UNCDF in Ghana

Enabling Ghana’s first investment crowdfunding guidelines

UNCDF, in partnership with the Ghana's Security and Exchange Commission, supported the development of the country's first Investment Crowdfunding Guidelines. This landmark initiative aims to unlock the potential of crowdfunding as a viable financing option for MSMEs and startups in the country, while ensuring investors’ protection, by providing a regulatory framework and addressing critical gaps that have hindered the growth of innovative investment mechanisms. These guidelines support the government's plan to crowd in and mobilize private sector investments that have development dividends.

Financing locally led adaptation

UNCDF supports locally led adaptation to the impacts of climate change with Performance-Based Climate Resilience Grants (PBCRGs), developed as part of the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility to channel climate finance directly to local governments and communities. Following a successful pilot phase that concluded in 2019, and further implementation as part of the EU-funded GrEEn Programme, activities were further scaled with the support of Norway. ‘Promoting Green and Climate Resilient Local Economies in Ghana – Applying circular economy and climate smart agriculture principles and solutions to local development pathways’, known as LoCAL-ACE, has completed two PBCRG cycles, disbursing more than $1 million. Investments include cassava processing factories that minimize post-harvest losses and add value to raw materials thereby boosting local economic development; organic waste composting and biofertilizer production facility and irrigation dams to for agricultural communities, amongst others. Funds for such investments represent a 10-15 per cent top-up to local government budgets and is fully aligned with Ghana’s Nationally Determined Contributions, as laid out under the Paris Agreement.

Thirteen participating Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies have so far improved their fiscal accounting procedures and practices while making planning and preparedness to adapt to the impacts of climate change part of their regular operations, as verified through Annual Performance Assessments. Since 2019, over 70 climate-resilient infrastructure projects have been completed across 13 districts, creating 2,371 short-term jobs. Ghana is now preparing to expand such climate-resilient investments into the country’s drought-vulnerable northern regions.

The GrEEn Project: the foundation for today’s cooperation

The ‘Boosting Green Employment and Enterprise Opportunities in Ghana” (GrEEn), supported by the European Union, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana and UNCDF with SNV, closed in 2024 yet continues to provide the foundation for on-going UNCDF activities in Ghana.

With a budget of over $20M, the GrEEn Project created greater economic and employment opportunities for youth, women and Ghana’s population of returning migrants by promoting and supporting sustainable, green businesses in Ashanti and Western regions of the country over four years. GrEEn worked with 11 financial service providers (FSPs), ranging from banks to fintechs, and invested over $1.4 million in tailored services for more than 200,000 individuals previously excluded from formal financial services and solo entrepreneurs. For every dollar spent on results-based financing, an additional $3.30 was mobilized from general public, including diaspora contributions and local savings. By incentivizing FSPs to explore new products and channels, and by equipping them with the right tools and insights, GrEEn effectively lowered the barriers that traditionally blocked access to capital for MSMEs, which have been historically locked out of formal financial systems. 

The GrEEn project also implemented transformative climate resilient investments in 10 district assemblies through UNCDF’s Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL). Investments included flood resistant bridges and roads, access to potable water, construction of markets and a school rehabilitation, among others. Technical partnerships formed with Ghana’s National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mainstreamed climate change into planning and built capacity at the local government level. Some 403,524 people gained access to improved and climate-resilient infrastructure services whilst over 2,000 individuals benefited from skills training to enhance their employability and build their green or climate-smart businesses, which fostered local economic development.