GMet Wraps Nationwide Media Workshops, Rallying Ghana’s Media As “Lifelines” For Early Warnings

29 Aug, 2025 Articles

The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) has completed a three-city Media Engagement Workshop on Early Warning Systems under the theme, “Advancing Early Warning Systems for All: Media as a Lifeline.” Staged in Accra (Aug 26, Ange Hill Hotel), Koforidua (Aug 27, Capital View Hotel) and Elmina (Aug 29, Coconut Grove Hotel), the series brought together a total of 108 participants comprising 40 media professionals in Accra, 38 in Koforidua, and 30 in Elmina.

The initiative targeted news editors, show hosts, producers and digital content creators, equipping them with skills to sharpen how weather information is interpreted, packaged and delivered to the public.

Opening the first session in Accra, Dr. Eric Asuman, Director-General of GMet, framed the media’s role as pivotal to national resilience. “Our media partners are the bridge between information and public action,” he said. “Complex meteorological data must be transformed into understandable, actionable information that saves lives and protects property. Our partnership with the media is not just strategic; it is essential.”

Across all three legs, participants received practical training to decode forecasts, understand terminologies, and translate impact-based warnings for diverse audiences. Sessions covered impact-based forecasting, public weather services, marine weather services, and seasonal outlooks for the 2025 minor rainfall season in southern Ghana. The modules emphasized tailoring messages to anticipated hazards and their effects on communities, and making warnings timely, clear and actionable.

In Koforidua, Dr. Ignatius Kweku Williams, Deputy Director-General (Operations), urged closer newsroom-forecaster collaboration and invited feedback on how GMet products can be made more usable. “At the end of the day, our objective is communication and a deeper understanding of GMet’s role,” he said, encouraging practitioners to identify the most effective tools be it “documents, symbols, infographics, or visual content” for their audiences.

Madam Felicity Ahafianyo, Head of the Central Analysis and Forecast Office (CAFO), spotlighted recurring breakdowns between forecast issuance and public interpretation. Miscommunication or misquoting, she cautioned, can seed confusion or panic. “Accurate communication is as critical as the forecast itself,” she noted, stressing clarity, consistency and correct context as non-negotiables for both forecasters and the media.

Attendees also surfaced practical hurdles from limited access to weather platforms to difficulty interpreting technical products. GMet experts responded with hands-on solutions, interactive exercises and newsroom-ready guidance on early warning protocols, message framing and risk communication across radio, TV and digital platforms.

Closing the series in Elmina, Dr. Williams underscored the complementarity of traditional media with GMet’s digital channels (website, WhatsApp broadcasts and social media). He acknowledged the reputational stakes around accuracy and timeliness and issued a charge to newsrooms: “In a world where a single rainstorm can mean the difference between harvest and hardship, the true forecast lies not just in the clouds, but in the clarity of the message. And for that reason, Ghana’s media must do more than simply report the weather; they must become the weather.”

By week’s end, the workshops had done more than transfer skills, they forged a working compact between meteorologists and media practitioners to keep warnings fast, plain-spoken and trusted. For GMet’s CAFO, it marks a concrete step toward a nationwide early warning culture where the right message reaches the right people at the right time and where that clarity can save lives.