Resilience Against Climate Change - REACH

Rural livelihoods in northern Ghana are facing increasing consequences of climate change and environmental degradation. Indicators point to serious negative changes in agricultural productivity and land use in the northern savannah ecosystem of Ghana, intensified by increasing climate variability that generates new risks on livelihoods.

Both infrastructures and human activities have to be designed according to new standards and strategies that will strengthen the local community’s resilience.

The European Union funded Resilience Against Climate Change (REACH) project is training municipal and district planning teams to coordinate their planning efforts by developing their Information Technology (IT) capabilities.

The first edition of the training, held in November 2020, focused on equipping Planning Officers, and Management Information Systems (MIS) Officers with skills in the creation of geographic data using mobile application tools for data collection, map making and data management, whilst building links between the planning offices to exchange information, methodologies and to help solve technical problems.

The second edition is currently ongoing in Wa with over 90 members expected to participate. A separate session will be held for women as well.

Similar trainings will be held throughout the project for all the planning units in the area covered by the REACH project, which includes all 11 districts in Ghana Upper West Region and 3 adjoining districts (Mamprugu Moagduri in North East Region, Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, and North Gonja in Savannah Region).

The objective is to support the creation of climate-oriented development plans by building district databases with precise planning data. This also involves providing IT equipment and training, as well as establishing a digital library on agricultural projects and programmes for all interested parties to use.

REACH intends to contribute to increase rural communities' resilience to fight climate change, and to facilitate adaptation and mitigation of climate change impacts on rural livelihoods in the savannah ecosystem of Ghana.

The project consists in:

• Assisting Municipal and District planning teams to develop climate-smart Development Plans (MTDP) contributing to the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Improving and establishing extension services on Conservation Agriculture.
• Standardizing the productions of Community Action Plans (CAP) that focus on climate adaptation.
• Providing grants for the adaptation activities identified in the CAPs.

The project directly benefits Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies (MMDAs); farmers and rural communities who are the most affected and most threatened by climate change.

Expected Results

With the project implementation:

• Climate- smart planning and natural resources management is developed and standardised in the 574 Districts of Northern Development Authority.
• A funding contribution mechanism is created to support selected climate-smart livelihood and sustainable land management practices.
• A Conservation Agriculture Training and Extension Centre (TECAS) is established to promote training of agriculture extension agents and smallholder farmers.

Implementing organisations

GIZ/ComCashew