The Infrastructure Development Institute (IDI), Japan,  in collaboration with the Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience (ACECoR), University of Cape Coast, with the support of the World Bank, has organised a short course  on Coastal Management through the Integrated Sediment Management Approach.

The workshop  is in line with an existing partnership aimed at  leveraging on the expertise of both the  IDI and ACECoR to provide West African countries with technical expertise and solutions to coastal degradation, as well as supporting capacity building in West Africa over the medium to long term with knowledge exchange, dialogue, joint research and studies, partnerships, and dialogue mechanisms.

The five-day workshop is being  attended by researchers,  government staffers and students from West African countries who are working on issues related to coastal management, especially coastal erosion.

In his opening remarks,  the Director of ACECOR, Prof. Dennis Aheto,  explained that ACECoR and IDI have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) under the West Africa Coast Areas Management Programme (WACA) to groom the next generation of innovators.

^{The Director of ACECOR, Prof. Dennis Aheto}

He urged the participants to take full advantage of the five-day training session to learn as much as they could to further build their capacity on Coastal Management through the Integrated Sediment Management Approach.

Prof. Aheto explained that the Centre had been mandated by the University  to run short courses such as Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in Coastal Areas; Fisheries Management; Geographic Information Systems and Integrated Coastal Zone Management, amongst others.

“In the last four years we have published about 80 research articles and trained nearly 400 professionals across Africa,” Prof. Aheto added.

In addition to the short courses, Prof. Aheto indicated that ACECoR was at the forefront of deepening academic work by introducing postgraduate programmes in Coastal Management with students from 15 African countries.

  “Quite recently, we have introduced a programme Blue Economy, Governance and Social Resilience which is the first of its kind in Africa,” he stated.

Explaining the rationale for the workshop, the President of IDI, Prof. Katsuji Hashiba, said it was to build the capacities of participants in  best practices on sediment management from Japan, West African countries and other parts of the world.

^{President of IDI, Prof. Katsuji Hashiba}

Prof. Hashiba  said the workshop was also to help participants understand coastal erosion and other  environmental issues in the coastal areas from perspective of integrated sediment management.

He further indicated that the short course would equip participants with knowledge to incorporate perspective of integrated sediment management into research works and practices and finding doable solutions.

The short course was a blend of in-person and virtual participation.