Empowering local communities: Co-designing Nature-based Solutions in Ghana

The fifth episode of Season 3 is dedicated to Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and how they can empower local communities to build resilience to coastal hazards and climate change. We’re visiting Ghana where the MeerWissen MANCOGA project (“Mangroves as Nature-based Solutions to Coastal Hazards in Eastern Ghana”) is developing a robust and participatory NbS to help communities deal with flooding, erosion, and pollution while also building livelihoods. To achieve its objectives, MANCOGA is using a co-design approach, meaning close collaboration of multiple stakeholders from the very beginning. Listen to Dr Edem Mahu, marine scientist at the University of Ghana and co-lead of the MANCOGA project, and Togbui Kumassah, the spokesperson for the Paramount Chief of the Anlo State, explain the added value of mangroves as a NbS and how collaboration, awareness-raising and sharing knowledge is making a real difference to communities in eastern Ghana. Most of all, learn about the importance of co-design and how this has led to a real sense of ownership among the various stakeholders. So dive right in and hear MANCOGA’s key messages on successful co-design.