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Actionaid Ghana (AAG), a global justice federation working to achieve social justice, gender equality and poverty eradication, has launched a project aimed to build resilience of rural communities in the Upper West and Savannah Regions against the impact of the current climate crisis on lives and livelihoods.
The €1m project christened: ‘Strengthening Community Resilience through Community Action Plans (CAPs),’ aimed to execute 140 sub-projects in 110 communities in nine selected districts in the two regions.
It sought to improve access to water resources and irrigation infrastructure, and enhance afforestation and soil health in targeted communities in eight districts in the Upper West Region and one district in the Savannah Region.
They are Wa Municipal, Wa East, Wa West, Nadowli-Kaleo, Lawra, Jirapa, Sissala East and Sissala West districts in the Upper West Region and the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district in the Savannah Region.
The eleven-month project was funded by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) under the European Union Ghana Agricultural Programme’s (EUGAP’s) Resilience Against Climate Change (REACH) project.
Speaking at an inception workshop at the weekend to launch the project, Mr John Nkaw, the Country Director of AAG, said changes in climatic conditions disproportionately affected women and children, and increased poverty, hence the need for interventions such as the CAPs to help address them.
The workshop was to enable the stakeholders to have a better understanding of their roles in the project and to secure their commitments towards its implementation.
Mr Nkaw indicated that AAG had, over the years, implemented projects geared towards addressing the impact of climate change on the lives and livelihoods of small holder farmers.
He stated that the CAPs project was in furtherance of AAG’s Strategic Priority in fostering a Green Economy and Promoting Resilient Livelihoods under its Country Strategic Paper VII as well as help advance the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
Mr Mathias Berthold, the REACH Project Manager at GIZ, said community action plans had been a core component of the REACH project implementation.
“We have not only developed the methodology, but we have also supported to conduct more than 200 community action plans in more than 200 communities throughout 14 districts in northwestern Ghana,” he explained.
Mr Berthold expressed hope that the successful implementation of the project would help create prospects for the beneficiary communities and boost their economic potential, especially through the irrigation facilities.
Pognaa Fati Korey, the Upper West Regional Coordinating Director, acknowledged the potential impact of the project on community development.
She assured the project implementing partners of the Regional Coordinating Council’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for its successful implementation.
Mr Ebenezer Amoah, the Savannah Regional Coordinating Director, expressed gratitude to AAG and GIZ for their intervention as it would positively impact the lives of the people.
He reiterated the need for scale-up action in order to ensure its successful implementation within the expected period.
Madam Abiba Nibaradun, the Upper West Regional Programme Manager of AAG, stated that the project targeted to drill and rehabilitate 55 boreholes, construct and rehabilitate ten irrigation facilities, and construct and rehabilitate five dams.
It would also establish 40 forest restoration projects, facilitate the enactment of byelaws to protect the restored forest areas, form and train 22 community-based forest management committees, and implement 30 soil health measures.
Representatives from the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority, Northern Development Authority, Environmental Protection Agency, and Forestry Commission, among others, pledged to support the successful implementation of the CAPs project. -GNA
