This story is adapted from the REACH-STR website.
Stephen Yakubu, Upper West Regional Minister, has lauded the collaboration with International Water Management Institute (IWMI) through Resilience Against Climate Change-Social Transformation Research and Policy Advocacy (REACH-STR) project. The European Union-funded initiative focuses on climate-related challenges in Northern Ghana.
According to Yakubu, the strategic partnership provided access to much-needed technical support, knowledge sharing and funding.
The Minister urged development officers to not let their efforts remain only at the collaboration level, but move to work closely with the communities, traditional leaders, civil society organizations and the private sector to ensure that their actions were inclusive with no one left behind in this transformative journey.
“We must empower our communities to take climate action into their own hands. This means promoting climate education advocating for sustainable practices at the grassroots level, and encouraging community participation in decision-making processes,” he said.
Mr. Yakubu noted that local leadership particularly that of women and youth, should be at the forefront of climate resilience initiatives, adding that, “women, in particular, play a pivotal role in agricultural production and natural resource management, and their contributions must be recognized and supported.”
The expressed appreciation that IWMI did not just highlight the impacts of climate change but also provided them with tools and resources to enhance their capacities.
“Capacity building is central to resilience. Without the right knowledge, skills and resources, our efforts will remain limited,”, he stated.
William Quarmine, a Regional Researcher at IWMI, said “Since the project’s inception in 2019, IWMI has championed and successfully co-developed a social transformation research for development framework among other achievements.”
He explained that the framework was an analytical tool that provided development officers with a better understanding of how societies can be transformed to respond to the practical challenges arising from climate change. Quarmine noted that by utilizing the framework, planners and decision-makers could develop interventions that encouraged positive societal transformation while minimizing negative consequences.
