By Joyce Boahemaa Fosu
On March 13, 2023, a ceremony was held at the Greenhill Campus of GIMPA to open the Essentials of Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) course.
A 6-day training programme, which commenced today is expected to end on Saturday, March 19, 2023. Thirty (30) participants drew from Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra- Leone to partake in the programme.
The ESRM is a collaborative programme between the GIMPA Training and Consulting (GTC) and the Regional Transport Research and Education Centre, Kumasi (TRECK) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), with support from the World Bank Group.
The course is designed to build and strengthen the capacities of individuals and institutions to manage environmental and social risks in development projects financed by multilateral development banks.
Prof. Charles Amoatey, the Director for GTC who welcomed the participants, expressed his appreciation to the World Bank Group and TRECK for the opportunity extended to the Institute. He assured participants of an exciting 6-day learning journey and was optimistic that a good learning outcome would be achieved at the end of the period.
He further stated that there were many global, national and regional policies yet to be implemented. The course is designed to equip participants with the necessary tools to help the projects and policies underlined by Environmental and Social Risk Management.
In her remarks, Prof. Helen Essandoh, a Representative from TRECK indicated that the course would provide participants with a broad overview of all the issues on Environmental Social Risk Management which builds the foundation for deep-dive courses to follow. She expressed her appreciation to the World Bank and GIMPA for the partnership.
Mr Jonathan Aryeetey, a Representative from the World Bank in his statement mentioned that the World Bank in 2018, launched its Environmental and Social Framework. He, however, indicated that there were gaps when it came to some African countries. He was quick to add, however, that one of the key issues to bridge the gap is to train participants to be up-to-date with the expected outcome, hence the need for GIMPA and TRECK to roll out this training programme for proper and insightful policy implementation.

DIRECTORATE OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS & INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT