotel in Accra. It is framed as a practical step toward implementing the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2023–2033), which received cabinet approval in February 2026, and is supported by a presidential directive requiring all government agencies to adopt AI tools during 2026.
The programme uses a training-of-trainers model: each participant is expected to return to their ministry, department, or agency (MDA) as an internal resource person, cascading AI knowledge across the civil service without sustained external dependency. Curriculum covers machine learning foundations, generative AI, predictive AI, practical applications in health and public services, and ethics topics including algorithmic bias, misinformation, data privacy, and cybersecurity. Plans exist to embed AI literacy into the Civil Service Scheme of Service to formalise the requirement, though this had not been enacted as of the first cohort.
Who it affects: Civil servants selected from MDAs across the Ghanaian public sector; the training-of-trainers structure extends indirect reach to a wider pool of government staff within each participating institution.
What is notably missing: The programme is driven by presidential directive and ministerial coordination rather than statute; no minimum competency standard is defined in law, and there is no verification mechanism confirming that civil servants meet a standard before being permitted to work with AI-assisted systems. The number of civil servants targeted across all four cohorts has not been published. There is no enforcement mechanism for agencies that do not participate or cascade training internally. The programme targets existing civil servants only and does not yet address procurement officers, judges, or other public decision-makers who may use or be subject to AI systems.