Ghana Stakeholder Workshop and Public Launch
Following the selection of six Phase I priority countries, the Alliance held its first in-country stakeholder meeting in Ghana last week focused on establishing procedures for the implementation of a Country Action Plan. Eighty percent of the population of Ghana cooks over traditional cookstoves or open fires, which contributes to significant deforestation and causes the deaths of more than 6,500 people every year. The Alliance is pleased to start its work on the ground in a country with a great need as well as a great desire for change.
Stakeholders at the meeting included cookstove producers, non-governmental organizations, environmental and women’s groups, religious network representatives, government officials from several different ministries, as well as members of the Global LPG Partnership and the Ghana Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.
As part of the full-day meeting, stakeholders participated in discussions about the draft Ghana Country Action Plan and were tasked with identifying specific key actions and next steps in order to develop an implementation plan for the sector. The plans focused on five areas of engagement in Ghana, including:
- Increasing government advocacy to ensure that clean cookstoves and fuels are included in national policies and that the enabling regulatory environment is strengthened;
- Assisting Ghana’s entrepreneurs with access to financing so that they can increase production and reach more consumers who need improved cookstoves;
- Improving the quality and performance of locally produced cookstoves to ensure that Ghanaian consumers have the best quality products available to them;
- Ensuring that consumer needs are met in terms of culturally appropriate technologies, including increasing consumer choice and addressing end-user financing; and
- Addressing challenges with fuel production and supply.
After the stakeholder meeting, in a display of the Ghanaian government’s commitment to tackling this important issue, the Alliance participated in a public launch of the Ghana Country Action Plan for Clean Cooking, along with Dr. Mustapha Ahmed, Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, and Rocky Dawuni, Ghanaian musician and the newest Alliance Ambassador.
The launch was part of a broader Ghanaian commitment to the Sustainable Energy for All initiative.