Millennium Promise Alliance participates in the Regional Rice Value Chain Program (RRVCP) Midterm Workshop

The University of Education, Winneba (UEW), in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Ghana hosted the maiden international symposium on SDGs on Wednesday June 19, 2024. The symposium used a participatory approach to engage a wide range of stakeholders to discuss, review and share data on Ghana’s SDGs achievements. Some of the issues discussed included Climate change, eco-sustainability and livelihood through the prism of the SDGs, Achieving sustainability through innovation, technology and empowerment, leveraging technology, innovation and digitalization to initiate new possibilities on the SDGs in Ghana and a panel discussion on empowering communities to own the SDGs through school curricula and social campaign. Prof. Stephen Jobson Mitchual, Vice-Chancellor (known elsewhere as President) of UEW, in his welcome address emphasized the university's commitment to sustainability through education, research, and community engagement. He highlighted the partnership between UEW and SDSN as a testament to their dedication to sustainable development. Prof. Mitchual expressed UEW's readiness to collaborate with other universities globally to mobilize scientific and technological expertise and resources for implementing the SDGs.

The Ministry of Local Government, Uganda, hosted a 13-member senior delegation from the Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF) from August 14–18, 2023. The 5-day working visit was organized under the LLF-supported initiative, titled, Local Economic Growth Support (LEGS) Project, co-financed by the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Local Government. The Project is executed through the Ministry of Local Government with The Microfinance Centre (MSC) and Millennium Promise Alliance, Uganda as an Implementing Partner and Technical Backstopping Consultant. The LEGS project is a collaborative initiative of global partners such as the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), and King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief). The LEGS Project covers 17 Districts of Uganda including Adjumani, Alebtong, Bunyangabu, Buikwe, Buyende, Gomba, Kabarole, Katakwi, Kyenjojo, Kibuuku, Kumi, Luweero, Nakaseke, Ntoroko, Nwoya, Rukungiri and Tororo. The objective of the workshop was to articulate and reinforce the joint efforts of the Fund and the Government of Uganda in prioritizing medium to long-term development goals such as poverty reduction, sustainable development, and climate change management through the LEGS project. The Islamic Development Bank investment in Uganda through the Lives and Livelihoods Fund (LLF) has been a milestone achievement for the country. The Fund started its field activities in 2019 through a US$ 33 million flagship initiative to construct rural infrastructure and $10 million IsDB Rural Finance Scheme loan for the Local Economic Growth Support (LEGS) Project, covering the 17 districts. LLF’s work in Uganda supports a range of direct and indirect sectors, while focusing on three programmatic pillars: agricultural productivity and value chain development sustainable and inclusive economic growth human capital and institutional capacity development The LLF partners witnessed the impacts of LEGS Project during the mission visit. The delegation headed by Dr. Issahaq Umar Iddrisu, Manager Islamic Development Bank Regional Hub Kampala, engaged in senior-level talks with Ministers and Permanent Secretaries of Ministry of Local Government; Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development; Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities; Ministry of Water and Environment; Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries; and Ministry of Trade, Industries and Cooperatives. The meetings focused on fostering greater collaboration towards ensuring steady economic growth and sustainable food security in Uganda.

The Support Project for the Development of Female Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment (PADEF-EJ) coordinator, Mame Thierno Gueye and the Governor of Senegal's Louga region, El Hadj Bouya Amar, on Wednesday, August 9th 2023, officially launched an ultra-modern health center in the Keur Serigne Louga district. The health center includes an ambulance, two reception rooms, offices, treatment, observation and hospitalization rooms. The medical post also has a maternity ward, pharmacy, and staff accommodations. Millennium Promise Alliance is supporting PADEF-EJ by providing technical assistance, and implementation of the infrastructures and services components including the establishment of the new health post. The new health infrastructures are a result of a partnership between PADEF-EJ and the Association of Residents of the Keur Serigne Louga district. The center will solve a great obstacle of lack of quality healthcare for the surrounding communities. The center and medical expertise have been well received as up to now, more than 1,700 people have been consulted by practitioners. The health center is also contributing to a reduction in home births, thus far, 27 women haven given birth in the new maternity ward. The project coordinator, Mame Thierno Gueye, declared that PADEF-EJ embraces the State's vision based on the observation that Senegal is faced with a deficit in terms of basic social infrastructure, particularly health. "As part of PADEF-EJ, in partnership with Millennium Promise, the project continued an initiative of emigrants from the Keur Serigne Louga Sud district who had already started to build this building," informed Mr. Gueye. He points out that "the position has made it possible to solve a good part of the problems of home birth in the Keur Seringe Louga district and the surrounding districts".

The Support Project for Women's Development and Entrepreneurship and Youth Employment (PADEF-EJ) will soon provide women in the Louga region with an agricultural shopping center and a cereal processing unit worth an estimated 168 million FCFA, as shared on Monday, August 7th, 2023, by head of its value chain, Ms. Seynabou Dia. “We have just visited two infrastructures, an agricultural shopping center and a cereal processing unit, built by PADEF-EJ, which will be made available to women in the Louga region in the coming months,” she declared. Speaking after a visit to these two infrastructures, Ms. Dia indicated that "the rate of execution of the works of the processing unit is at 75%, while that of the agricultural shopping center is at 78%.” These two infrastructures, she said, will be delivered within two months. The cereal processing unit, which is located in the Medina Salam district, is made up of a warehouse for storing raw materials, a processing room, a packaging room, a product storage room, an office for the producers, a point of sale and housing for the concierge. The agricultural shopping center, which is located in the Montagne extension district, it is made up of 60 stores, stalls, and a hall for women to market and sell products more efficiently. Ms. Seynabou Dia specified that, "the beneficiaries are exclusively women from economic interest groups selected on the basis of criteria validated by the regional committee headed by the governor of the Louga region".

