Are local development plans mainstreaming climate-smart agriculture? A mixed-content analysis of medium-term development plans in semi-arid Ghana.

In Africa, climate change impacts including, but not limited to, erratic rainfall and prolonged droughts are already affecting farmers' productivity and disrupting households' livelihoods. Following this realization are recommendations for implementing climate-smart agriculture (CSA) as adaptation and resilience pathways to address the negative ramifications of climate change impacts. While CSA mainstreaming is strong at the global and national levels, it remains a challenge at the local level. To understand CSA mainstreaming at the local level, this paper utilizes mixed-content analysis to deconstruct eleven local development plans for the 2018-2021 plan period for the Upper West Region, a semi-arid region of Ghana. Results show that CSA mainstreaming is a challenge, despite a general awareness of climate change impacts on agriculture. The plans lacked adequate data on local climate change trends and impacts leading to discrepancies among CSA problematization, development goals, objectives, and strategies-raising serious concerns about ownership and localization of CSA in semi-arid Ghana. Also, awareness of climate finance opportunities to support CSA interventions was absent in the plans. This paper suggests a review of the national guidelines for preparing local development plans by integrating resources for CSA, climate assessment and information systems, and climate finance opportunities. This should be complemented by building institutional capacity and partnerships with nongovernmental organizations as well as other development partners working on CSA at the local level

Actor‐Network Analysis of Community‐Based Organisations in Health Pandemics: Evidence from Covid‐19 Response in Freetown, Sierra Leone

Freetown is confronted with health-related risks that are compounded by rapid unplanned urbanisation and weak capacities of local government institutions. Addressing such community health risks implies a shared responsibility between government and non-state actors. In low-income communities, the role of Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) in combatting health disasters is well-recognized. Yet, empirical evidence about how CBOs have drawn on their networks and coordinated community-level strategies in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic is scant. Based on a qualitative study in two informal settlements in Freetown, this paper draws on actor-network theory to understand how CBOs problematize Covid-19 as a health risk, interact with other actors and the tensions that arise within these actor networks. The study findings show that community vulnerabilities and past experiences with health disasters such as Ebola informed CBOs' perception of Covid-19 as communal emergency. In response, CBOs coordinated sensitization and mobilization programs by relying on a network of internal and external actors to support Covid-19 risk reduction strategies. Nonetheless, misunderstandings among actors caused tensions in the actor- network. The study suggests that creating new channels for knowledge exchange and building on CBO capacity can help strengthen actor networks in communities and combat current and future health disasters

Toward Citizen-Led Planning for Climate Change Adaptation in Urban Ghana: Hints from Japanese ‘Machizukuri’ Activities

This chapter draws lessons from Japanese machizukuri activities, which represent one of the most dynamic opportunities for participatory climate change adaptation in Africa. This chapter adopts a literature-based exploratory and dialectical approach to examine community’s role in climate change adaptation. It highlights the challenges and recent consensus on citizens’ role in climate change adaptation. Within this context, the chapter discusses Japanese machizukuri activities as providing ‘the how’ of promoting and strengthening community participation in climate change adaptation in urban Ghana. Findings indicate an existing potential for participatory planning in climate change adaptation in urban Ghana. However, to confront climate change impacts, there is the need for greater collaborative planning through networking, exploiting social capital, and integrating intangible sociocultural factors into urban climate adaptation planning

Missed Opportunities? Financing Climate Action in Urban Ghana and Uganda

In Africa, climate change integration in urban planning is often minimal and has consequences for urban climate finance. This chapter examines the 2014-2017 medium-term development plan (MTDP) of the Kumasi Metropolis and the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) strategic plan to understand these consequences. Findings show a stronger climate change framing in the KCCA strategic plan than the KMA’s MTDP. However, climate finance arrangements were absent in both plans with no targeted climate finance sources for proposed interventions. There was also evidence of path dependency as some projects to tackle climate change impacts were not unique from traditional planning initiatives. Thus, poor climate framing and the absence of targeted climate finance arrangements have the potential to deprive these urban authorities of additional and alternative funds for climate action