Hohoe (V/R), June 9, GNA – Mr Foster Aboagye Gyamfi, Principal Economic Officer at the Ministry of Finance, has stated that there was the need to sensitise and engage stakeholders on the climate change actions being undertaken by the country towards low carbon emission.
He said there was the need to provide an update of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) activities and to create awareness on the process of accessing the funds for climate change interventions.
Mr Gyamfi who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the workshop emphasised the importance of climate finance.
“If you talk about climate change, you can’t do climate change without the needed financing. That is why climate experts talk about climate finance and this is where the involvement of the Ministry of Finance in climate change comes from.”
“The Ministry of Finance is looking at the climate financing components but we can’t do it without adding climate change to it and that is why we are engaging stakeholders, talking about climate change, climate finance and especially the Green Climate Fund.”
The workshop was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry of Finance with financial support from the Green Climate Fund.
Participants were drawn from Non-Governmental Organisations, Staff of Hohoe Municipal Assembly, opinion leaders, women and youth groups.
Mr Gyamfi said the Ministry had been engaging the GCF for a while and it was important to share with the beneficiaries the processes they were following to engage the National Designated Authority (NDA) which was the focal point and interface between the GCF and Ghana.
He said showing beneficiaries the processes would unite them to put formidable and bankable proposals that could attract investments, get funding for the country, and contribute to Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs).
The Officer said there were plans to build capacities of Assemblies and Civil Society Organisations to help the Finance Ministry track climate inflows and expenditure as well as more training and engagements.
“We will be engaging stakeholders to help achieve the ambitious objective in Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions and towards the global goal of the Paris Agreement to reduce global average temperature to 2℃ and pathway of 1.5℃.”
Mr Samuel Dotse, CEO of HATOF Foundation, said the Foundation was nominated to serve on the technical advisory committees to help the country come out with fundable project that would be submitted to the GCF.
He said a benefit of the engagement would be creating awareness of the Green Climate Fund and how communities could access grants, loans, or guarantees to support activities at the community level.
Mr Dotse urged communities to come together and have project ideas that are climate sensitive and that would impact their communities.
Mr. Andrews Teddy Ofori, the Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said the workshop came at the right time since the people were facing problems with the River Dayi, which was choked with filth and needed to be protected by tree planting and dredging.
He said the Assembly had started sensitising community members ahead of the nationwide tree planting exercise and compiling lists of interested of individuals who were ready to take delivery of tree seedlings.
Dr Catherine Adodoadji-Dogbe, Assistant Programme Officer, UNDP, Ghana told the GNA that the UNDP had been working closely with the Finance Ministry to disseminate information on activities at the national level to the sub-national level with a massive outreach programme.
She said the UNDP had also translated the National Designated Authority’s operational manual into four local languages, namely Ga, Ewe, Dagbani and Twi.
“The main purpose for doing this is that we want to reach out to the local communities, those at the grassroot levels, including; women and the youth. We want to achieve the SDG goal of not leaving anyone behind,” she added.
The engagement would also be held in the Ho and South Tongu Districts of the region.
GNA