20.6 million Euros to boost job creation and build climate change resilient communities in Ghana
The European Union (EU) and its development partners, with the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council (ARCC) and the Western Regional Coordination Council (WRCC), will launch the Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana (GrEEn) Project in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday, 22 September and in the Western Region on Thursday, 24 September 2020 in Takoradi.
The project aims at promoting green, circular, and climate resilient local economies and creating more than 5,000 jobs. Youth, women and returning migrants of the Western and Ashanti regions will receive trainings and financial support for green businesses. The project will focus on areas such as plastic waste recycling, clean cookstove production and distribution, organic horticulture and compost production. Selected Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) will also be supported.
The project is mainly financed by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund (EUTF) for Africa, with contributions from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). It is implemented by the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and UNCDF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.
“The idea behind GrEEn is simple: the lack of job opportunities pushes young people to look for a better future far from home. Climate change makes things worse by taking away the main source of livelihood in many communities,” said Diana Acconcia, the European Union Ambassador to Ghana.
“These two challenges are interlinked. We need to address them at the same time if we want to convince young people that they have a future at home and prevent them from embarking on dangerous journeys where they can lose their life,” she added.
Anjo van Toorn, Country Director of SNV said: “The GrEEn project is very topical since it supports youth, women and returning migrants in creating jobs and supporting businesses in a time COVID is impacting hard on local economies.’’ He also noted, “the GrEEn project contributes to climate resilient economies, which can withstand and reduce climate impact on the short and long term; this is essential to community well-being now and later.”
Angela Yayra Kwashie, the National Project Coordinator of the UNCDF in Ghana, said, “GrEEn officially launched virtually during the European Week in May, but now it’s time to take news of GrEEn to the regions and communities that are going to benefit from this new action.”
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About SNV
SNV is an international development organisation that makes a lasting difference in the lives of people living in poverty by helping them raise incomes and access basic services. As a premium quality organisation, SNV focuses on three sectors: agriculture, energy and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). In these sectors, climate and business in the sentence, gender and youth employment are integrated.
With a long-term, local presence in over 25 countries globally and a team of more than 1300 staff, SNV combines top-notch expertise through active knowledge management, understanding of the issues on the ground and experience in building effective relations with government and the private sector. Implementing our mission exclusively through project financing requires SNV to work efficiently and invest in operational excellence every day. For more information: www.snv.org
About UNCDF
The UN Capital Development Fund makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries (LDCs). UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. UNCDF’s financing models work through three channels: (1) inclusive digital economies, which connects individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in the local economy, and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; (2) local development finance, which capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development; and (3) investment finance, which provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization. For more information: www.uncdf.org
About EUTF
The European Union Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa (EUTF for Africa) aims to foster stability and to contribute to better migration management, including by addressing the root causes of destabilization, forced displacement and irregular migration. For more information: https://ec.europa.eu/trustfundforafrica