Israel’s Embassy in Accra is preparing to launch a micro-grant financing window for Ghanaian alumni of its Merkaz LeShtuf Peula BeinLeumi (MASHAV) technical cooperation programme, expanding bilateral cooperation beyond capacity building to include direct project financing in the second half of 2026 and into 2027.
Mashav, Israel’s international development cooperation agency, has operated in Ghana since the country’s independence era, tracing its Accra footprint to an Israeli interest office opened in November 1956, months ahead of Ghana’s own sovereignty in March 1957.
The programme itself was founded in 1958 under Golda Meir, then serving as foreign minister, and has since trained more than 350,000 participants worldwide, with more than a thousand Ghanaian graduates spread across the country’s regions and constituencies.
Early cooperation centred on agriculture and trade unions before expanding into early childhood education, women’s empowerment, and, more recently, cybersecurity and innovation, sectors Gilad flagged as growth areas for future engagement.
Ambassador Roey Gilad, Ambassador of the State of Israel to Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone disclosed the initiative at the biennial alumni gathering of the Shalom Club in Accra, framing the embassy’s development work as reciprocal rather than one-directional, noting that “all our development activity in Ghana and elsewhere is about a dialogue” and that Israel expects alumni “to have a lot to teach” in return.
Gilad said the scheme, though operating on a limited budget, would formalise a channel the embassy had previously left largely untapped despite years of alumni demand. Guidelines are to be circulated through the embassy’s programme office, with proposals expected to lean on skills acquired during Mashav placements in Israel, combined with local know-how, part of what he described as an effort to help alumni “build projects that will bring to life” ventures grounded in both imported and domestic expertise.
The announcement came as the embassy marked the departure of Deputy Ambassador Aviel Avraham, who concludes a three-year posting in Ghana this week. Gilad credited him as “the powerhouse behind Masha’a activity at the Embassy,” adding that despite the demands of the logistics and administration involved, Avraham had done “a very good job” steering the programme.
In his remarks, Avraham said the most rewarding aspect of his posting was not selecting participants for the programme but reconnecting with them afterwards, describing it as an opportunity to understand “how meaningful every course” they attended in Israel had been and “how deep the connection” it had created.
He said he was returning to Israel satisfied that Ghana now has “hundreds and thousands of ambassadors” for the bilateral relationship, referring to programme alumni the embassy has come to regard as “brothers and sisters.”
Reflecting on his three years in Ghana, he spoke of a “deep appreciation” for the cooperation achieved and expressed “sincere hope” that ties between the two countries would continue to strengthen in the years ahead.
With Avraham’s departure, the embassy emphasized that alumni engagement and the accompanying micro-grant mechanism would remain a priority under new deputy leadership, positioning Mashav’s Ghana operation for an expanded role in project-level development financing rather than training alone.
