The Duayaw Nkwanta Traditional Council has expressed immense gratitude to the Government of President Akufo-Addo, for making its dream of having a Fire Service Academy and Training School in the area possible.

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, on Tuesday March 26, 2024, commissioned a new Fire Service Training School in Duayaw Nkwanta, the second Fire training school built by the Akufo-Addo Government, to take the national tally of fire academy and training school in Ghana to three.

Speaking at the commissioning, Acting President of Duayaw Nkwanta Traditional Council, Nana Boakye Bonsu, expressed the joy and gratitude of his people to President Nana Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia.

“Indeed, today is a great day for our Municipality and the Traditional Area. The reason is that the dream and concept of this wonderful project that we are witnessing today, was initiated and conceived by wonderful persons like tje late Nana Boakye Tromo III, Omanhene and Presidemt of the Duayaw Kwanta Traditional Council,” he said.

“The entire Traditional Council wants to take this opportunity to express our profound gratitude to the government.”

“Duayaw Nkwanta will always remember the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Vice President Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and the NPP Government.”

Facilities at the training school include dormitory blocks for men and women, classroom blocks, administration blocks, as well as modern training equipment such as hydraulic platforms to reach the 16th floor, to fight fires and effect rescue operations.

The Vice President announced that a third Fire Service Training School built by the government in the Eastern Region, will soon be commissioned.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.

The ECOWAS Regional Consultation Workshop, aimed at addressing humanitarian challenges faced by vulnerable populations across Member States, commenced in Abuja, Nigeria. The workshop, scheduled from March 26th to 28th, 2024, brings together key stakeholders to validate baseline data on the humanitarian needs assessment of Persons of Concern (PoCs), including IDPs, Refugees, Returnees, Stateless People, Asylum Seekers, and their Host Communities.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Sintiki T. Ugbe, Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs at the ECOWAS Commission, highlighted the importance of collective action in addressing humanitarian crises in the region. He emphasized the workshop’s objective to analyze priorities, challenges, and opportunities based on data collated from the region, including the significant displacement caused by conflicts and climate change-related concerns. Dr. Ugbe stressed the need for coordinated efforts to address the increasing humanitarian events and reaffirmed ECOWAS’ commitment to assisting Member States in reducing the suffering of affected populations.

Additionally, the Director Humanitarian Affairs of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mr Ezulu Valentine, representing the Government of Nigeria, emphasized the urgency of validating baseline data on humanitarian needs. He underscored Nigeria’s commitment to addressing internal displacement and offering international protection to those in need. The Permanent Secretary urged collective action in delivering effective humanitarian assistance to the region’s most vulnerable populations, ensuring that no one is left behind.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the food insecurity situation is further deteriorating due to a wide range of factors, including conflict, terrorism, political instability, natural disasters, extreme weather, infectious diseases and inflation caused by the conflict in Ukraine. The most vulnerable populations including refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), women and children are the most affected.  

This contribution will enable WFP to distribute food assistance such as cereals, pulses, vegetable oil and food vouchers to vulnerable people suffering from severe hunger, food shortage and malnutrition. The project aims to contribute to overall food security by improving food shortage and stabilising food supplies.   

From the contribution, JPY 1.4 billion (about US$9.7 million) will be used to assist the most desperate people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through emergency food distribution, nutrition assistance and the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) operation which enables uninterrupted delivery. In the DRC, more than 23 million, or 20 percent of the population, are facing crisis or emergency levels of hunger, triggered by intensifying conflict, disease, displacement, and poor infrastructure. The number of displaced families in eastern DRC makes up the largest in the world. 

More than JPY 1.1 billion (about US$7.6 million) will be allocated to provide life-saving food and nutrition assistance as well as school meals to crisis-affected beneficiaries in Chad. The country was already experiencing severe food insecurity and malnutrition due to the climate crisis, global economic headwinds and declining agricultural production, but the outbreak of the Sudan crisis last year has further pressured food-insecure communities with a massive inflow of refugees. 

A further grant of JPY 451 million (about US$3 million) will go to emergency food and nutrition assistance programmes for people in need, including IDPs and host communities in Mali. IDPs are placing a heavy burden on host communities who are already struggling to meet their basic needs. Over half of the IDPs rely entirely on humanitarian assistance to survive. WFP’s assistance is a lifeline to many.

“We appreciate this timely and generous contribution from the Government of Japan targeting as many as 15 ‘hotspot’ countries in Sub-Saharan Africa hit by “3 Cs”: conflicts, climate shocks and soaring costs of food and basic items, to meet the immediate humanitarian needs, strengthen resilience against future shocks and thus address the nexus and the human security in those fragile countries,” said Mr Yasuhiro Tsumura, Director, WFP Japan Relations Office. “This assistance package reflects Japanese constant commitments to Africa renewed in a number of the past Tokyo International Conferences for African Development (TICAD). We look forward to working with Japan and the recipient governments to optimize the impacts of this assistance. With TICAD9 scheduled for 2025, we look forward to Japan taking the lead in improving the food insecurity in Africa.” 

This project is a testimony to the commitment of the Government of Japan to “support the strengthening food security and sustainable agriculture” announced in TICAD8 in August 2022 and further restated in G7 Hiroshima in May 2023.  

Japan has consistently been one of WFP’s top donors. The countries benefitting from this year’s US$34million / JPY 5 billion funding are: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).

The Climate Change Crisis is a Child Rights Crisis. Climate change is impacting the lives of children worldwide, as well as Zimbabwe. It creates scarcity in access to safe water and food, has implications on the health of children, increases children’s vulnerability to exploitation and abuse, and jeopardises their well-being, even threatening their survival.

Children are increasingly exposed to climate or environmental hazards like flooding, drought, heat waves, cyclones, and air pollution. As these extreme weather events increase in frequency and ferocity, they threaten children’s lives, jeopardise their access to healthy food for their development, and destroy infrastructure critical to their well-being, such as schools, health care facilities, and children’s playgrounds. For the most vulnerable children, climate impacts worsen their situation, placing additional risk to their rights and further reducing their access to basic services. 

Zimbabwe too is impacted. Climate change is causing frequent occurrences and increasing severity of floods, tropical cyclones, droughts, and heatwaves. The Country is ranked high in the 2021 UNICEF Children’s Climate Risk Index.

While children are the least responsible for climate change, they suffer the biggest brunt of it. Still, children are largely missing from the climate dialogue.

UNICEF today launched a communication campaign to raise awareness on the impact of climate change on children, put children at the centre of the climate change debate, and make the climate budget child-focused. Today, only 2.4 % of Multilateral Climate Funds globally are set aside for children and young people. More funds need to be allocated directly to interventions that benefit children.

UNICEF’s website, www.unicef.org/zimbabwe, will be dedicated to the climate campaign, with studies, research, and stories. The campaign will centre around children by providing them with a platform to share their views and make calls for more child-centered climate funding. It will also run a petition campaign for everyone to join.

To deal with the challenges of climate change, energy and environment UNICEF calls for urgent action on four fronts:

Put children at the centre of climate change policies, strategies, plans and budgets and make them child sensitive.
Empower children and young people to be environmental stewards and climate change agents, allowing them to realise their potential with full participation.
Enable children’s participation in the climate agenda, critical to ensure the future is fit for today’s children and today’s children are fit for the future.
Provide climate resilience services in health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, education and protection, so children can survive, develop and thrive.

In Zimbabwe, UNICEF works with Government and partners to ensure children are an essential part of climate change strategies and disaster response plans.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UNICEF Zimbabwe.