ACTIVITY REPORT Activity Report GC Ghana

Transcription

1 ACTIVITY REPORT

2 Message from GC Ghana President Green Cross Ghana PrepCom (GC Ghana) haven received PrepCom status in September 2009 have been working in Ghana for the past one year to respond to the combined challenges of security, poverty and environmental degradation to ensure a sustainable and secure future for all. In recent times, Ghana has seen a lot of transformation of her environment. The destruction of its eco-systems is on the high. The plight of predominately poor farmers in the country continues to worsen by unpredictable weather patterns. The annual spillage of water from the Volta River into Northern Ghana during the raining season in the Volta Basin continues to claim more lives and property. These misfortunes are further deepened by the scourge of climate change and poverty. Ghana s environment is on the brink of further degradation as a result of the country s recent oil discovery and mining activities. Recent oil spills in Ghana have had devastating effects on aquatic life in the country. And there is looming danger to Ghana s flora and fauna if nothing is done to address this situation. GC Ghana, though a young organisation has grown over the past one year to be a force to reckon with, with a promising future in the environmental movement in Ghana. GC Ghana has made tremendous gains in trying to sow the values and principles of Green Cross in the fabric of the Ghanaian society. We have succeeded in forging relationships with the political, scientific and business communities and continue to strengthen these ties. More and more school kids and community members in rural areas continue to get access to safe water and sanitation facilities under the Smart Water for Green Schools Initiative with prospects of extending the initiative to other schools in the Volta Basin with the help of the Green Cross network. GC Ghana continues to reach out to political authorities in Ghana to adopt legislative instruments that seek to protect the environment in a just and equitable manner. In the fore front of this campaign is the UN Watercourses Convention Global Initiative in Ghana. To reinforce Green Cross as a true people s movement, GC Ghana in-collaboration with the University of Education Winneba (Ghana s premier university of education) launched the first Green Cross Club in the university. Club members are serving as agents of change in their various communities and are promulgating the values and principles of Green Cross. GC Ghana is also responding to the combined challenges of the environment and health related issues in Ghana such as malaria, diarrhoea, etc to spur development in Ghana. We seek to achieve this through capacity building programmes for authorities, community members and the supply of the necessary medical equipment to the most vulnerable communities. In the foreseeable future, GC Ghana will continue to strengthen the Water for Life and Peace and the Value Change Programmes of Green Cross, whilst implementing tailor made national programmes to respond to specific needs of the Ghanaian society. A broader vision of GC Ghana is to promote the Green Cross brand in Ghana and the West-African sub-region. Mubarick Masawudu

3 Smart Water for Green Schools in Ghana The Smart Water for Green Schools in Ghana Initiative as part of the greater international campaign led by Green Cross International to provide smart water solutions, sanitation and environmental awareness in schools situated in transboundary river basins was successfully launched in Ghana in March The project was kick started with the formation of a ten member committee at the Al-Iman school in the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana. This committee received training on the construction and maintenance of the rainwater harvesting system and ecological latrines that has been constructed. The ten member committee consisted of school authorities, local artisans and masons. The Artisans and masons were selected to receive capacity building on the condition that they commit to spread their newly acquired skills. This is targeted at creating new green jobs that masons and artisans can market in addition to their already known skills. School kids drinking water from the completed rainwater harvesting System at D.A Number one Sch. at Prang /photo: GC Ghana There was huge community participation in the implementation of the project. Women, Men, boys and girls all came out to volunteer in the construction of the systems that have been provided. Upon completion of the construction of the systems at Al-Iman, a project visit was organised for the local government representatives of the area which included, the District Chief Executive, the District Director of Education, District Planning officer, etc. This was targeted at encouraging government officials to support a national legislature on smart water solutions such as rainwater harvesting for schools and institutions. Till date, the project has been successfully launched in all the five schools under the pilot phase. The Construction of the rainwater harvesting systems and Ecological latrines at Al-Iman, Makango and Prang are 100 percent complete with the construction of the systems in Asukwakwa and Dambai at 80 percent complete. Educational materials are being developed to implement the Hygiene, Sanitation and Environmental education component of the Smart Water for Green Schools in Ghana project. To date: The project is providing clean and safe water and sanitation to 1,200 school kids 50 people have received training on the construction and maintenance of the systems. Upon Completion of the Project: 2000 School Kids will be provided with clean and safe water and sanitation School Kids will receive hygiene, sanitation and environmental education 67 Teachers will undertake capacity building programs on Hygiene, Sanitation and Environment. 10,500 community members will be sensitised on hygiene, sanitation and the environment

