By Joyce Gyekye
A six member ECOWAS team from Nigeria has paid a working visit to Ghana to monitor and evaluate the $315,000 relief support it provided for some of the 2022 flood victims in Nsawam Adoagyir, Ga West, Ga South and Weija Gbawe.
The delegation led by Director, Humanitarian and Social Affairs of the Commission, Dr. Sintiki Tarfa-Ugbe upon arrival met with partners who coordinated the relief program including the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), ABANTU for Development, a gender biased CSO and some of the disaster victims who benefited from the relief package in Accra.
The amount from ECOWAS was presented in March last year.
Welcoming the delegation, the Director General of NADMO, Major Dr Joseph Kuyon (Rtd), acknowledged the support of ECOWAS and other donors to the over five thousand victims of the floods and Weija Dam spill that year.
He said some of the amount went into training some affected victims on economic livelihoods.
Dr Kuyon said, “Beyond relief, the ECOWAS Flood Relief Assistance Program focused on restoring livelihoods, by providing 90 farmers with trained techniques including climate smart agricultural inputs and greenhouse seedlings.”
He noted that vulnerable groups such as women headed households, the elderly and persons with disability, PWD were prioritised with the support.
ABANTU for Development, a partner in the program, placed inclusivity and empowerment at the center of the project to make sure the recovery of victims go beyond rebuilding of infrastructure to rebuild lives, hence its involvement in the gender disaggregation of the victims.
The Executive Director of the organisation, Dr. Rose Mensah Kutin, said women were equipped with entrepreneurial and financial literacy skills as well as providing them with training in income generating activities.
She commended the ECOWAS Flood Relief Assistance program as being more than “A humanitarian response but a pathway to empowerment for demonstrating that recovery is not only possible but sustainable when communities are included and women are empowered”.
Dr. Sinkiti Tarfa-Ugbe said the sub-regional group is moving from being ECOWAS of state to ECOWAS of people. The only way this can be demonstrated is “When you work with the member states to have people centered responses. So, our intervention in Ghana is to demonstrate that we are ready to complement the effort of the government. This is to make sure Ghanaians feel the impact of ECOWAS,” she added.
Madam Tarfa-Ugbe stated that the association ensures that when it gives out funds, 85 percent goes to direct impact, like livelihoods support, food and non-food assistance since the ramifications of a disaster extends beyond the initial incident.
There were testimonies from beneficiaries of the fund and how it has transformed their lives and that of their families.
A seventy-five-year-old woman, Auntie Afia or Auntie Ceci whose household items and business were destroyed by the spillage of the Weija dam now is into making cleaning supplies like bleaching products. She has relocated from Weija to Haatso with her grandchild and is now living a decent life. She expressed excitement for benefiting from the program and commended ECOWAS for the support.
To promote hygiene in some selected schools, including Medie Presby Junior High School in Ga West District, the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene WASH project, as part of the project, provided the school with a borehole water.
This has saved parents the extra money they spend on sachet water for the children, since the water is wholesome for drinking and it also addresses the hygiene needs of the students, especially among the girls.
