Communication and Liaison between Regional and National Scales

42

3. Communications and Documenting Lessons Learned

3.1 Communication and Liaison between Regional and National Scales

In the final year of the ICFG Initiative, the program leadership sought to deepen engagement at the regional and national level to share lessons and experiences from pilot initiative in the western region and how some of the lessonsactivities could be adopted by national level institutions and sustained into the future in the event of the ICFG Initiative close-out in September 2013. The major thrust was continued interaction through high discussions, presentations, memos, insights and critiques linking the Initiative to national programs. For example, potential areas were identified where a number of the ICFG projectsactivities and lessons could be adopted and replicated in other coastal regions in Ghana under the West Africa Regional Fisheries Program WARFP under the Fisheries Commission. Another important consideration was the development of a Legislative Initiative for fisheries co-management in Ghana where consultations were held with the leadership of the Fisheries Commission and other stake holders including the Attorney General’s Department and the Ministry of Local Government as well as other national and regional level stakeholders in the design of the contents of the 3 rd National Fisheries Dialogue. Seven Fisheries Commission staff were supported to participate in the dialogue. Also, the Initiative supported the Fisheries Alliance, a coalition of national fisheries interest NGOs to undertake a countrywide consultation with fisheries stakeholders to design options for fisheries co-management in Ghana. This consultation process fed into the 3rd Fisheries Dialogue and fisher folk leaders including women were identified, selected to participate in the dialogue. There were also engagements with the Ghana Police Service relative to the ongoing support of the Marine Police Unit. Suggestions were made for the Ghana Police Service to work through the Minister of Interior and to formalize collaboration with the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development to support the activities of the Marine Police Unit. The ICFG has developed a draft Standard Operation Procedures SOP which outlines the working relations between the Marine Police and Fisheries Commission and other related institutions. The Issue Brief on the Nested Governance proposal published in the Daily Graphic Newspaper called for comments from readers. Follow up efforts to collate views from national level actors was by Dr. Stephen Olsen, Emeritus Director of CRCURI. One-on-one informal discussions were held with senior level persons in Accra and Sekondi Table 16 to gain their perspectives and reactions to the ideas put forward the issue brief. Based on the views collated, a debriefing session was held at the National Development Planning Commission. 43 Table 16: List of Personalities consulted on the draft Policy Brief on the Nested Governance Personality Position Mr. Fredua Agyeman Director Environment, Min. of Science, Environment and Technology Mr. Ken Kinney CEO, The Development Institute Mr. George Ortsin CEO, Global Environmental Facility Nana Ababio Dr Berko Former Chief Economist, Min of Finance and Member of Natural Resources Environment Advisory Committee Christopher Cripps Consultant Mr. Asiedu Poku Mr. Lawrence Dakura Mr. Alhassan Mohammed Town Country Planning Department, Prof R. Benning Former Vice Chancellor, University of Drvelopment Studies Hon. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo Former Minister, Local Government and Rural Development Mr. Sam Quaatey Director, Fisheries Commission Dr. Ferdinand Tay Mr. Winfred Nelson Mr. Mensah Bonsu National Development Planning Commission Michael Ohene Effah DFID, Accra Peter Trenchard USAID USAIDUSFS team Mr. David Yaro Chief Director , WRCC Mr. Clement Dandori Former Coordinating Director, STMA

3.2 Communications at the Local and Regional and National Scale