Residents of Akwaduro, a predominantly farming community in the Asunafo North Municipal Assembly of the Ahafo Region have been supported with a Junior High school, JHS through a climate impact agroforestry initiative championed by the UNDP.
Students in the community used to travel three kilometers to attend JHS in neighboring towns. The situation residents bemoaned has impacted negatively on the academic performance of students in the locality.
The construction of the school they indicated will provoke effective teaching and learning as students will no longer face the dangers of walking long distances to access education.
Chairman of the Parent Teacher Association PTA at Akwaduro, Osei Poku said the provision of the school through a self-help initiative by community members has come as a big relief considering the inconveniences students have to endure in their quest to access quality education.
According to him, the income levels of community members through the agroforestry project, has improved over time. This, he added, made it possible for beneficiaries to invest in putting up the school through a Village Saving & Loans Scheme.
Mr. Poku said aside education, the community has benefitted
from climate mitigation actions where degraded forest zones are been restored as
part of efforts to avert the looming climate crisis. There is therefore the
need to engage communities as key agents in addressing climate change to
leverage indigenous knowledge for climate solutions.
This is because implementing climate actions with equity does not only increase community resilience but also enables communities to derive extra social benefits.
The Akwaduro is one of the communities involved in a local climate initiative being
implemented by the UNDP, in partnership with the Ghana Cocoa Board and Mondelez
International. The project supports the communities to intercrop economic trees
with food and cash crops on and off forest reserves.
GBCs Isaac Asare
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