The Africa Center for Ethics in the Professions, under the Interdisciplinary Research Institute of the University for Development Studies, UDS, says it is committed to continuous professional education and life-long learning. In addition, the center says it seeks to enhance the human resource base of organizations through the maintenance of ethical standards in the various professions and the provision of innovative training programmes. According to the Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (IIR), Dr. Abukari Abdulai, these strategic programmes have been developed to support organizations’ continuous staff development and help them maintain a competitive advantage in the dynamic corporate environment.

In an interview with the University Relations Office, Dr. Abdulai insisted that the IIR of the UDS considers these crucial areas of professional employee development as the key to improved integrity and productivity within various professions and workplaces. “We offer customized training to the corporate world on current and relevant needs that contribute to maintaining ethical standards and increasing productivity and profits of organisations.

The Africa Centre for Ethics in the Professions, believes that despite all the efforts that have been made in order to end corruption, “the act of corruption is still rife and public sector productivity is low”. The Coordinator for the Center, Prof. Mahamud Akudugu, intimated that a report by CDD Ghana indictaes that since 2017, the country has lost about 1.96 billion Ghana Cedis to corruption.

Prof. Akudugu therefore insisted that “to succeed, there is the need for a paradigm shift from the apparent over concentration on legality to ethics and ethical behaviour in the professions”. He explained “it is against this backdrop that this Short Course on ETHICS IN THE PROFESSIONS is designed to equip actors across the professions with the requisite knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to engage in ethical decision-making for a corruption free country or a Ghana Beyond Corruption”.

PEDAGOGY

• Concerning the method of teaching for the new course, the coordinator said “our pedagogical approach recognizes the fact that decision-makers need moral courage to be able to make ethical decisions. This is particularly so because the world has become faster and complex due to technology and competitive pressure that makes it imperative for decision-makers at all levels to act more quickly and precisely than ever”. Thus, the pedagogy is designed to help participants build their capacities for ethical decision-making, which is fundamental in the fight against corruption”, he said, while emphasising that the course is flexible, modular-based and will be delivered through a combination of virtual and face-to-face workshops”.
• The Short course on Ethics in the Professions has been designed into different modules including:
• Ethical Fitness: a module which has been built around group participation, shared ethical values, and the process of breaking down complicated ethical dilemmas into discrete and workable steps. The module will lead participants to develop shared language of ethical values and its applications to series of real-life dilemmas. 
• Moral Courage: This module has been designed to equip participants with the tools to analyze the dangers, and ways to measure their capability to make morally courageous decisions in the face of certain danger, trusting in their own unique capabilities. 
• Courage Parenting: This module focuses on the importance of ethical values, ethical decision making and moral courage for parents in the 21st century by giving them the tools to guide children through ethical dilemmas and engage them in sound, and relevant conversations without sounding preachy, irrelevant, or old-fashioned. 
• Building Institutional Culture: This module will help participants identify the specific ways to get stakeholders contribute to a culture of integrity and ethical behaviour at work places or institutions. • Ethical Leadership: This module focuses on tackling the challenges of running institutions by breaking down complicated ethical dilemmas into discrete and workable steps. It considers approaches to building cultures where trust and self-regulation are the norm
• Ethics and Social Responsibility: This module aims at equipping participants to be able to understand ethics and how ethical behavior relates to behavior governed by law and free choice. It covers the ethical decision-making approaches – utilitarian, individualism, moral- rights, and justice approaches for evaluating ethical behaviour. How individual and organizational factors shape ethical decisionmaking will also be covered. The module also deals with corporate social responsibility and how to evaluate it along economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary criteria. 
• Ethics and Ethical Standards in the Professions: This module will equip participants with the knowledge, skills, techniques and tools for ensuring ethics and standards in their professional works. How to make stakeholders accept professional outcomes as true reflections of society will be covered in this course. Issues of professional misconducts and how to avoid them will be covered in this course.

DURATION
The short course is organized using the modular system. Each of the modules will be for the duration of two (2) weeks – for lectures, case studies and analyses. This means that it will take at least 14 weeks to complete the modules. 

ASSESSMENT & CERTIFICATION
According to Prof. Akudugu, there will be an assessment at the end of each module adding that participants who successfully complete the modules will be awarded certificates.

TARGET PARTICIPANTS
The Short Course is targeted at workers in the public and private sectors across the professions (e.g. Armed Services, Health Services, Media, etc.), especially those in decision-making positions.

COURSE FEES
Responding to a question on the fees regime, the Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research (IIR), Dr. Abdulai said participation in each module will cost an amount of GHS500. This amount will cover course materials and certificate of participation. There are discounts of up to 50% for group training for institutions, and associations.

For further inquiries please contact the Course Coordinator via the following:
Office Phone: +233(0)372092362 
Mobile/WhatsApp: +233(0)504395605 
Email: iiracs@uds.edu.gh