Inclusion of NGOs in Adaptation Fund Project to ensure grass-roots participation

Inclusion of NGOs in Adaptation Fund Project to ensure grass-roots participation

The Technical Advisor of Adaptation Fund Project (AFP), Dr Emmanuel Tachie Obeng, has stated that, the inclusion of NGOs in the implementation of the project was to ensure grassroots participation by community-based organisations.

He said the involvement of the NGOs would enable activities such as fish farming, bee-keeping, dry-season gardening, tree seedling nurseries and integration of cultural values to support conservations of buffer zones to be effectively executed.

“We are not engaging only the NGOs but agricultural experts have been involved under the steering committees of the various districts to ensure good yields,” Dr Obeng added.

Thirty NGOs in the country are to collaborate with the AFP to undertake the second phase of the project.

Workshop

Dr Obeng was speaking at a training of trainers (TOT) workshop on tracking the implementation of the AFP in Ghana.

The one-day workshop was organised by ABANTU for Development (AfD) with support from Gender Action on Climate Change (GACC) and Southern Voices on Adaptation, all NGOs.

It focused on strengthening the capacities of core group of women and men on the project and how they could track the extent of its implementation.

A total of 25 participants were drawn from the target areas of the AFP, including Volta, Greater Accra, Eastern, Western and the three regions of the north.

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Project

The AFP is a four-year project which started in April, 2016 and aims at enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of the three regions of the north through the management of water resources and diversification of livelihoods.

It also seeks to address climate change-induced decreases in the availability and increase unpredictability of water resources as well as negative impacts on rural communities.

The project is being executed by the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Currently, implementations are being carried out in 10 districts in the beneficiary regions.

Activities

To facilitate the implementation of the activities, he said US$300,000 out of a US$1.2 million released this year by the UNDP had been injected into the project.

Dr Obeng stated that, in all, $8.2 million was earmarked for the four-year project to address issues on climate change.

According to him, during the first year, US$300,000 was released for institutional setup to start the management process, adding that US$ 4.7million would also be disbursed in the third year of the project.

He stressed the need to take issues on climate change seriously since it affected a country’s development.

Accountability

The Mobilisation Manager of (AfD), Ms Hamida Harrison, said the role of civil society organisations (CSOs) to track the implementation of the project was an accountability measure and a means of promoting responsiveness to those who were most affected by climate change impacts in the water and livelihood sectors.

 “We must be concerned with how the funds are used and this calls for the role of civil society to demand accountability from the duty bearers,” she added.

Gender parity

For her part, the Director of AfD, Dr Rose Mensch-Kutin, observed that apart from using resources to implement projects, civil society could also employ their voices to advocate transformation.

She said men also had responsibilities of ensuring gender parity by encouraging women involvement in the implementation of projects at the various communities.

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