By Kodjo Adams
Accra, June 3, GNA- Participants in the Environmental and Social Risk Management training course have been advised to be agents of change and use the knowledge acquired in the implementation of project management.
The participants were urged to use their experiences to better manage environmental and social issues in their respective district assemblies to ensure value for money and effective service delivery.
Professor Helen Essandoh, Director of Regional Transport Research and Education Centre (TRECK), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), gave advice in Accra at the end of a six-day training course on the topic “Essentials of Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM).
The training course, which is the fifth in a series, brought together 15 environmental officials from Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to build their capacities in managing environmental and social risk issues.
The aim of the programme was to increase the capacity of environmental experts to manage infrastructure projects in the country and within sub-Saharan Africa.
The course was jointly organised by TRECK-KNUST and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in collaboration with the World Bank Group.
Prof Essandoh encouraged the participants to build upon their strong networks and share ideas to improve on issues relating to environmental and social risk management.
She said the course, since its inception in November 2022, had built the capacity of 150 participants from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda, and Nigeria.
Professor Essandoh expressed optimism that the course, which was the fifth in the series, would help participants gain insights about prioritising environmental issues before implementing development projects.
She commended the participants for actively participating in the course, urging them to apply their new skills in mainstreaming environmental and social risk issues in executing developmental projects.
In a speech read on his behalf, Dr Augustina Akonnor, Deputy Rector of GIMPA, urged the participants to utilise the knowledge gained in the ESRM course to enhance their endeavours.
Dr Akonnor encouraged participants and facilitators to maintain the connections established during the training.
She urged the participants to include capacity-building initiatives in their action plans and maintain the professional networks established during the training.
Mr Isaac Donwaazum Mwangu, on behalf of the participants, thanked the facilitators and organisers for imparting valuable knowledge to them.
“The course has been very impactful and will effectively help me to manage, supervise, and monitor projects in my district for positive outcomes,” he said.
Mr Mwangu, who is the Regional Economic Planning Officer for the Bono East Regional Coordinating Council, appealed to authorities to institutionalise EMSR in MMDAs project management, designs, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation plans.
The participants were presented with certificates.
They were taken through topics like the regulatory and institutional framework for ESRM, environmental and social impact assessment, stakeholder engagement, land acquisition and involuntary resettlement, and labour and occupational health and safety in development projects.
GNA