Accra: Citizens from the West Africa Coastal Area Resilience Project (WACA ResIP) 2 beneficiary communities and members of the Coastal CSOs Forum (CCF) have urged the government to reactivate the project, warning delays will worsen erosion and destroy livelihoods. Ghana joined WACA ResIP 2 in 2022, aiming to implement the project from 2023 to 2027, in collaboration with The Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. The initiative follows a successful first phase involving Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, and Togo.
According to Ghana News Agency, the country planned to use the $155 million financial support, comprising both a grant and a loan, to pilot coastal resilience intervention projects in its Volta and Greater Accra regions, identified as main hotspots for the first phase of the Ghana WACA intervention. In a petition to President John Dramani Mahama, signed by Mr. Vance Kwaku Adedze, Secretary of the CCF Sub-National Working Group - Volta Region, the group appealed for the removal of institutional bottlenecks stalling the project.
The petition described the WACA project as a 'game changer' for coastal districts in Volta and Greater Accra regions plagued by tidal waves, flooding, and pollution. It emphasized the project's importance during the 2024 Anlo Hogbetsotso Festival, advocating for broad community involvement and a chiefs' learning tour to Togo and Benin to draw lessons from their Phase 1 implementation.
Despite the project's potential benefits, WACA ReSIP 2 has stalled since 2025, a situation the petition likened to 'breaking the neck of the coastal populations and districts whose aspirations of respite is in the wind currently.' While acknowledging the government's efforts in building sea defenses at Amutinu, Blekusu, and Agavedzi in Volta Region's Ketu South, the petition stressed that these efforts should complement, not replace, WACA ReSIP 2.
The petition further warned that discontinuing WACA would be costly, as the increasing frequency and destructiveness of tidal waves threaten to devastate communities. It called for the government to act swiftly, citing the sacrifices made by these communities in anticipation of relief through the WACA project.