The European Union-funded Resilience Against Climate Change - Social Transformation Research and Policy Advocacy (REACH-STR) project has begun the dissemination of a newly developed social transformation research for development framework to other regions in Northern Ghana. The framework, championed by REACH-STR project and co-developed with planning officers of various beneficiary districts in Upper East, Upper West and Savannah regions is an analytical tool that provides development officers a better understanding of how societies can be transformed to respond to the practical challenges arising from climate change. The social transformation research framework is in six steps including contextual analysis, mapping social transformations, drivers of transformation analysis, impact assessment, strategy development, and monitoring, evaluation and reflexive learning. 'By utilising this framework, planners and decision-makers can develop interventions that encourage positive societal transformation while min imizing negative consequences,' Dr. William Quarmine, Regional Researcher - Development Economist, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), said. Dr Quarmine was speaking during a stakeholders' engagement workshop held in Bolgatanga on the theme: 'Building Resilience against Climate Change in Northern Ghana through Transformative Development Action.' He said since the introduction of the project and subsequent development of the framework, development officers whose capacities had been built to plan development interventions from social transformation perspective had come to accept the social transformation research framework. 'They are now confident in their capacity to develop strategies that promote transformation and climate resilience', the Regional Researcher - Development Economist for IWMI stated. Dr. Quarmine explained that the dissemination of the social transformation framework in the other regions was aimed at soliciting stakeholders' buy-in and their suggestions as to how they could b e supported to adopt and implement the framework in their development planning. Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, the Upper East Regional Minister, in a speech read on his behalf, noted that climate change was no longer a distant threat but a reality with devastating impact on the people whose livelihoods largely depended on agriculture. This, he said, called for urgent, collective and transformative actions that transcend beyond the usual response to environmental crisis. 'Today's engagement is a significant step in aligning our strategies and strengthening our partnerships to exploring and forging transformative actions to enhance the resilience of our communities against climate change,' he said. He expressed gratitude to the IWMI for developing the framework and urged development planners in the region to engage actively in order to build their capacity so that the region could fully benefit from the implementation of the framework. Mr. Hudu Abu, the Acting Upper West Regional Director of Agriculture, noted that Northern Ghana was faced with unique challenges due to climate change and noted, however, that through their collective efforts and innovative thinking, they could forge a path towards resilience. 'Today's gathering marks an important step forward in addressing these challenges together by sharing experiences on what really works and how it has to be done', he said. 'We will explore transformative strategies, share insights, and collaborate on implementable solutions to ensure a sustainable future for our communities and Ghana as a whole,' Mr. Abu emphasised. He said this social transformation framework was very critical to especially the MMDAs whose mandate was to drive the general development of their district through the planning and implementation of development policies. Mr. Bilattey Bimi, the Wa East District Planning Officer, affirmed that the social transformation approach/analysis was effective, reduces time and cost in plan preparation and enhances plan responsiveness and robustness. 'Developme nt action that neglects transformation is headed towards failure', he emphasised. According to him, REACH-STR had laid a solid foundation for the place of social transformation analysis in development planning processes. Mr. Bimi, however, pointed out that more capacity in social transformation analysis, conceptualization, and methodologies were needed to sustain the gains made. Mr. Godfred Bamba, the Builsa North District Coordinating Director noted that, 'when you plan with focus on social transformation, then you plan to touch and improve lives', stressing that the approach was very important to them. He said the implementation of the project in the Upper West region had been a huge success in the sense that most of the development plans were not done with social transformation lens. Mr. Bamba said but for the numerous capacity building, these plans were retooled to reflect gender sensitivity and inclusivity, which according to him were yielding positive development results. He said he was so happy t hat the social transformation activities were being mainstreamed into the guidelines of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), therefore conscious efforts were needed to build the capacity of stakeholders both at the regional and the district levels. Source: Ghana News Agency