Tamale, March 22, GNA – More than 40 representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs) working on climate change have been sensitised on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and how they can access it to mitigate the effects of climate change in the communities.
It was also to update them on how much money the country had so far received under the GCF, what projects were being funded and what roles the CSOs could play in monitoring those projects.
The two-day district level engagement for CSOs in northern Ghana was organised in Tamale by CARE International Ghana and Kasa Initiative Ghana. The CSOs were drawn from the Northern, North-East, Savannah, and Upper East regions.
Participants were taken through the GCF institutional and operational arrangement in Ghana, opportunities for increasing stakeholders’ engagements in the Fund, its current status, what is being funded, and how much.
They were also introduced to the Ghana Shea Landscape Emission Reductions Project, being implemented by the Forestry Commission and partners with funding from the GCF to mitigate the effects of climate change on the fragile ecosystem of the northern savannah zone, among other measures.
The workshop formed part of the GCF-Focus Africa Phase (II) project, which is funded by the German Government through GermanWatch and CARE Germany, to build the capacity of civil society organisations to advocate ambitious funding proposals to mitigate disaster risks.
The project also seeks to increase accountability and transparency of national authorities and implementing actors of the GCF through participatory monitoring and evaluation by the CSOs.
The Green Climate Fund is the world’s largest fund mandated to support developing countries raise and realise their Nationally Determined Contributions towards low-emissions and climate-resilient development pathways.
Mr Zakaria Yakubu, the Programme Director for the GCF-Focus Africa Phase II Project at CARE International Ghana, said the participants, at the end of the workshop, were expected to work with government to ensure the projects actually benefitted the most vulnerable in society, especially women and children.
He, therefore, encouraged them to use the knowledge gained to engage the Fund and present proposals that could secure the funding needed to implement programmes to address the impact of climate change in northern Ghana.
The Ghana News Agency discovered that, so far, nine proposals have been funded by the GCF in the country and only one came from a CSO, with the rest coming from industry and government agencies.
Hajia Fati Seidu Tambro, the Executive Director of Sung Foundation, described the workshop as timely as it had empowered participants with relevant information to help them access the funds to address climate change issues in their communities to ensure food security.
GNA