RUC-led project awarded DKK 10 million for research into climate-resilient water and wastewater interventions in Ghana

Residents in informal urban areas in and around Ghana’s capital, Accra, face climatic and societal challenges such as lack of water supply, flooding, uncertainty about water quality, health risks from deteriorating infrastructure, and more.

Although a number of public and private actors in the area have engaged in various water and wastewater interventions, there is a risk that — despite good intentions — these efforts may have the opposite effect and instead increase vulnerability in marginalised communities.

A new transcontinental research project, led by Associate Professor Paul Stacey from Roskilde University, has been awarded a grant of DKK 10 million from Danida Fellowship Centre to investigate how vulnerability in Greater Accra can be reduced through robust water and wastewater interventions.

"There are diverse causes of vulnerability related to such interventions, ranging from local political pragmatism to situations where powerful actors influence policy to create gains for exclusive groups, which mean that efforts to improve service delivery with new infrastructure end up increasing the vulnerability of local communities. The project pursues different objectives to address these challenges, including a research perspective to produce new knowledge, and a policy dimension to use the new knowledge to influence policy towards greater consideration of the vulnerability," says Paul Stacey.

Reducing vulnerability and supporting climate adaptation

The project will examine the implementation of water and wastewater interventions in the area and their consequences for residents in marginalised urban communities.

The aim is to develop knowledge and empirical evidence that can form the basis for key stakeholders to plan and implement solutions that are more robust and thereby help reduce water- and wastewater-related vulnerability and support local climate adaptation across the area.

"The project objectives finds relevance outside the context of Accra and Ghana as urban areas all over the Global south experience similar, substantial challenges related to water and wastewater infrastructure, with rising populations’ increasing demands on already overburdened infrastructure, and which drives inequalities and environmental harm," says Paul Stacey.