Wa, Nov. 18, GNA – The Resilience Against Climate Change (REACH) Project has handed over some Information Technology and Agriculture equipment worth over GHȻ3 million to Municipal/District Planning Coordinating Units (M/DPCUs) of the Assemblies and other partners.
The 591 Information Technology Equipment procured for 14 Districts M/DPCUs in North-West Ghana and other partners at the national level comprises 56 laptops, 112 personal computers, 84 mobile tablets and 70 printers.
The rest are; 112 Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems, 14 cameras, 70 projectors, 70 Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, and three video conferencing devices.
Speaking during the handing over of the equipment in Wa, Mr Massimo Mina, Head of Cooperation, European Union (EU) Delegation to Ghana, noted that the EU promoted sustainable Agriculture in Ghana, which was the reason why the REACH project was assisting communities in North-West Ghana to build resilience and adopt climate change mitigation approaches.
He said the equipment, if fully utilized, would contribute to refining the work of the M/DPCUs in data collection.
He said together with the capacity building of members of the M/DPCUs in Physical Planning, Management Information Systems (MIS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) would improve planning at the various Assemblies especially with their various Medium-Term Development Plans (MTDPs).
Mr Mina added the agriculture implements would facilitate the promotion of climate-smart agricultural practices, pointing out further that Agriculture Extension Agents (AEAs) and farmers in the project area were equally being trained on Conservation Agriculture (CA).
He said with the project developing a CA manual for Ghana, the Damango Agriculture College would soon run a training programme in CA whilst the Babile Agriculture Research Station would be developed into a CA Centre of Excellence with all the requisite tools to promote CA adoption practice in North-West Ghana.
The Head of Cooperation thanked the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development, Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Ministry of Finance for their cooperation to increase agricultural incomes and promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth in rural Ghana.
Mr Peter Maala, the Upper West Regional Coordinating Director, said the handing over of the equipment gave him the conviction that REACH’s commitment to building the capacities of M/DPCUs in the development of climate-smart MTDPs was well on course.
According to him, the M/DPCUs were seen as the engine of the District Assembly setup, hence their improvement was key in delivering development to the communities they served.
“It is a shared responsibility to address the burning issues of climate change and attitudinal change. I would therefore like to encourage us all to play our respective roles to sustain the gains being made by the REACH project in its quest to help communities build resilience against the impacts of climate change”, Mr Maala said.
The Regional Coordinating Director admonished the District Assemblies to take the handling and maintenance of the equipment a priority and use them for their intended purpose.
Madam Rita Weidinger, the Team Leader of the Project, noted that the gesture reinforced the EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (BMZ) commitment to support the socio-economic drive of Ghana, particularly in North-West Ghana.
Madam Safia Abdulai, the Nadowli-Kaleo District Coordinating Director thanked the REACH Project partners for the support and pledged that the equipment would be put to good use to achieve the intended purpose.
GNA