GIZ Ends 3-Year Pandemic Mgt Project

Cross section of stakeholders and partners at the close-out ceremony

 

Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), in partnership with various industries, yesterday ended its three-year pandemic management projects at a close-out ceremony in Accra.

The two pandemic projects, which started in September 2021 in seven regions at the height of COVID-19 outbreak and ended in August 2024 are ‘COVID-19 Comprehensive Pandemic Management for Employees, Families and Communities’ and ‘COVID-19 Pandemic Management in times of COVID-19 and beyond’.

The close-out ceremony also brought together partners, stakeholders and beneficiaries to reflect on the successes, and share testimonies on the impacts of the projects with the stakeholders.

The two projects were funded through the develoPPP programme on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in collaboration with nine private partners.

The nine private partners, which include four partners from the extractive industries and five firms from the non-extractive industries are Golden Star Resources, Asanko Gold, Anglogold Ashanti-Obuasi Mine, and Iduapriem Mine, while the non-extractive industries are Blue Skies, Appointed Time Printing, Kasapreko, Coca Cola and Golden Exotics.

Speaking at the close-out ceremony, Team Lead, develoPPP Ghana, GIZ, Dr. Holger Till, who lauded the efforts of all partners, said the projects, which reached out to several people in some mining communities, were successful due to the collaboration between private, public,  civil society and development partners.

He said even though there are various pandemic  plans rolled out by various state institutions as well as companies after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is still important that these institutions continue to implement comprehensive strategies that would support people in the event of  an outbreak of  a disease.

According to him, the projects, among other interventions which recorded remarkable health outcomes, were some of the projects that would help support communities.

According to the Technical Advisor to the develoPPP Ghana, GIZ, Yaya Soure, among some of the successes chalked within the three years period are strengthening health systems, building the capacities of health professionals, and improving productivity of health workers.

He said they also reached out to about 857,336 people at the end of the projects, recorded about 92% improvement in health and safety at the workplace, recorded 81% in social protection, and 68.7% improvement in access to companies’ employee welfare programmes.

Director of West Africa Centre for Global Environmental and Occupational Health, Prof. Julius Fobil, said through the project, they have been able to build trust, mobilise people and provided them with skills in addition to providing opportunity to identify key symptoms of health threats.

The environmental health expert said communities were given training on pandemic preparedness and infection control, while assuring Ghanaians of continuous engagement with the various communities and stakeholders even though the three years period has elapsed.

By Ebenezer K. Amponsah

 

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