By Kodjo Adams
Accra, March 23, GNA – Participants in the professional short course on Essentials of Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) of development projects have been advised to use the knowledge acquired to improve development projects and not place restrictions to stop progress of project activities.
“The training has given you tools and knowledge to help make a project better, not to go and stop the project,” Prof Charles Adams, the Project Lead for ESRM, advised the participants.
The Professor gave the advice at the closing ceremony of a six-day training course to practitioners in Accra.
The course, dubbed “Essentials of Environmental and Social Risk Management” (ESRM), is aimed at increasing the capacity of environmental experts to contribute to manage infrastructure projects in the country and within sub-Saharan Africa.
The training programme brought together 15 environmental officials from Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Tunisia to build their capacities in managing environmental and social risk issues.
The programme is organised by the Regional Transport Research and Education Centre (TRECK) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in collaboration with Ghana Institute of Mangement and Public Administration and the World Bank Group.
The participants were taken through topics such as the regulatory and institutional framework for ESRM, environmental and social impact assessment, stakeholder consultation and engagement, land acquisition and involuntary resettlement, Gender Based violence, sexual exploitation, harassment and sexual abuse among others.
He urged the participants to find a more constructive approach to proffer timely advice on implementing development projects to ensure value for money.
That, he explained, was important to prevent undue delays on projects and as well avoid excessive costs that had not been previously planned.
On future perspectives, Prof Adams announced that the course would soon delve into a deep-dive sessions where each course module covered would be subjected to 10 days of extensive content with practical and hands on experience using multiple case studies.
“So you will work with actual data, visit a real site, collect information and do a real assessment, make presentations, and critique other groups to become a master of the module.
“We see a situation where, in the future, after completing maybe two or three deep dive modules, participants will be certified as social development specialist or as an environmental development specialist,” he said.
He envisaged the programme evolving into a community of practice, a community of practitioners, so that annually or every few years, all practitioners would meet across West Africa and share experiences on projects.
“We expect that all of us will embrace this environmental and social risk management of projects in a way that will make our environments and treatment of nature and project affected persons (PAPS) better.
“We also hope to bring about more topical issues, like climate change, pollution, and safety, that are becoming a chronic thing in Africa, and challenge and facilitate practitioners to go out there and fix the problem.”
Prof Adams, also the Founding Director, TRECK-KNUST, expressed satisfaction with the success of the course since its inception in developing a mitigating approach in the implementation of projects.
Professor Kenneth Boateng, Director of GIMPA Training and Consulting, commended the participants for fully taking part in the programme, and urged them to implement what they had studied.
He urged them to maintain their networks and share ideas for the betterment of the sector in their various countries.
Mrs Maud Setor Gbeckor-Kove, a participant, said she had gained a deeper understanding of the subject matter of the course and been proactive in integrating environmental and social risk during the feasibility analysis.
“The programme was very comprehensive, coupled with realistic examples from countries’ perspectives. Overall, it was insightful,” Mrs Gbeckor-Kove, also a Development Engineer, Department of Urban Roads, Ashanti Region, said.
Mr Adoum Gagoloum from Chad and Head of Division, Economics Statistics, African Union Institute for Statistics, commended the facilitators for their deep knowledge and said the course had been beneficial and value for money.
By so doing, he stressed we could achieve the sustainable development goals.
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