The heat down here is unbearable, not because of global warming, but as a result of the fast spinning shafts that drive turbines to generate hydroelectric power. The massive engines use the high-pressure water before releasing it to flow downstream, to produce electricity, which is transmitted in giant power lines to Accra and beyond. Several men, most of them donning safety helmets, operate various machines at the facility.
I am at Kpong power plant, the second largest hydroelectric dam built in Ghana over the Volta river. It is downstream to the larger Akosombo dam, all managed by the Volta River Authority (VRA). My guess is that there are more men and more machines up north in Akosombo, where capacity is more than ten-fold of Kpong’s.
You might be wondering what I am doing at a power plant in southeastern Ghana. No, I am not on any fact-finding mission of Ghana’s power supply frameworks. Rather, I am on a field trip as part the Second International Conference on Climate Change and Population on Africa, organized by the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS) at the University of Ghana.
What do power plants have to do with population and climate change? It comes down to rainfall. Like many African countries, Ghana relies mostly on water for electric power generation, which has in recent years been adversely affected due to reduction in water levels as result of climate change. Our guide confirms this, pointing us to a wall chart which shows historical water levels and power generation data.
But there are also less noticeable, yet important, links which might not be especially evident in the noisy power plant… women. As I take the stairs up from the turbines to the top of the dam, I request our guide that I take a photo of the river as it flows downstream (taking photos is prohibited inside the power plant). As I focus my shots, I imagine in my mind the millions of women and families from upstream Tamale to downstream Tema, whose lives and livelihoods are all inextricably linked to the health of the riparian Volta river basin. I wish I could bring women into the picture.
On the ride back to Accra (after a couple of breakdowns on the University bus), I reflect on how what I saw at the power plant relates to the paper that I presented at the conference. Titled “Population, Reproductive Health and International Adaptation Finance”, it advocates for better recognition and financial support for social sector strategies to help families and communities adapt to the effects of climate change. At PAI, we believe that climate change is about people, and that women’s health, including access to voluntary family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH), is an important part of strengthening their capacity to adapt, and can promote changes in demographic trends and encourage sustainability. Therefore, climate adaptation and development planning and financing should be supportive of social sector adaptation strategies.
The Volta River Authority’s motto is “To power the economy of Ghana and set the standard of public sector excellence in Africa.” I wish more turbines could be fired at the policy and program levels to empower the women of Africa to improve their own health, and that of their families.
