The UN supports Ghana to prepare a COVID-19 recovery plan for the City of Accra

The COVID-19 pandemic is putting severe constraints on cities all over the world. Accra, the capital of Ghana, is not exempted. A recent UN diagnosis study on the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and financial sector in Accra graded the local economy of Accra City as moderately sound, with the capacity to moderate the impact of the pandemic and recover within a short time.  However, the study rated Accra City below the best performing cities, citing some weaknesses in the local business environment (especially low productivity of the informal sector and lack of affordable credit) and local labour market (especially poor social protection for informal sector operators, the weak and vulnerable).

As countries are taking steps to recover and rebuild, cities and local governments have a critical role to play in the process of building back better from the pandemic; taking ownership of the process by engaging key stakeholders, including city officials, to create sound policies and effective recovery plans that will make the cities accelerate the pace of financial and economic recovery and ensure a more resilient city.  To support the economic recovery of Accra, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) is partnering with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to prepare an Economic Recovery and Resilience Plan (ERRP) for the city as part of the Development Account 13 Tranche Project entitled “Building Economic Resilience during and after COVID-19” covering 16 cities globally. The project aims to strengthen and support Accra city Authority to formulate and implement an economic recovery and resilience plan with a focus on jobs, productivity and revenues.

A two-day stakeholders’ workshop was held to review the findings of the diagnosis study, gather input for the preparation of the ERRP and define its contributions to the city’s development plan.  

The Mayor of Accra, Hon. Mohammed Nii Adjei-Sowah said it is important that such recovery plans are effectively aligned with existing development agenda to help respond to the emerging challenges from the pandemic and at the same time build economies that address existing issues such as job creation, social protection and labour needs of its people. He also called on other local authority areas in Accra City to take interest of the findings of the study, especially as they prepare their respective Medium Term Development Plans for the period 2022-2025.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator for Ghana, Mr. Charles Abani recapped the UN’s support to Ghana’s economic recovery with its initiatives through the socio-economic response and recovery programme (SERRP) and the SDG financing project to ensure no one is left behind.  He assured the Government of the UN’s commitment and support to the Accra city-UN initiative to help the city build back better.

The Deputy Minister of Finance, who represented the Minister of Finance, Honourable Ken Ofori-Atta, observed that Ghana’s COVID-19 Alleviation and Revitalization of Enterprises Support (CARES) ‘Obaatanpa’ programme was launched by Government in November 2020 to serve as the main vehicle to revive businesses and accelerate the rate of recovery of the economy of Ghana. He noted that Ghana CARES programme “is strategic and catalytic in nature and is the surest way to build back better and foster a quicker recovery and boost our post-COVID-19 economic transformation.” He encouraged all stakeholders and businesses to take advantage of the opportunities it presents.

The lead UN agency, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) provided a brief on the areas covered under the Accra Diagnostic study.  The five main pillars include resilience of the Business Environment, Labour Market, Financial Systems, Economic Governance, Basic Local Infrastructure and Connectivity.  The study focused on 17 sub-themes and was based on 59 global indicators agreed with UNECA and was conducted between November 2020 to April 2021.