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or even to diffuse knowledge and technology developed
elsewhere for communities to be able to adopt adaptation
measures.
The concern for the inadequate capacity in Africa to tackle
the social, economic and environmental challenges posed by
climate change led the Open Society Foundation to initiate its
programme, the African Climate Change Adaptation Initiative
(ACCAI). This initiative is to support African institutions
to develop actions that will enable African academics,
governments and civil society to engage effectively in
the global climate change dialogue and adopt effective
adaptation measures. The University of Ghana’s proposal,
titled Building Capacity to meet the Climate Change Challenge
(B4C) –Ghana developed by a team led by Professor Yaa
Ntiamoa-Baidu, was one of the six selected out of over sixty
submissions to receive grant funds of USD1,638,677.
The B4C-Ghana project is implemented by a consortium led
by the University of Ghana which includes the Centre for
African Wetlands (CAW) and the Ghana Wildlife Society (GWS).
The ultimate goal of the project is to develop University of
Ghana as a centre of excellence in global environmental
change, with capabilities to contribute effectively to climate
change adaptation in Ghana for sustainable development.
The partnership with the two non-governmental
organisations (CAW and GWS), is to ensure that knowledge
generated by academic researchers can be transferred to
relevant actors/communities to feed into policy and ensure
adoption of climate change adaptation measures.
The project is designed in three Work Packages as follows:
i.
Training and human resource development:
The
project has supported and led the development of UG’s
post-graduate programme which offers a one year MSc.
(Management option) and a 2- year MPhil. in Climate
Change and Sustainable Development (CCSD).
ii.
Building climate change adaptation research capacity
at UG:
The field work has generated a large volume
of primary data on a range of climate change issues
and have also enabled the definition of priority areas
for further research in climate change adaptation and
a range of research topics that will form the basis for
MPhil. Thesis research to support delivery of the CCSD
programme.
iii.
Influencing policy through outreach and Civil Society
Engagement:
In pursuance of this goal, the project
has held a number of workshops at both national and
community levels that subsequently led to the formation
of the Ghana Climate Change Adaptation Network (Ghana
CAN). The Ghana CAN aims to bring together key actors
in the climate change sector, including governmental,
non-governmental, civil society organisations and well as
academia to strengthen their capacities and is supported
by the B4C project.
Delivering the Next Generation of
Academic Researchers
Like many universities in Africa, the University of Ghana
has suffered from the multiple challenges of explosion in
undergraduate numbers without corresponding increases
in faculty; limited financial resources and an increasing
Climate change impact manifestation
CCSD students in the field looking at issues of coastal erosion & sea level rise
