Backgrounder - Canada announces funding for projects in West Africa 

Canada has announced $83 million in development assistance funding for projects in West Africa. This funding is being distributed as follows.

Ghana

Improving Health Outcomes through Partnerships in Health Systems Innovations - $6.5 million - UNICEF Ghana/WHO

This project aims to facilitate health service improvements, health worker training and improved access to health services at the community, health facility, regional and national levels to slow, halt or reverse the decline of maternal, newborn and child health indicators in Ghana’s Ashanti region. The project will create an innovation hub, which will be embedded in the Ghana Health Service and spearheaded by an experienced and dynamic University of Manitoba team. This hub will provide technical support for project implementation, monitoring and continuous improvement, based on data collected throughout the project, including from community needs assessments. Such stakeholder-driven evaluation tools will allow communities to identify gaps in health service delivery and to collaborate with health professionals to seek and enact solutions to improve health care.

Ghana Circular Economy Centre of Excellence - $7.5 million - United Nations Industrial Development Organization

The aim of the centre is to assist Ghanaian organizations and early-stage entrepreneurs in developing and deploying innovative circular economy technology solutions in their businesses and social enterprises. Working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, the centre will be based in an established reputable university in Ghana. Recognizing Ghana’s ambition to become a regional leader in waste and pollution management, the project will strengthen competitiveness in West Africa with improved circularity of industrial processes, which will better position the country to access the opportunities afforded by the African Continental Free Trade Area.

Supporting the Green Economy of Ghana - $10 million - Ashesi University

This project contributes to strengthening Ghana’s ability to respond to the economic and social impacts of climate change by supporting small and medium-scale entrepreneurs to develop profitable and locally appropriate solutions to mitigate or adapt to climate change. It also increases public awareness of the green economy and helps to improve the policy environment to effectively contribute to Ghana’s transition to a safer, healthier, more equitable and more prosperous low-carbon, green economy.

Senegal

Providing Food and Nutritional Assistance in Senegal in Response to COVID-19 - $20 million - World Food Programme

This project aims to help vulnerable populations cope with the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated measures put in place to fight it. The project supports the Government of Senegal’s efforts to improve the food security, nutrition and resilience of households by providing food assistance, establishing school feeding programs, providing support for the prevention and management of malnutrition, and offering rural development activities with a focus on women working in the food and agricultural sectors. Together, these measures will help vulnerable households avoid negative coping strategies and move from crisis to resilience.

Multisectoral Support for Recovery after COVID-19 in Senegal - $19.9 million - UNICEF

This project aims to improve the well-being of the most vulnerable children, particularly young girls and adolescent girls, by supporting the relaunch and improving the quality of essential services in health, nutrition, education and child protection that were delayed or disrupted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project also aims to reduce gender inequalities and support the empowerment of women and girls to increase their resilience to crises and strengthen their role at the social, economic and community levels. Finally, the project improves the planning, management, coordination and collaborative response associated with the current crisis, while laying the groundwork for a more effective management of future crises.

Pan Africa

Mobilizing Media to Fight COVID-19 - $700,000 - Journalists for Human Rights

Journalists for Human Rights is working to combat misinformation and disinformation regarding COVID-19 vaccines and encourage vaccine uptake in 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East. The project supports local journalists to produce credible, locally appropriate media reports on COVID-19 vaccines, with a focus on women, girls and other vulnerable groups; facilitates collaboration between trained journalists and local organizations working on women’s rights, gender-based violence and health literacy to enable well-researched, accurate and locally appropriate media reports; and helps to inform government decision making on gender-sensitive health services and outcomes through locally focused media stories.

Life-saving Public Health and Vaccine Communications at scale in sub-Saharan Africa - $1.05 million - Farm Radio International

Farm Radio International (FRI) is implementing a COVID vaccine-related initiative, as part of their Scaling Her Voice on Air project, to provide timely, gender-responsive and interactive programming that dispels myths and misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. This initiative is striving to counter misinformation, increase vaccine confidence and foster demand (where vaccines are available). This initiative includes work to tackle obstacles specific to women (such as access to gender-responsive health information) and misinformation (such as the impact of vaccines on fertility). This project will be implemented in several sub-Saharan countries, including Ghana and Senegal.

Inclusive Service Delivery in Africa - $9.5 million - Transparency International

This project aims to highlight the impact of corruption on access to education and health care services in 5 African countries: Ghana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Rwanda and Zimbabwe, with a focus on groups at risk of discrimination, particularly women and girls. This project will support public institutions to be able to address gender-related corruption issues and corruption vulnerabilities in the health and education sectors. Through advocacy and legal advice centres, the project will support efforts to increase engagement, particularly by women, girls and marginalized groups, enabling them to advocate with duty bearers. This project will also encourage national and regional stakeholders to mainstream gender-informed, anti-corruption measures in the education and health care services sectors.

Her Time to Grow - $8 million - iDE Canada

This project will improve the lives of rural women working in the agricultural sector. It will support their economic empowerment, expand their market access and help them to be full participants in the economic life of their communities. To achieve these objectives, this project will work to reduce the gender-specific barriers that rural women face in trying to access markets and will strive to address issues that hinder their economic success. This project will provide tools and support to women to protect the health and sustainability of their land, including by supporting smallholder farmers to adopt locally appropriate and climate-smart agricultural practices, thereby contributing to improved resilience to the impacts of climate change. The project will operate in Ethiopia, Ghana and Zambia.