Ghana National Networking Forum

SWITCH Africa Green held the Ghana National Networking Forum at the Accra City Hotel on 21 and 22 March 2017. The forum brought together about 150 participants from the private sector, civil society and government. Its main objectives were to discuss the opportunities, challenges and barriers faced by the private sector in transitioning to an inclusive, low-carbon green economy promoting sustainable consumption and production practices and patterns in Ghana. The forum examined ways of scaling up and replicating green business in the context of trade associations, micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and government policies and programmes, and of fostering networking among the various project entities and with other stakeholders.

In his remarks, Mr. Patrick Mwesigye, of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), noted that the SWITCH Africa Green programme had generated impressive progress. He commended Ghana for being the first country to hold its national networking forum and for hosting the SWITCH Africa Green Regional Policy Dialogue, which would immediately follow the networking forum. 

Mr. Ebenezer Appah-Sampong, Deputy Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana, said that the Agency would take the success stories of the SWITCH Africa Green projects and the outcomes of the national networking forum into account in its dealings with MSMEs in Ghana.

The keynote address was delivered by Mr. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, who expressed the Government’s support, political will and appreciation of the need for businesses in Ghana to adopt sustainable consumption and production practices. Stressing the important role of SWITCH Africa Green and its partners in supporting the country’s progress along that path, he said that the Government of Ghana would continue to put in place appropriate policies for promoting green business.

An exhibition featuring more than 20 organizations and SWITCH Africa Green beneficiaries, including MSMEs and project grantees, showcased innovation in greening the economy and the ways in which they were implementing sustainable consumption and production practices. The exhibition covered five projects from the three priority sectors in Ghana: manufacturing, integrated waste management and tourism. 

During the policymakers’ round-table session, a number of organizations involved in promoting sustainable production and consumption expressed the need for policy interventions that would allow the private sector to propagate and scale up green business models for a greener economy. Goodwill was evident in the increased collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Sessions were also held on financing for MSMEs and policy support. The session on financing for MSMEs looked at the financial opportunities for MSMEs and the challenges they faced in advancing green business development in Africa, with input from the public and private sectors. The session panellists included representatives from Ecobank, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Finance. The deliberations revealed the need for capacity-building for MSMEs in business management skills. It was noted that SWITCH Africa Green, through its grantees, offered training in business management, including accounting. This was especially important for financial institutions, which needed to ensure that funds provided as credit were utilized for their intended purpose. It was also noted that most of the MSMEs were in the informal sector and that there was a need for them to be supported in formalizing their businesses, to enable them to be better prepared for funding opportunities from financing institutions and other organizations.

The highly interactive forum included breakout sessions on the tourism, manufacturing, energy and integrated waste management sectors. For tourism, it was noted that as hotels and other tourist establishments worked to green their businesses, they needed support to utilize the waste they generated. It was suggested that a rating system would help attract potential customers to destinations that had adopted sustainable consumption and production practices. There was a need for policy intervention to provide incentives for businesses in the sector to implement sustainable consumption and production practices.