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Mr Louis Kuukpen, badist. UNDP Resident Representative in Ghana. On his right is Dr. George Ortsin, UNDP GEF National Program Coordinator.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grants Program, has provided approximately $ 200,000 in grants to five civil society organizations.
UNDP says grants will help civil society organizations implement various projects to eliminate mercury in gold mining and promote the sustainable exploitation of artisbad and small-scale mines in Ghana .
At the grant ceremony, UNDP Ghana's Deputy Resident Representative, Mr. Louis Kuukpen, highlighted the country office's commitment to help Ghana formalize the artisbad and small-scale mining sector through training, technology transfer and knowledge management. mercury-free in the artisbad and small-scale mining sector.
Mr. Kuukpen added that UNDP, through the Global Environment Facility's Small Grants Program, was experimenting with the Zero Mercury program to support the Government's new strategic framework for regulating and reforming mining activities in the region. the country.
"We congratulate the new recipients and are confident that they will work closely with the Interdepartmental Committee on Small-Scale Mining, the Minerals Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Assemblies of Mining." District competent to ensure synergies and linkages between national programs and our projects, noted Mr. Kuukpen.
He urged beneficiary civil society organizations to collaborate with government institutions to carry out their projects, for increased impact.
Grant recipients include Tuning Point of Advocacy, Moaduri Women's Development Projects, the Ghana Institute of Sustainable Development, the Zintang Association of Healers, and the Firm Health Ghana Foundation.
On behalf of the recipients, Turning Point of Advocacy's Executive Director, Dr. Naa Dedei Tagoe, thanked UNDP and GEF for this opportunity and promised to make the grants available to the company.
Dr. Tagoe said, "We will use resources wisely to improve the sector in which miners will work sustainably, and the government will not be forced to ban small-scale mines."
Image: Dr. Naa Dedei Tagoe, CEO of Turning Point of Advocacy (right)
The UNDP GEF Small Grants Program has provided financial support to local communities to invest in environmental management over the past four years.
To date, the grant program has helped 33 community organizations in coastal ecosystems and northern savannas with US $ 2.61 million.
It has also strengthened the capacity of more than 1,500 community members to integrate biodiversity conservation into natural resource management, which has had a positive impact on the conservation of environmental resources in the country.
Dr. George Ortsin, National Program Coordinator, said the competition was very lively this year as more than 65 nominations were received.
According to him, the selected projects were based on innovative ideas and technologies that would be introduced according to national priorities and geographical importance.
The next UNDP GEF Small Grants will be awarded in July this year to help more local governments invest in environmental management.
The intervention aims to help the country implement the Minamata Convention, ratified by Ghana on March 3, 2017, to protect human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury compounds. .
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