European Union Resilience Against Climate Change (EU-REACH) project has commenced a three-day workshop to equip the Municipal/District Planning and Coordination Units (M/DPCUs) with skills in generating geographic data (geo-data).

After the training, the M/DPCUs would be required to use mobile applications for data collection, map making and geo-data management, whilst building linkages with the planning officers to exchange information, replicate methodology and to help solve technical problems.

Dr Jasmin Marston, the European Union Resilience Against Climate Change (EU-REACH) Project Manager, noted that the training was the beginning of similar trainings to build the capacities of the Municipal District Planning and Coordinating Units (M/DPCUs), which would lead to the design of climate-smart development plans.

Dr Marston noted further that they have also begun mapping existing resources and land uses in some 18 communities – this is being used to design community land use maps that will aid in the development of Community Action Plan guidelines.

“The REACH project seeks to primarily address the negative impacts of climate change on communities in the North-West Zone,” she said.

Dr Marston noted that the project used a gender-sensitive approach in helping communities to adopt and sustain good agricultural practices and to assist the M/DPCUs in the development of environmentally sound Medium-Term Development Plans that contributed to the realization of Ghana’s International Commitment to the Paris Agreement on the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

REACH which is part of the 2017 European Union Ghana Agriculture Project (EUGAP), started in January 2019 and will run until the end of 2024.

It is being implemented on behalf of the EU by the German Development Organization (GIZ)/Competitive Cashew Initiative (ComCashew) with additional funding from the German Government and with close partnership and oversight of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.