ECOWAS builds capacity of Liberian Civil Society Organisation Representatives on AIC project formulation

From May 15th to the 26th of 2023, the ECOWAS Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (RAAF), in partnership with the Liberian Ministry of Agriculture, is organising a remote e-learning training for about 15 to 20 representatives of civil society organisations in Liberia in order to improve their capacity to design agricultural projects that take into account the challenges of adaptation to climate change.

The organisation of this training is supported by the GCCA+ West Africa project implemented by Expertise France and funded by the European Union, which has developed all the technical content based on a guide for the formulation of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) projects, divided into 6 training modules.

In 2019, the GCCA+ West Africa project launched a call for project proposals for innovations in the agricultural sector in the fight against climate change; unfortunately, it was then noted that the level of appropriation of concepts such as "adaptation", "resilience", "agro-ecology" or "climate-smart agriculture" remained limited for several local organisations, in particular in some ECOWAS countries, such as Liberia. "No project proposal from Liberia could finally be selected because none was in line with the guidelines of the call for projects," emphasises Salifou Ousseini, Executive Director of the RAAF.

Yet Liberia is considered one of the 10 most vulnerable countries in the world according to the ND-Gain index, mainly because of its very limited adaptive capacities. In addition to severely affecting the poorest, climate change may also increase vulnerabilities, for example through the multiplication of food crises due to reduced agricultural production. "Adaptation means trying to anticipate these changes and seize possible opportunities that emerge as a result of climate change. It is therefore essential that actors in the sector, and in particular farmers' organisations and civil society organisations, acquire new knowledge and tools to better take into account climate risks in production systems at the local level", summarises Halala W. Kokulo, Director for Land & Water Resources at the Ministry of Agriculture in Liberia.

This e-learning course, which alternates between group sessions and content available at the pace of each participant, is led by two experts from the GCCA+ WA project mandated by ECOWAS. The training aims to strengthen the understanding of CSOs and farmers' organisations in Liberia regarding climate change and its future evolution, but also to provide concrete tips and tools for action in terms of climate change resilient agriculture. It also proposes methodological approaches to better integrate these issues into project design.