2.1 Green, equitable and resilient development

This chapter presents the results of the outcome analysis and an assessment of cross‑cutting issues of the UNDP country programme in Ghana. The main factors that have influenced UNDP’s performance and contribution to results are also described in this chapter. The assessment was based on an analysis of the correlation between the results of the projects, their contribution to the expected outputs under each outcome and, consequently, to the overall objectives of the programme.

Outcome 1. Environmental governance at national and local levels is effective, efficient and coherent.

Outcome 2. Urban and rural communities have access to affordable services, knowledge and tools to increase their resilience.

Corresponding outputs:

OUTPUT 1.1. Evidence‑based and gender‑responsive climate action scaled up across sectors with increased funding at both national and local levels. OUTPUT 1.2. National institutions enabled to implement coherent policy and regulatory frameworks for conservation, sustainable use, access to and benefit sharing of environmental resources in line with international conventions.

OUTPUT 1.3. Measures in place and implemented across sectors to improve policy coherence and a sustainable, equitable and gender‑sensitive business environment. OUTPUT 1.4. Technical and operational capacities of the Government enhanced to develop inclusive value chains in extractives, especially for neglected minerals. OUTPUT 2.1. Communities enabled to adopt systems for integrating climate change and environmental considerations into management of natural resources (e.g. forest and water) and livelihood activities.

OUTPUT 2.2. Key state and non‑state actors (private sector, academia and civil society organizations [CSOs]) have improved capacities to form innovative and effective partnerships on climate action and environmental management.

The priority area of “green, equitable and resilient development” broke down into two inter‑related outcomes and six corresponding outputs as included in the above table. In order to move forward on the multifaceted issues related to environment and resilience, UNDP planned to work at two levels: strengthening public institutional capacities to reduce environmental degradation and implement climate action; and facilitating access to information, knowledge and tools to promote green jobs, citizen participation in environmental conservation and community resilience.

At upstream level, UNDP prioritized support to enable the Government to develop appropriate policies, compliance mechanisms and institutional capacity to deliver on the various international agreements and protocols on environment and green growth. In this regard, UNDP work focused on supporting the Government in the review processes related to the NDCs, including analysis of key sectoral contribution to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and exploring various financing mechanisms to implement the country’s climate commitments. UNDP also worked on strengthening the institutional capacity to implement other key international agreements such as the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances, the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol and the Minamata Convention.

At downstream level, UNDP aimed to directly address the environmental issues faced by the communities and the threats posed by climate change to their livelihoods. In this regard, UNDP worked with local and municipal authorities in several rural and urban communities on climate sensitive adaptation and mitigation measures in areas such as sustainable cocoa farming, shea landscape management, community forest management, waste management and recycling and direct measures for reduction in emissions at household level. Most of this work focused on vulnerable communities in the Northern and Upper west Region, which is the poorest in the country, besides other vulnerable regions.

In 2020, with the COVID‑19 pandemic, UNDP has made efforts to combine meeting international environmental obligations with COVID‑19 response through its work in healthcare waste management. Moreover, recognizing the need to strengthen the resilience of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for green and inclusive recovery, UNDP has undertaken a number of interventions to support, in particular, youth and women‑led enterprises including leveraging the opportunities brought about by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.

Outcome 1 on environmental governance is comprised of 24 projects of varying sizes, focusing on themes such as NDC support, institutional strengthening, Hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) phase‑out, Minamata Convention Initial Assessment and implementation in the health sector, etc. Total expenditure for this outcome over the evaluation period was around $6 million, funded by UNDP core resources, vertical funds (Montreal Protocol, GEF, and Green Climate Fund [GCF]), bilateral donors and multilateral funds (including Germany and Multi‑partner Trust Fund) and others.

Outcome 2 includes 17 projects of varying sizes for a global envelope of more than $10 million of expenditure mobilized mainly through vertical funds (the largest amount came from the Adaptation Fund – more than 6 million USD, and GEF), the private sector (Mondelez – more than $1.5 million), bilateral donors (Denmark, Germany, Italy, etc.), UNDP core resources and other sources. These projects touched on different areas including resilience to climate change, renewable energy, environmentally sustainable practices in cocoa production, and waste recovery, etc.