The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), is adopting a proactive approach to deal with the various challenges the city faces.
Accra as a city is constantly dealing with shocks and stress from flooding, heavy vehicular traffic and other problems which require pragmatic solutions.
The decision to now settle on the proactive approach came up at the launch of the Accra Resilience Strategy which is in partnership with the 100 Resilient Cities, an initiative pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation.
The 100 Resilient Cities—Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation (100RC), is dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century.
Accra was in 2014 included as one of 35 cities selected to join this global network.
The 100RC supports the adoption and incorporation of a view of resilience that includes not just the shocks—earthquakes, fires, floods, etc.—but also the stresses that weaken the fabric of a city on a day to day or cyclical basis.
Examples of these stresses include high unemployment; an overtaxed or inefficient public transportation system or chronic food and water shortages.
By addressing both the shocks and the stresses, a city becomes more able to respond to adverse events and is overall better able to deliver basic functions in both good times and bad, to all populations.
Liz Agbor-Tabi, the Associate Director of 100 Resilient Cities highlighted the expectations for Accra as they begin to roll out the resilience strategy.
“Through implementation of the strategy, we hope that the end result will be a city that is more responsive to the need of its residents that is more prepared, a city that is better prepared to respond and mitigate whatever calamities it may face, a city that is inclusive and a city that is smart and resilient.”
On his part, Mayor of Accra, Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, indicated that with modernization comes the need for practical strategies in dealing with issues in the capital.
“It is estimated that by 2050 all 70% of the global population would be living in urban areas. How are the cities strategized to accommodate the influx of people, tap into their positive energy and reorient them to be part of the developing paradigm of the city life. So the resilience strategy is basically an assessment of the City, identify all the various challenges that we have faced over the years and prepare a strategy with clear action points that the City has to embark upon to make the City more resilient as we have our vision clearly stated.”
Desmond Appiah, the Chief Sustainability Advisor at the Office of the Mayor, elaborated on the relevance of the strategy and its implementation process.
‘One of the big challenges of development in Accra, is a seeming lack of coordination in either the focus or the direction and what this strategy seeks to do is to give us a point of focus so that all the various activities that are going on will be towards a specific goal. That is why we have really put in a lot of effort to get the strategy together. Accra is changing and its changing rather rapidly, the challenges are not getting lesser and the solutions are varied but with the level of decentralization we are practicing it would be rather unfortunate if each assembly was to go in its direction.’
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By: Michael Ogbodu | citinewsroom.com |Ghana