On 19th and 20th of May 2017, the West African Climate Service Centre on Adapted Land Management (WASCAL) hosted a workshop on the Long-Term Sustainability of the organisation at the centre’s headquarters in Accra, Ghana.
Participants of WASCAL Workshop
WASCAL is a partnership of 10 ECOWAS countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo) with Germany to address the effects of climate change. Like SASSCAL, this is done through the provision of climate services, climate research and capacity development.
The purpose of the workshop was to allow WASCAL management, research group leaders from its Competence Centre in Ouagadougou, Ivory Coast, and the Directors of the Graduate Schools in the ten member countries an open platform to discuss with stakeholders from various sectors, strategies, options and action plans for the future sustainability of WASCAL.
Participants at the workshop included Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Hon. Patricia Appiagyei, the German Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Christoph Retzlaff, BMBF representative Mr. Gregor Laumann and Prof Jimmy Adegoke, WASCAL Executive Director.
Dr Jane Olwoch, the Executive Director of SASSCAL, was invited to provide perspectives from southern Africa. It is envisaged that both organisations identify common goals and work together for the sustainability of the respective organisations.
The fundraising target of WASCAL is set at € 500 million in investments from national budgets of the WASCAL member countries, the global donor community, traditional and non-traditional development partners, the private sector and concerned citizens through a three-year global mobilisation effort that will be supported by its current donor (BMBF, Germany) the national governments, ECOWAS and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
