Implementation Workshop On Mch Mou Held
The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet), Water Resources Commission (WRC), and the Ghana Hydrological Authority (Hydro) signed a Memorandum of Understanding at an MCH implementation workshop on Wednesday, 24th January 2024 to further expand their partnership in data sharing.
The signing ceremony was attended by the Heads of the three institutions, Mr. Eric Asuman, the Ag. Director-General GMet, Mr. Bob Alfa, Ag. Executive Secretary, WRC, and Dr. John Kissi, Chief Executive Officer (Hydro) with some other staff of these institutions who were present at the MCH training held in April last year.
Delivering the Welcome Address as the host, Mr. Eric Asuman expressed his excitement for this collaboration, alluding to the fact that this partnership will strengthen the activities of the three (3) organizations. “I understand that when it comes to data in our sub-region it is a critical asset to us and we don’t joke with it, there have been instances where the issue of data sharing among Africans has been raised even at the global level and the feedback has always been negative. I strongly believe that if we can do this, then it will be a good sign moving beyond our entrenched position as sister organizations to share data and a future possibility of expanding the scope to other African countries.”
Speaking briefly during the ceremony, Dr John Kissi highlighted the need for this collaboration and also admonished all parties within the data-sharing chain to be respectful of each other’s mandate.
“Data sharing is important for the next level we all want to take however, the concerns that many organizations may have about data sharing is also valid and must be considered in any effort to share data. While we are proud to be part of this initiative and taking this step forward in all our activities and respective situations, we should all be vigilant and very respectful of each other’s mandate and responsibility which is very important because that is one thing that could undermine the efforts to share data.”
The Ag. Executive Secretary, Bob Alfa expressed his excitement over GMet and Hydro’s involvement in this all-important initiative. “We are also glad that GMet and the Ghana Hydrological Authority as the main generator of data in this country are part of this agenda. It is also important that we draw a framework that will not allow abuse so we all can concentrate on the purpose for which it was generated.”
The MCH MoU will strengthen joint advocacy efforts and enable the parties involved to gather real-time data to support their activities.
