On 19 April 2024, a group of teachers and smallholder farmers from Central Gonja, Ghana, took part in a training session for CIRAWA’s GREEN SCHOOLS program. This session aimed to understand and update the existing local capacities on how to deploy innovative agroecological solutions on school gardens. This event also included the launch of a tree nurturing and planting exercise by the established GREEN SCHOOLS.
CIRAWA’s partner FIDEP foundation carried out this session, which aimed to establish the building blocks for ensuring proper implementation of innovative agroecological strategies in the CIRAWA project sites by providing teachings such as:
- A practical Understanding of Local Capacity Requirements for Deploying Agroforestry: this focused on understanding the capacity requirements for adopting agroforestry systems according to the principles of agroecology. It aims to improve local capacity to adapt and implement best agro-ecological practices that promote the conservation and restoration of agricultural diversity and boost organic production.
- A practical Tree planting exercise in Demonstration farms and a school compound: This focused on the basic capacity requirements for successful planting of trees and nurturing young plants to grow.
The training session used a Hands-on Multi-stakeholder Approach based on a “Learning-By-Doing” or a Guided Demonstration Approach (GDA) ensuring the active involvement, learning and sharing from participants.
The four-and-a-half-year CIRAWA Project, which is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, aims to increase climate resilience and agricultural productivity at local and community level, guaranteeing the viability of small farms. It also seeks to protect the environment in West Africa through agroecological solutions while also contributing to improving the resilience of food supply chains in eight regions of Cape Verde, Ghana, Senegal and The Gambia.
The project is coordinated by the CARTIF Technology Centre (Spain) and brings together a total of 14 partners from 9 European and African countries.
In Ghana, the project is taking place in the Central Gonja District in the Savannah Region and the Nabdam District in the Upper East Region and is facilitated by FIDEP foundation.
