Africa Lead raises champions of change for agricultural transformation

For an economy that remains largely agricultural, an aging farming population is cause of worry for Ghana.
 

The trend of heavy food importation into the country needs to be reversed by making agriculture as lucrative and attractive to young people as other professions and vocations.

Africa Lead is focused on building the capacity of young Ghanaians as champions of change to lead and manage structures for agricultural transformation and food security.

The program delivers the Champions for Change leadership course for university students to strengthen their leadership and management skills to be able to influence the development path of agriculture and food security.

At one of such training sessions at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Africa Lead’s Victor Adom told 3news.com that the government’s flagship economic and agricultural policies, especially the Planting for Food and the One-District-One-Factory initiatives, offer opportunities of the youth to be profitably engaged.  

“We think that the youth of Ghana are ready for change,” he noted, observing that the youth are scattered in communities where food production and other agricultural activities are thriving.

“The government’s initiatives which are going to happen at the district and constituency level offer an opportunity for the youth to be engaged and if we can motivate them and challenge them to open their eyes to see that the opportunities are there in the communities, they will rise up to it,” he stated.

The Africa Lead program works to help realize the US government’s Feed the Future initiative as well as the African Union’s Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) goals of reduced hunger and poverty.

In Ghana, Africa Lead works with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and other non-state actors to build leadership capacities to influence change for poverty eradication and food security.

“We believe that if we all pull resources together, we will be able to make it,” said Mr. Adom.

The champions of change leadership training has the objective to inspire, energize and mobilize innovative leaders, champions and thinkers in African countries, who are committed to creative new approaches to achieving food security.

Trainees are challenged to appreciate their roles in food security initiatives, including active roles in CAADP and country investment.

They also explore and analyze major opportunities in implementing major agricultural initiatives and identify innovative actions that they can take to help overcome these opportunities.

Manuela Tobil, a beneficiary of the Champions of Change leadership short course at the KNUST, feels empowered to be a change agent.

“As a leader you have to be the embodiment of the change you want to see in your community and many people have attempted to solve the issue of food security but have failed as result of leadership capacity,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of ideas from the training and I hope to implement them”.

Provost of the College of Science, KNUST, Prof. Ibok Oduro, says developing critical thinking, collaboration and teamwork will help build a crop of leaders for change.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh

Convention to tackle global mercury menace comes into force

The Minamata Convention on Mercury, which aims to protect human health and the environment from exposure to mercury, has entered into force from today, August 16, 2017, to become legally binding.

Ghana’s environmental group, Abibiman Foundation, has welcomed this first new multilateral environmental agreement in over a decade as a turning point for the plant and human health.

“From today, we have the opportunity to chart a new course; a course that is expected to control the anthropogenic releases of mercury throughout its lifecycle in order to protect people and the environment from the harmful effects of mercury and its related compounds,” said Kenneth Nana Amoateng, Executive Director of the Foundation. 

The Minamata Convention was adopted in October 2013 but in accordance with Article 31, enters into force, ninety days after the date of deposit of the fiftieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, which happened on May 18, 2017.

According to the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), exposure to mercury has debilitating effects on the brain and nervous system, digestive system and the kidney, among others. Memory loss and language impairment as well as harmful effects on unborn children and infants are also known to be products of exposure to mercury and environmental damage estimated at $22 billion.

From 2020, the Convention will ban the production, import and export of products that contain mercury, including blood pressure monitors, clinical thermometers, high-pressure mercury lamps, and topical antiseptic agents.

Until then, the Convention will encourage signatory countries to gradually reduce their use of mercury. In the case of small-scale gold mining, for which mercury is being used indiscriminately, the Convention has stipulated reduction in usage of mercury.

The treaty also states that for constructing coal-powered thermal power plants, the countries which are signatories will be required to include equipment to help minimize mercury emissions.

So far, there are 128 Signatories and 74 Parties to the Convention.

The Government of the Republic of Ghana signed the Convention on September 24, 2014 and ratified it on March 23, 2017.

Ghana’s main regulatory body, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has put together a national planning committee for ensuring the enforcement of the provisions of the Convention.

The Abibiman Foundation has called on the EPA to adopt a ‘bottom-up’ rather than a ‘top-down’ approach to ensure all relevant stakeholders are actively involved in the process.

The Foundation also demands among others, research into sources of illegal mercury imports, including the existing or likely mercury entry points into Ghana, and the distribution networks within the country; and transparency in the implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

The Government of Ghana has also been asked to make available resource allocation for the National Action Plan to address challenges relating to the reduction and elimination of Mercury.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh

Persons with disabilities need assistive devices for social inclusion

Participants at a major conference on disability have argued strongly for persons with disabilities in Ghana to access assistive devices and technologies for their societal inclusion.
 

The use of such technologies helps improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities (PWDs) by increasing access to schools, employment, community activities and other services.

Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba, acknowledged the slow progress on the inclusion of persons with disability.

She however says the government remains committed to ensuring the full economic and social inclusion of PWDs to become persons overcoming disabilities.  

“Assistive technology though quite common in the Western world is quite inaccessible in Ghana and it’s very expensive for average people to have it… so I will urge the College of Health Sciences and the Engineering Department [KNUST] to link up with the Ministry of Trade in partnership with the One-District-One-Factory for we ourselves to begin to create and develop assistive devices in Ghana and Africa as a whole,” she said.

The Minister was addressing the 5^th AfriNEAD and 7^th College of Health Sciences Scientific Conference in Kumasi on the theme: “Disability and Inclusion in Africa: The Role of Assistive technology”.

The African Network for Evidence-to-Action in Disability (AfriNEAD) advocates for the translation of disability research evidence into action that will assist in the upliftment of the lives of PWDs in Africa.

Chairperson of the Network, Prof. Gubela Mji, says there is need for clarity among African governments to include articles under the UN Convention for Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) into policies and practice.

The disabled around the world frequently encounter widespread barriers or lack accessibility in buildings, discrimination in employment, transport and information Communication Technologies.

These barriers often go to deny them the opportunities that exist, leading to exclusion and marginalization.

Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, observed the impact and benefits of assistive technology, accessible information communication technologies have been positive on the wellbeing by improving inclusiveness and participation among persons with disabilities.

He noted new hopes are emerging for persons with disabilities with the advent of ICT. 

“In spite of the huge challenges disabled persons face, Assistive Technology and ICT are offering new opportunities for everyone but they are becoming more significant to persons with disabilities,” he said.

He said the government is committed to helping to create an equitable and fair society for all citizens to share in the country’s wealth and prosperity.

By Kofi Adu Domfeh