The National Centre for Coordination of Early Warning and Response Mechanism (NCCRM) is coordinating strategies to enhance human security for Ghana and West Africa.
The Early Warning Framework and Response System is to brief stakeholders on the initial findings of the Desk Report on Ghana’s Human Security Risks and Resilience and; to solicit for inputs from stakeholders to validate the report and findings.
The update assessment, will identify factors that continue to challenge the social and institutional resilience in Ghana, for an informed decision-making and policy direction.
This was made known by the Director, National Centre for Coordination of Early Warning and Response Mechanism (NCCRM), Colonel William Ohemeng at a workshop on Country Resilience and Human Security Assessment in Ghana held in Accra.
The research objective is to offer an overview of Ghana’s current human security risks and resiliencies, allowing regional and national stakeholders to gain a thorough understanding of both the challenges confronting the country and the existing capacities that could be utilized and enhanced to advance sustainable human security.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in partnership with the Ghana National Centre for Coordination of Early Warning and Response Mechanism (NCCRM) with technical support by the Fund for Peace (FFP), with funding through the ECOWAS Peace and Security Architecture and Operations (EPSAO) Project, which is co-funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fiir Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, would conduct an update of ECOWAS’ Country Risk and Vulnerability Assessments (CRVA) in selected Member States.
Ghana’s peace and security architecture Colonel Ohemeng indicated, had built some resilience to human security vulnerabilities over the years added that, there are obvious threats and evidences of insecurity in the country.
“According the Centre’s data for the first quarter of the year, violent crimes, road traffic offences, use of illegal drugs and human trafficking were major issues that bordered on Crime and Criminality”.
He averred that, Governance and Human rights thematic area, recorded procedural infractions on Rule of Law, violations of Human rights, issues of unemployment and stagnation, education disruption and exclusion as issues that needed serious attention.
“The Security, Terrorism and Maritime domain of the Centre, recorded pockets of incidences ranging from violent aggression, enforcement, fire outbreaks, road traffic crashes and shooting incidences.
The Health and Pandemic thematic area released an alert on the possible outbreak of anthrax following the rains.
All these indicate that Ghana may be losing its immunity to possible risks, if constant assessment and sustainable measures are not put in place to mitigate human security threats.
This also underscores the importance of conducting this Country Risk and Resilience Assessment”.
He expressed appreciations to the ECOWAS Early Warning Directorate, the European Union, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the staff and analysts of the National Centre for Coordination of Early Warning and Response Mechanism and the Fund for Peace for occasioning the workshop.
The Ag. Director, ECOWAS Early Warning Directorate of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Onyinye Onwuka on his part, reiterated ECOWAS’ deep commitment to fostering regional peace, security, economic integration, and enhancing human development amidst the prevailing human security issues in the region.
Ghana he indicated, had made great strides in political and socio-economic advancement in the last six decades saying, notwithstanding the successes, the country’s political and socio-economic landscape has witnessed turbulence with the prevalence of pertinent human security challenges ranging from banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, and violent extremism (VE), farmer-herder and communal conflicts, forced migration and displacement of people, cybercrimes, wildlife, drug and trafficking in persons, and domestic and sexual/gender-based violence, amongst
others
The 2024 Country Resilience and Human Security Assessment (CRHSA) is an update of the 2017–2019 Country Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA), considering new regional human security dynamics and utilizing 2021–2023 ECOWARN data.
The assessment would focus on five ECOWAS Early Warning thematic groups namely: Security, Crime and Criminality, Health, Environment, Governance, and Human Rights, and leverage data gathered from the ECOWAS Early Warning and Response Network (ECOWARN) and desk studies conducted from 2021 to 2023.
The update exercise in Ghana also seeks to assess the social and institutional resilience factors of identified human security challenges to allow for better-informed analytical products and, in turn, guide stronger decision-making, planning, and response by the ECOWAS Commission, the NCCRM, the government, and key stakeholders in Ghana.
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