The findings of a baseline survey presented the opportunity to determine the areas of focus for the European Union (EU) Resilience Against Climate Change (EU-REACH) Project work plan for 2021.

Mr Florian Johannes Winckler, Team Leader of the EU-REACH Project, noted that apart from the opportunity to determine the areas of focus, it would further present the way forward regarding how to monitor the intervention throughout the Project lifespan.

Mr Winckler who was speaking at a two-day stakeholder validation workshop in Wa, noted that the results emphasized the status of social, economic and gender aspects of the project area at the inception of REACH interventions.

These findings, he said would help inform the communities to be identified for specific development interventions for the REACH Project and provide the basis for monitoring progress and evaluating the effectiveness and impact of the interventions in the project area.

The EU-REACH Project Leader noted that since the inception of the Project, they were engaging stakeholders on a more sustainable way of building resilience against the menace of climate change from an institutional, communal and individual household level.

"This workshop will find synergies that will help us find tune our activities to ensure an effective and a coordinated implementation of the REACH Project", said Mr Winckler.
He thanked the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the University for Development Studies (UDS) for collaborating to collect the needed data for the baseline.

Madam Susana Martins, a Representative of the European Union Delegation to Ghana noted that in the baseline they would find new actions, new projects, and new activities to implement in the field to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
She said the results of the survey would also contribute to the achievement of the Nationally Determined Contributions of Ghana to adapt and mitigate climate change.

Madam Martins noted that the project intended to address the needs of communities against climate change and improve the resilience of smallholder farmers in the fight against climate change.
She noted that the EU remained committed to the environment and climate change which explained why the new EU-GREEN deal had strategies to help achieve that.

The Representative of the EU Delegation to Ghana disclosed that 26 per cent of the funds they would be getting for the next framework would be dedicated to environment and climate change mitigation activities.

The workshop was attended by 56 participants from Relevant Policy Makers, Traditional Authority, District and Regional Directors of Agriculture, Planning Officers, and Representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

They are to deliberate extensively and collectively determine how best to ensure that REACH supporting activities were not only gendered but also considered the different interests of women, men, youth, children and people with disabilities to ensure an equitable improvement in the livelihood of all.

REACH which is an EU supported project that commenced in January 2019 and will run until end of 2024, is being implemented by the Competitive Cashew Initiative (GIZ-ComCashew) and the International Water Management Institute, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOFA).