The project "Strengthening Border Security in Ghana" (SBS Ghana), funded by the EU through the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), provided emergency relief equipment to the Ghana Immigration Service, to help curb the spread of COVID-19 and enhance GIS capacity to better respond to future emergencies.
A handover ceremony took place on 6 August 2020 at the Ghana Immigration Service headquarters and was attended by the Minister of Interior, Ambrose Dery and the Comptroller General of Immigration, Kwame Asuah Takyi. Through this emergency funding assistance, the SBS Ghana project provided five vehicles (three pick-up and two minibuses), five motorbikes and personal protective equipment (10.000 disposable face masks, 10.000 reusable face masks, 10.000 gloves and 2.000 bottled hand sanitizers). The vehicles and motorcycles will be used for patrolling in specific border areas and for coordinating activities with Ghana Health Service and other stakeholders.
Once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, the vehicles and motorbikes will be deployed to the various land border regions across Ghana, according to the Ghana Immigration strategic needs. In addition, the SBS Ghana project provided 15 laptops in order to facilitate a number of capacity building activities (contingency planning), to boost existing efforts and enhance the capacity of the Service to effectively respond to future crises.
The SBS Ghana project, with a budget of 5 million euro, has two components: the first focuses on the support of the Ghana Immigration Service through capacity building, including human rights standards, and provision of equipment and upgrade of the GIS information exchange system. The Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Customs Authority will be associated for joint activities. The second component is dedicated to civil society organisations, media networks and local authorities: a specific call for proposals will support innovative projects to improve cross-border and mobility issues.
The project is funded by European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), and is being implemented by ICMPD in collaboration with the Ghana Immigration Service.