Participants after the opening of the forum
HATOF Foundation, a Ghanaian environmental Non-Governmental Organisation has held a forum to share the results of the RECIRCULATE Project with stakeholders in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector.
Tagged, “Experience Sharing and Knowledge Exchange Forum of the RECIRCULATE Project in Ghana,” the meeting gave participants the opportunity to learn the success, lessons, challenges and recommendation of the project implementation team.
It also created the platform for stakeholders to seek further information on the project as well as the next steps going forward.
Chief Executive Officer of HATOF Foundation, Samuel Dotse said the RECIRCULATE project was an action-oriented project that drove eco-innovation in Africa and adopted new partnership-based approaches to enable African researchers and research institutions grow transformational impact by working with their communities.
He said the project worked with communities, researchers and research institutions, businesses, and Civil Society Organizations (COs) in Africa to pilot solutions to water use and safety from sewage disposal to energy generation and water used for agriculture.
In Ghana, the Umar Bun Hatab Islamic School in the Madina Zongo and Gbegbeyise communities benefited from improved water safety under the five-year project.
Mr. Dotse said the project has garnered strong collaborations, networks, and impacts in Ghana, requiring the innovation to be adequately documented, disseminated, and referenced.
“This RECIRCULATE Lessons Learned Document (LLD) serves as a reference in the focal area of a safe circular water economy by documenting and accounting for lessons, successes, challenges, and recommendations from all project partners, researchers, and beneficiaries involved at essential stages of the project implementation in Ghana,” he explained.
The document, he continued, captures lessons learned throughout the RECIRCULATE project life cycle and provides an overall progress summary of the RECIRCULATE project in Chana through partner and beneficiary success stories.
The Project
RECIRCULATE is a £7 million project funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRl) through the Clobal Challenges Research Fund (CCRF) in seven (7) African countries.
Led by the Lancaster University UK in partnership with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (SIR) Ghana, and universities in Africa, the consortium collaboratively worked towards translating the vision of the project into impact-driven deliverables.
The project is underpinned by four interlinked research areas including water for sanitation and health; water for food production; water for energy production; and water, pathogens, and health.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri