The Ghana Government in collaboration with key partners has launched a 5-year project to improve the resilience of Ghanaians, particularly women and girls on the issue of climate adaptation initiatives.
The project known as SIGRA and being funded by Global Affairs, Canada will ensure increased investment and also provide technical assistance to various agencies and organizations geared towards gender inclusivity on the issue of climate adaptation initiatives at all national and sub-national levels of the country.
The SIGRA project, that is, Strengthening Investments in Gender-Responsive Climate Adaptation is being implemented by Cowater in collaboration with government agencies and ministries at both the national and sub-national levels.
At the sub-national level, the project will be implemented in five Municipal and District Assemblies – three in the Northern part of the country and two other Districts including Akatsi North and Anloga Districts in the Volta region.
A workshop was held in Ho for for key institutions relevant to the project including CSOs and staff of the two selected District Assemblies to ensure effective implementation of the project.
Women in Law and Development in Africa – (WiLDAF) Ghana, a national-level Women’s Rights Network tasked to execute the “Regional CSO workshops to review MTDPs, budget, and reporting cycle” sub-activity under Activity 1321.1: Training and mentoring of women-led CSOs on MDA and MMDA budget and reporting cycle and government engagement.
National Programs Coordinator for WILDAF Melody Dakey, told GHOne TV news at a workshop in Ho “The program will first of all, acquaint them with the concept of gender and how these interact with issues on climate change adaptation and the resultant inequities that emanate from the nexus between gender and climate change issues.”
She went on “we are hoping that with the checklist that we have adapted from the National Development Planning Commission, we will be able to use that to assess the current plans of the District Assembly for the 2022-2025 planning cycle to see how responsive these plans are about climate change adaptation and gender issues.”
“We are hoping to be able to identify the gaps in these plans so that we can use that for engagement. A component of the project is also looking at working with the District Assemblies, providing technical support, and enhancing their capacities on issues of climate change and gender prioritization in their plans.”
The project’s ultimate goal is to strengthen the resilience of Ghanaian citizens particularly women, girls, and vulnerable groups through increased investment in inclusive and gender-responsive climate adaptation initiatives.
Gender adviser with CoWATER on the SIGRA Project Elham Mumuni noted “The project Is being implemented with six MDAs and partners at the national level and four women-led CSOs at the national level. At the sub-national level, we work closely with the Volta Regional Coordinating Council and the Northern Regional Coordinating Council.”
“In the Northern region, we will be working in three districts, and also in the Volta Region, we are working with two districts bringing a total of five districts. The project will provide technical assistance to the MDA partners and also offer grants to the five selected districts in the two regions.”
