By Lydia Kukua Asamoah
Accra, Oct. 24, GNA – Ghana has launched a Green Climate Fund (GCF) to build the capacities of Civil Society Organisations to assist national efforts at developing low carbon and climate compatible projects and programmes.
This follows Ghana’s receipt of a grant from the GCF for a two-year project titled, “Capacity Building and Knowledge Management on Climate Change for Civil Society Organisations”.
It would raise awareness and build the technical and institutional capacities of the CSOs to support the National Designated Authority to respond and to integrate climate change adaptation and mitigation into both current and future programmes and projects.
Ghana’s National Climate Change Programme has a defined pathway for dealing with the challenges of climate change within the socio-economic context.
It creates a broad constituency beyond government to include the private sector and non-governmental organisations to work towards sustainable national development.
Ms Adwoa Fraikue, Chief Economic Officer, Ministry of Finance, who repented the finance minister, said the CSOs project would be implemented within 24 months and aimed to strengthen the capacities of 10 Ghanaian CSO networks so they could directly write proposals to secure funds towards the NDCs planning and implementation process.
She announced that Ghana had so far sent about 11 proposals to the GCF secretariat for funding, out of which eight were approved.
She commended HATOF Foundation, an environmental NGO, for leading the process of building the capacities of CSOs, which would strengthen civil society’s engagement with the GCF in the area of climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Dr Samuel Dotse, Executive Director, HATOF Foundation, said as part of the project, the CSOs would be taken through the multilateral agreement for them to understand why Ghana “is eligible to attract funding within the process…”
They would also learn about Ghana’s NDCs and the policy and action plans, the NDCs and the economic sectors of the country, and get technical understanding of the policy framework, among others.
They would also learn about what is required in a proposal and goals for adaptation.
The overall objective of the training is to equip the CSOs in how to apply for climate funds from the GCF to be able to implement some of the Nationally Determined Contributions, as development partners, Dr Dotse said.
GNA