A six-day training programme on the Essentials of Environmental and Social Risk Management has ended in Accra with a call on participants to mainstream or prioritise issues of environmental management in executing development projects. The programme christened 'Essentials of Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) is in collaboration with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and the Regional Transport Research and Education Centre of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), funded by the World Bank Group. The fourth session of the programme trained 35 participants from the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, local government and public service in Ghana, after countries like Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Uganda participated in previous courses. The aim of the programme is to train participants to manage ESRM associated with projects being implemented on the continent for sustainable development. Ms Nneka Okereke, Senior Social Development S pecialist, World Bank Office in Accra, said GIMPA and KNUST had a credible pedigree in educational excellence. She was optimistic that the comprehensive training would build the capacities and competencies of participants for the broader good of development outcomes in World Bank-funded projects and other development partners. That, she stressed, would help the World Bank finance development projects that mainstream environmental and social risk management practices. Currently, she said the World Bank required the establishment and usage of environmental and social frameworks for development projects before funding them. 'As time goes on and as competencies are built and system strengthened in line with International best practices, then incredentally the government system can be used to implement those operations to reduce time that projects take. 'It will also deepen the understanding of the use and sustainability of environmental and social aspects of development projects,' she said. She expressed sa tisfaction about the level of participants' commitment to the programme, culminating in their excellent case study presentations on environmental and social risk management and field experiences. 'The interest is there; they grasped the practicality of what we really envisage for them, and we are very confident that the participants would make a positive impact in their various fields of disciplines in addressing environmental issues,' she said. Mr Paul Rex Danquah, Senior Consultant, GIMPA Training and Consulting, said the participants were taken through 10 modules, including stakeholder mapping, sustainable procurement, conflict management, grievance redress, environmental impact assessment, social inclusion, and gender. He said it was the expectation of the World Bank to equip the participants with the knowledge to incorporate the modules in their planning and designing of social and environmental programmes for better outcomes. He advised the participants to put into practice the knowledge they had ac quired to enhance quality outcomes in project management in Ghana and beyond the African continent. Professor Helen Essandoh, Director, Regional Transport Research and Education Centre, KNUST, said the course was launched in November 2022, to increase the capacity of environmental experts to manage development projects. She advised the participants to form a network and share ideas on best practices for enhancing environmental and social risk management activities. Mr Usama Iddrisu Samu, a participant working as Chief Development Planning Officer, Sunyani Municipal Assembly, said the programme had equipped him to conduct effective evaluations of proposals for consultants to undertake social safeguards. Madam Gloria Akoto Bamfo, Principal Statistician, Ghana Statistical Service, said the knowledge she acquired would help her to include social safeguards in implementing the World Bank programme dubbed 'Harmonisation and Improving Statistics in West Africa.' Source: Ghana News Agency
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