Climate change, especially the effect of the Sahel, is increasing poverty and levels of vulnerability of communities in Ghana. World Vision Ghana is promoting efficient use of environment-related resources so that sustainability of vital ecosystems is not compromised. Community efforts to restore ecosystem are being supported and their capacity developed to find a balance between short-term needs for social and economic development and protection of the environment bases for the longer term.
Contact Information
Our Focus
These are initiatives that have been planned for a period of five years and are at early stages of discussion, planning, looking for resources and sources of funding. The initiatives would be carried out at district and community levels. Rural communities and rural women in particular would be targeted to enable them to gain access to and use cleaner energy for their work, reduce the excessive use of metabolic energy and to address environmental degradation. Initiatives being undertaken now include the following: • Promote organic farming, tree planting and agro-forestry practices. • Promote energy conservation techniques in households. • Support campaigns against environment degradation activities: bush burning, garbage dumping, indiscriminate tree felling, mono-cropping, overgrazing etc. • Facilitate project communities to conduct reforestation projects that produce carbon credits, bringing financial, ecological and social benefits to a community. • Facilitate project communities to conduct fuel-efficient stoves projects that address the health hazards that affect women in their use of biomass fuels for cooking and food processing. • Promote the use of solar stoves and lighting systems in households and for fetching water, etc.
Our Experience And Interest In The Four PCIA Central Focus Areas
• Gender barriers from traditional and cultural taboos that prevent women from decision making on issues such as the use of improved stoves • Poverty that prevents women from accessing cleaner fuels • Lack of private participation in the dissemination of improved stoves, leading to shortage of production of stoves • Lack of energy policies by government and sector ministries in charge of energy and lack of coordination among manufacturers and users of stove technologies.
World Vision Ghana has interest in developing markets for improved cooking technologies by rural women and to disseminate them to improve their incomes in the future. Presently, World Vision aims at creating awareness, educating and building the capacity of project communities on the use and benefits of the use of improved cooking technologies and to leverage this into actual dissemination of stoves from other sources until such a time that it would be able to train communities to manufacture their own technologies. World Vision hopes to develop this by partnering with other experienced organizations.
World Vision Ghana is not yet at this stage in the project, but wants to learn more and build capacity in this area.
Relevant Publications or Studies
None noted
Our Contribution to the Partnership
World Vision Ghana will share information on its activities with the Partnership, attend Forums and meetings and help disseminate improved stoves and cleaner energy and information about the Partnership to others. It will also contribute to publications and share best practices with the Partnership.
