By : Doreen Ampofo
The European Union and the International Water Management Institute, IWMI, have marked the successful completion of a six-year project which developed evidence-based solutions to help vulnerable communities in northern Ghana better withstand the impact of climate change. Known as the Resilience Against Climate Change-Social Transformation Research and Policy Advocacy, REACH-STR, the project among other things conducted research in the Upper East and Savannah regions which reinforced existing research on how women continue to be harshly impacted by climate change as compared to men.
It also developed an interactive gender and climate vulnerability hotspot map for all 261 districts in Ghana. At the Close out session, participants called for collaboration and the inclusion of data gathered from the research into Ghana’s policy planning and decision on climate change.
In an interview, Regional Researcher and Development Economist with IWMI Dr William Quarmine explained the project developed critical tools which identified reasons why women are disproportionately affected by climate change, especially in northern Ghana.
“We have one called the gender hotspot maps. With a critical look at the map, you will be able to tell where women are facing challenges and where they are not performing as they should. We have studied the whole country, and the data is telling us that especially when it comes to climate change, women are experiencing it harsher than men especially in many parts of northern Ghana. We also found out that in many parts of northern Ghana women’s access to weather is low either because there are no water sources or no technologies to draw the water from the ground” he noted.
This situation, Dr William Quarmine indicated, is heightening food security challenges in the north.
REACH- STR Project Coordinator Dr Charity Amponsah, was hopeful that policy makers and relevant state agencies will take ownership of the data collected through the project for policy decisions.
“Most importantly, we have curated the information in a way that decision makers, policy makers and politicians can understand. We have also worked with them from the beginning. Currently with the hotspots, we worked with 15 Ministries, Department and Agencies to develop that map, so the ownership is already there and it’s for them to take up these decision support tools.’
The six-year project was funded by the EU. The Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to Ghana Massimo Mina, emphasized the EU’s commitment to climate resilience and inclusive development. He praised the project for confronting some of the region’s most pressing development challenges.
“We particularly commend the project’s focus on enhancing climate resilience and social transformation, especially within northern Ghana. This is crucial for achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth,” Mina noted.
“Agriculture has a very key role in improving its resilience to face the consequences of climate change, and that’s why the European Union is investing heavily in the agricultural sectors, in particular to promote some practices in the agriculture, which can help to improve their resilience, and the agriculture is actually one of the priority areas, we are focusing in particular in the north of the country, because that’s where the consequences of climate change are stronger, and we do it with an integrated approach,” he added.
The REACH-STR project forms part of the broader EU-Ghana Agriculture Programme (EU-GAP). It provided Scholarships to 19 Master’s and PhD students to conduct research in climate resilience, migration, and gender, while generating evidence for decision-making.
It was implemented by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in partnership with the University of Ghana-Centre for Migration Studies (UG-CMS), SDD University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDD-UBIDS), and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (CSIR-STEPRI).