4 UN Watercourses Global Initiative in Ghana Upon receiving Prep.Com status in September 2009, GC Ghana joined in the global campaign led by GCI to actively promote the ratification and ultimate entry into force of the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention. The convention seeks to establish basic standards and rules for cooperation on the use, management and protection of the world s 263 international watercourses. In April 2010, GC Ghana in-collaboration with GCI and WWF launched the UN Watercourse Global Initiative in Ghana to monitor and facilitate the ratification of the convention in Ghana and to raise awareness of the convention in Ghana. As part of activities outlined to support the campaign, a national sensitisation workshop has been planned to take place in October This is in collaboration with the Ghana Water Resources Commission. This will bring together 35 members of the Ghanaian Parliament from the Parliamentary Select Committee on water and legal issues. Also, the workshop is to be attended by representatives of the Foreign Affairs, Water Resources, Justice Ministries. Several meetings and round table discussions have taken place between GC Ghana and the Ministry of Water Resource, Members of Parliament and the Foriegn Affairs Ministry to whip-up support for Ghana s ratification of the UN Watercourses Convention. Also, the campaign seeks to emphasis on Ghana as a responsible key player in IWRM in the West African Sub-region. Ghana shares the Volta River Basin with five other West African countries: Cote d Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, and Mali. It also shares the Bia and Tano rivers with the Ivory Coast, and the Todzie-Aka basin with Togo. The Volta Basin covers a total area of 400,000 km square, with Ghana and Burkina Faso alone, sharing about 84.5 percent of the total area. A road sign poking out of the water near the village of Nasia due to flooding of the Northern region caused by the opening of the Bagre dam in Burkina Faso/ photo: courtesy AFP Ministry of Water Resources Works & Housing

5 Yagaba Clinic Initiative Mubarick Masawudu and Elio Pacilio touring the walewale clinic during Elio s visit to Ghana in May 2010/photo: GC Italia The Yagaba Clinic Initiative is a GC Ghana and GC Italia initiative aimed at improving the general health situation of the Yagaba community and its environs by rehabilitating its health infrastructure and building the capacity of health personnel in the area to spur development; with a focus on improving maternal and child health outcomes. The Yagaba Clinic located at Yagaba in the Northern region of Ghana was built under the European Commissions Micro-projects Initiative in Ghana to serve as a medical facility for the people of Yagaba and its environs. Unfortunately, the European Commission funded project provided funds only for the building of the clinic structure without making provisions for medical equipment and other basic needs of a medical facility such as sanitation, water and electricity. The Yagaba community experiences a high level of environmental related infections specifically typhoid and malaria. Over 80 percent of the area s population live under one USD a day. On top of it all, the community is annually invaded by viper snakes during the raining season. Poor subsistence farmers mostly women when working on their farms are bitten by these poisonous snakes. Infant and maternal deaths also remain a great challenge to the people of Yagaba and its environs. Upon completion of the project, the Yagaba Clinic will be equipped with standard medical equipment, a source of constant supply of water and electricity for the clinic using solar energy. In addition, tailor made capacity building programmes to improve the skills of the local medical personnel in the area will also be carried out. To date, GC Ghana in partnership with the Member of Parliament for Yagaba has provided the Yagaba Clinic with 50 anti-snake bite sera costing $ 6,000 USD. In August 2010, GC Ghana again donated 1,480 malaria testing kits to the Yagaba Clinic.

6 Value Change Programme: Green Cross Clubs In November 2009, GC Ghana in collaboration with the University of Education Winneba; Ghana s premier university of education launched the first Green Cross Club in the university. Membership to the Green Cross Club is free and voluntary. Members belong to different fields of study and geographical locations, providing a better platform for knowledge sharing and debating on the most pressing issues of peace, poverty and environmental degradation. Green Cross Club members have been introduced to the Environmental Awareness and Education programme of GCI and the Earth Charter. Club members serve as agents of change in the school and in their respective communities. They will also strive to promulgate the values and principles of Green Cross. To date, this first Green Cross Club has a membership base of 30 members and still counting. Disaster Response Activities GC Ghana together with the National Disaster Management Organisation of Ghana (NADMO) and other NGO s undertook a rescue exercise to help the victims of recent flooding in parts of Accra and the Tema municipality which occurred on 20 th of June, Twenty-four lives were lost and several other properties damaged. GC Ghana provided logistical and instrumental support to NADMO to carry out the exercise. Also, twenty-two Green Cross Club members also volunteered in the rescue mission. A total of 9,314 people making up 1,318 families were displaced by flood waters.