This project aims to improve rice production and productivity with an added value for farmers in the Central Region of Ghana. It is a USD 8million grant project from the Government of the Republic of Korea and will be implemented collaboratively with Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) from 2019-2023.
The Project’s operational scope will cover rice production and productivity enhancement with support for good seed varieties and production techniques; rice quality improvement with support for post-harvest management and processing technology; and improving farmers’ organization and marketing skills. These components of the Project will be implemented in collaboration with partners including Ghana Irrigating Development Authority (GIDA), Crop Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and beneficiary Municipal and District Assemblies in the Central Region.
Key outputs and Activities
Outputs
Activities
Improvement in rice Productivity
Provide high-yielding rice seeds developed in collaboration with relevant partners
Provide agricultural machinery and equipment
Conduct local and overseas training on rice cultivation
Conduct training on utilization of agricultural machinery and equipment and farm practices
Improvement in postharvest Management
Provide harvesting machinery and equipment for productivity
Establish and manage dry storage facility
Conduct local and overseas training on post-harvest management and on equipment quality control
Rice quality improvement
Dispatch experts for polishing facilities and to provide management and instructions of the facilities
Provide packaging training with polishing process
Conduct training on the processing of high-quality rice
Capacity development of
farmers' organization
Conduct trainings on rice marketing and capacity building for farmers’ organizations
Conduct trainings on bargaining empowerment for leaders of farmers
In October 2016, KOICA committed USD 9 million to support Ghana’s Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) system. CHPS is a national strategy to deliver essential community-based health services involving health planning and service delivery with the communities. Its primary focus is communities in deprived sub-districts and bringing health services close to the communities. KOICA in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service selected all the 13 districts of the Upper East Region to support them under this project which spans from 2016-2020.
With KOICA’s assistance, the CHPS+ Project is enhancing community engagement, improving the quality of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health service at health facilities, and strengthening health system environment. The project aims to improve the current service at the community level through capacity building of Community Health Officers/Community Health Nurses. Community Health Volunteers who serve as community health promotional agents are being enhanced through training, appropriate incentive and supervision to augment the health service delivery. A key component under the CHPS+ is the Sustainable Emergency Referral Care (SERC) which enables community members to transport urgent cases such as emergency delivery, from their communities to the next point of referral using emergency transport system such as modified tricycle ambulances.
In strengthening Ghana’s health sector, KOICA will equip 120 CHPS zones, 48 Health Centers and all District Hospitals in the 13 project districts with various medical equipment and train doctors and midwives to improve their respective capacity in delivering the required services for maternal and newborn care, including safe delivery and neonatal care capacity building and provision and training of mobile ultrasound scanning service. The overall supervision and governance in the health strengthening in the areas of leadership and management will also be boosted through capacity building of health personnel and key functionaries in the Sub-Districts, Districts and the Regional Health Management Team. The capacity for health information reporting and management from the level of CHPS zones are being supported as well.
KOICA implements the CHPS+ project in partnership with Ghana Health Service, Navrongo Health Research Center, University of Ghana and United Nations Office of Project Services (UNOPS).
KOICA in collaboration with Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) supports the capacity development of Farmer Based Cooperatives (FBCs) and Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs) in Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions from 2016 to 2019. The Project seeks to strengthen the organization of FBCs/FBOs, help develop sustainable training programs geared towards enhancing entrepreneurship, processing and marketing skills for increased incomes and improve livelihoods of beneficiaries.
The project will therefore strengthen FBC/FBO capacity by providing training, consulting, networking opportunities and financial support. A total of 210 FBCs and FBOs would receive support through various components of the project, such training of farmer-leaders (ToL), action plan support where 105 FBCs/ FBOs would receive financial assistance up to USD 2,000.00 each, a pilot project that will support 30 FBCs with a grant of up to USD 10,000.00 each. The project will also contribute to building a sustainable cooperative platform which unites FBCs and service providers and runs on a financially viable scheme.
Partner GoG institutions, particularly Department of Cooperatives (DoC) as well as selected Business Advisory Centers (BACs) of NBSSI and Regional Departments of Agriculture will have the benefit of upgraded capacity through training (ToT) and action plan support.
Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the United States of America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have teamed up to support the Government of Ghana towards the achievement of the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005 through the implementation of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). The Government of the Republic of Korea through KOICA will contribute USD 7.5 million from 2018 to 2021 to the CDC to design, implement and monitor this partnership as part of the CDC’s existing collaboration in Ghana.
The Government of Ghana (GoG) with support from international partners has made significant investments and progress in areas of vaccine preventable diseases, HIV, malaria and influenza control. However, the recent Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa exposed the high vulnerability of countries in the region with limited or poor public health infrastructure. As a result of the EVD outbreak, the GoG developed a comprehensive National Preparedness and Response Plan for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), established a multi-sectoral Inter-Ministerial committee and put in place a National Technical Coordination Committee (NTCC) to combat emerging threats. In addition to EVD threat, Ghana continues to fight hemorrhagic fevers such as Yellow Fever and Lassa fever among other highly pathogenic infectious disease threats.
In 2015, Ghana was identified as a GHSA Phase II country. Having recently developed its GHSA 5-Year Roadmap, Ghana has identified a number of milestones and activities that are congruent with moving the country towards meeting its commitment to the International Health Regulations (IHR). Based on this roadmap, this project will focus on three action packages:
KOICA and USA CDC will work with the Ghana Health Service, National Public Health Reference, University of Ghana School of Public Health and World Health Organization in the implementation of GHSA in Ghana.
Korea’s new road to sustainable development is 'Better Life for Girls" and this new journey is amply demonstrated in the “Better Life for Girls” project in Ghana. Better Life for Girls aims to promote the adolescent girl’s [between ages 10-19] right to education, health and profession with the support from family, school and community. With the right support, education and resources, girls will have access to knowledge skills and enabling environment to realize their full potentials. Hence, the derivation of the overarching goal of the project; that, adolescent girls in Ghana have knowledge, skills and enabling environment to make informed decisions and achieve their full potential.
Ghana Better Life for Girls Project however is a $ 5.5 million investment in Ghana by the government of the Republic of Korea for a period of 3 years through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). It is one of the inter-sectoral social intervention programs funded by KOICA and cuts across both the health and educational sectors of Ghana. The project has commenced in earnest since May 2017 and expected to be completed by June 2020.
The Northern Region and Volta Region are the focus regions of the project with several interventions implemented at the national level.
Specifically, this project seeks to address issues of gender stereotypes and social norms, generate research and data on adolescent girls aged 10-19, address issues of child marriage, reduce gender violence among young people as well as promote adolescent girls development and participation in the national and economic development of Ghana.
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