Craft Innovation Hub, National Productivity Centre Establish Technical Partnership For Productivity, Capacity Building

Craft Innovation Hub (CIH) has announced the establishment of a structured technical partnership with the National Productivity Centre (NPC) for productivity capacity building across eligible CIH programmes in Kwara State.

Signing the Memorandum of Understanding, Chief Executive Officer of Hub, Mallam Abdulrazaq Abiodun-Ahmed said the  NPC’s role is to serve as the technical partner for the Productivity Core component of relevant programmes, while CIH leads programme delivery, coordination, mobilisation, learning infrastructure, and administration.

Mallam Abiodun-Ahmed explained that the partnership is designed to create a more disciplined bridge between skills development and productivity practice and reflects a shared commitment to practical learning, workforce readiness, measurable programme quality, and accountable reporting.

According to him, CIH’s broader institutional model is already built around practical digital skills, pathways to income, SME support, social impact programming, and clear results for partners and communities, making this collaboration both timely and operationally aligned.

He noted that within the agreed scope, NPC’s technical support may include co-branded programme endorsement, Productivity Core curriculum ownership or validation, nomination of resource persons, certificate validation or co-signature, monitoring and evaluation framework support, participation in capstone showcase activities, and reference letters for sponsor or stakeholder outreach where appropriate.

The CEO maintained that these elements are intended to strengthen quality assurance, improve programme credibility, and ensure that eligible CIH programmes carry a stronger productivity foundation.

Meanwhile, the collaboration covers the NPC-supported Productivity Core integrated into CIH programmes, including the NPC Kwara Digital Productivity and Future Skills Programme (Pilot), as well as other eligible CIH programmes where productivity classes or validation are requested through the agreed process. This gives both institutions a practical pathway to move from policy language to real learning outcomes, participant assessment, showcase evidence, and documented impact..

For institutions, communities, and implementation partners, the partnership strengthens confidence that eligible programmes can be delivered with better discipline, better documentation, and stronger outcome tracking.

For Kwara State, this partnership speaks to a larger need. Across Ilorin and similar environments, youth unemployment, underemployment, low digital adoption, and limited access to practical training remain real constraints.

CIH was designed to respond to that landscape by helping young people and small businesses gain practical skills, connect to real opportunities, and benefit from focused social impact programmes with transparent reporting.

The NPC technical partnership now adds a stronger productivity lens to that mission.

This partnership marks a practical step forward for productivity-centred skills development in Kwara State.

It signals a model based on clear scope, technical validation, documented outcomes, and responsible collaboration. It is a partnership built for implementation, not applause alone.