SDG Promise Japan, a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization offering poverty reduction programs and other support measures to vulnerable populations will build a vocational school in Ghana. The world-famous architect Kengo Kuma is designing the school. Known for designing the main stadium of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, a trip to Africa in 1978 was an eye-opening experience that shaped Kengo Kuma's design philosophy. Now, he is ready to reciprocate by designing the vocational school in Ghana, free of charge. SDGs Promise Japan will lead the construction and project. Millennium Promise Alliance is providing technical support to SDGs Promise for the vocational school project. The Ghana Vocational Training Institute will be built in the town of Manso Nkwanta, in Ghana's Ashanti region. The site is close to where Kuma visited as a graduate student. " The most important trip in my life was to West Africa when I was a graduate student, " Kuma told reporters. He recalled traveling south across Algeria to Niger, facing nothing but desert for days. " It was only when we arrived in Ghana that we came across green plants. It felt like I came home to Japan," he said. "Soil, trees and grass. The basic elements of all my designs were inspired by my trip to Ghana. " The facility comprises classrooms and dormitories set amid lush green trees, where students between 18 and 35 years old will take classes in stonemasonry, plumbing, carpentry, and other vocations -- over three years. The first classrooms will be ready late summer, and the rest will be built in accordance to funds raised for the project. The cost will be covered by the Japanese government's aid programs as well as crowdfunding. The idea is to offer local citizens a path to proper employment, as opposed to taking part in illegal gold mining, which is becoming prevalent in the region.

Remarks from the Voluntary National and Local Review Workshop; which was held as a side event of the 9th Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD) in Niamey, Niger.

The pilot project is active in more than 10 health facilities in two districts selected by the Ghana Health Service in the country’s Eastern Region.

Dr. Eugene Owusu, Special Advisor on the SDGs to the President of Ghana, and Head of the SDGs Advisory Unit in the Office of the President, recently embarked on a courtesy visit to the Millennium Promise Alliance (MPA) offices in Accra, Ghana. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss new areas of collaboration with MPA and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). Dr. Owusu also serves as Chair of the SDSN Ghana Governing Council . The SDGs Advisory Unit was established in August 2017 to provide technical, policy and strategic support to the President of Ghana in his global role as co-Chair of the UN Secretary General’s Eminent Group of Advocates. The SDG Advisory Unit provides support through its three ' P's ', namely Popularization , educational activities on the SDGs, Policy , analytics and outreach, and Partnership building and programming for accelerated implementation of the Goals. Millennium Promise Alliance looks forward to partnering with Ghana's SDG Advisory Unit for further alignment of our synergies to better support all Ghanaians in the journey to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The inaugural meeting of the eight-member high-level Governing Council was held on August 16th, 2022 in Accra, Ghana. The Governing Council was established by the Ghana chapter of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) to spearhead and promote the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) throughout Ghana. SDSN is a global organization working with the United Nations under the Secretary-General to promote the SDGs. The organization mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical problem solving for Sustainable Development. The high-level SDSN Ghana Governing Council is comprised of: Dr. Eugene Owusu, Special Advisor on the SDGs to the President of Ghana and Head of the SDGs Advisory Unit in the Office of the President (Chair) Hon. Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education Nana Osei-Bonsu, CEO, Private Enterprise Federation Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, Vice-Chancellor, University of Ghana, Legon. Dr. Angela Lusigi, UNDP Resident Representative, Ghana Prof. Mawutor Avoke, Vice-Chancellor, University of Education, Winneba Dr. Kodjo Esseim Mensah-Abrampa, Director-General, National Development Planning Commission Dr. Seth Ohemeng-Dapaah , Country Director, Millennium Promise Alliance, Ghana Dr. Eugene Owusu, Chairperson, SDSN Ghana Governing Council, said they will leverage the knowledge, analytics, and policy capacities of the SDSN network globally to support the work in Ghana. “ Essentially, we are going to bring all the knowledge and expertise that exists between the SDG ecosystem as a local network, bring it to bear on the implementation of the goals, ” he stressed. Dr. Owusu said Ghana was doing “quite well” on meeting the SDG targets, however, its major challenges are on the environmental goals. “ The indications on the social and economic goals have not been bad except with the recent challenges, but then, we are back on track. Where we have the greatest challenge is on the environmental goals, ” he also added. Dr. Seth Ohemeng-Dapaah , Chairperson, Steering Committee of SDSN Ghana, said the organization would be implementing awareness creation and mobilizing local and international support to promote the SDGs in the country. He also said they would be focusing on the six priority areas of the SDGs, including education and research, accessible healthcare, sustainable and renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, urban infrastructure and digital transformation. Nana Osei Bonsu, CEO of the Private Enterprise Federation in Ghana also indicated the critical role of the private sector in providing practical solutions and resources for implementing the SDGs. Addressing the meeting virtually, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs , President of SDSN and Founder/CEO of Millennium Promise Alliance, highlighted SDSN’s strong partnerships with the UN, national governments, leading academic, research and non-profit organizations in promoting the education, policy analysis, and the engagement of youth on policy-relevant work to promote sustainable development. Prof. Sachs urged the Governing Council to give their best advice on how SDSN Ghana can partner to make further progress on the SDGs. As part of the immediate next steps, SDSN Ghana will convene seminars at the University of Ghana and at the University of Education Winneba, the other co-hosting institution. The new network plans to officially launch before the end of the year.