C.I.-CAN/NBCA International ApprenticeshipProgram (Ghana, West Africa/USA)

 Executive Summary

The C.I.-CAN / NBCA International Apprenticeship Program is being created to provide unique and meaningful construction training for professional builders in Sub-Saharan Africa.  We plan to offer a program geared towards “life saving” construction skills and Uniform Building Code (UBC) and International Building Code (IBC) adherence, as well as other sound building practices. 

C.I.-CAN (a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization) in conjunction with the NBCA are poised to embark on this program.  The program will focus on relevant construction skills and techniques that will help mitigate life-threatening damages caused by earthquakes, unstable building foundations, and unsound building practices.  Additionally, grading, drainage, and road construction techniques will be taught.  Such techniques will prove invaluable to control and capture the flow of rainwater.  Especially during the dry season and frequent water shortages.

The National Black Contractors Association (NBCA) has a proven 30 (plus) year track record of running a successful, comprehensive, apprenticeship program for disadvantage youth through out Southern California.  Their current program, with minimal modification, focuses on the very needs we are desiring to have addressed.  Additionally, their program has been recognized by the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development agency of San Diego.   The founding member and Executive Director of the NBCA is actively involved in the successful establishment, administration and growth of this international outreach.

Together, C.I.-CAN and the NBCA make up a qualified sure-fire team with all the tools necessary to make this international program a major success and positive focal point for all involved.   To quote a Civil Engineer in attendance at the informational meeting held in Prampram, Ghana: "I see this endeavor being much more than a program; it is a MOVEMENT.  A MOVEMENT that will finally create the viable link between Africans and African Americans that many have been trying to achieve since the abolishment of SLAVERY"... 

A True Win/WIN Experience!!!    

MISSION:

C.I.-CAN is a nonprofit organization that was created to facilitate "hands-On" exchanges of skills and knowledge to enhance "grass-roots":

• Infrastructure Development
• Capacity Building
• Job Creation
• Resource Development
• Business Connectivity & Partnerships 

by and between Sub-Saharan African Nations and Economically disadvantaged communities within the U.S.  The ultimate goal is to stimulate sustainable economic growth opportunities and jobs in disadvantaged areas in both the U.S. and in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Our Mission is to open up these development opportunities and jobs by creating a well-trained work force knowledgeable of U.S. construction techniques and practices.  This American/Ghanaian work force will be available to major companies bidding on the many U.S. sponsored development projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.  This makes it one of Ghana’s new and emerging market.

C.I.-CAN will have fulfilled its International Apprenticeship Program mission when: All its participants have completed the program and are teaching their newly acquired knowledge and skills to builders in their own country. Additional fulfillment will come when artisans of the National Black Contractors Association and artisans of the Ghanaian Artisan Association can begin to partner on U.S. sponsored development projects in Ghana, West Africa.  

OBJECTIVES:

• Secure program funding in the amount of $200,000.
• Enroll approximately 10 Professional Engineers and Builders (from Ghana, West Africa) as students for stipend and Certification in the 2017-2018 National Black Contractors Association's Apprenticeship Program.
• Attract funding via fund raisers and charitable donations from targeted Businesses and Foundations to break-even financially, covering pay for; VISA and round trip Transport to the U.S., student stipends, living expenses while in the program, staff salaries and all inventory expenses.
• Develop an international exchange program where practical application of construction skills and techniques can be exchanged through our program where Ghanaian participants will come to the U.S. for the academic portion of the program, and ultimately U.S. participants will go to Ghana, West Africa for the practical portion of their program. 
• Expand the NBCA scope from a National client base to an International client base.  Especially in the area of U.S. Government sponsored international development projects.
• International participants must make a one-year commitment to teach newly acquired skills and techniques in their home country.
• When the ICAP program is completed, students will return to Ghana and use their skills in the construction of the Stadium View Technical Vocational school.

Keys to Success

• Secure program funding in the amount of $187,000
• Acquiring "Student VISA's" for participants to travel to the U.S. 
• Arranging lodging and transportation for participants
• Adapting Apprenticeship Program and language for older, skilled, Ghanaian participants.
• Acquiring Funding and charitable donations from business and corporate donors to implement the program.
• Acquire additional equipment and resources to support future growth and expansion of the ICAP into other sub-Saharan African countries. 

Additionally, five of the seven founding board members of C.I.-CAN have lived, owned businesses, or held high ranking positions in business in Ghana, West Africa (The target location of our pilot program.)  One of our board members worked 10 years in Ghana’s Banking and Finance Industry, while three others were members of the U.S. Peace Corps in Ghana.  There they spent years in Ghanaian villages identifying specific needs and undertaking grass-roots income generating Small Enterprise Development projects.   

This dynamic allows C.I.-CAN to demonstrate extensive knowledge in identifying workable solutions to the systemic problems of tribalism, infrastructure development, job creation, income generation, and international business connectivity and partnerships in Sub Saharan Africa. 

Our program offers education and vocational training in U.S. methods of building construction.  The participants will be Ghanaian building contractors and sub-contractors desiring knowledge of U.S. building practices and techniques that are currently working in the industry.

Our charge is to train African contractors to become proficient in all relevant areas of safe building and road construction practices by providing expert trainers and a learning environment where they will be challenged, respected, and accountable as they strive to grasp the new concepts. 

Additionally, they will have a one-year obligation to teach and train these construction methods in their own country. Their first project in country will be the construction of the Stadium View Technical Vocational School.

Apprenticeship Courses and Training:

• Blueprint Reading
• Quantity Take-offs and construction cost estimating
• Type V construction methods
• Basic Structural live and dead load bearing capacities of building members  
• Concrete forms
• Road construction
• Grading and Drainage
• Seismic construction codes and methods 
• Building and site safety
• IBC and UBC building code adherence
• Basic Drywall
• Stucco Application
• Basic AUTOCAD computer skills instruction.