EACDS Lot B Assignment: Commonwealth Clean Ocean Alliance Technical Assistance Facility Scoping Support - Ghana

On 16th April 2018, the UK Government announced the establishment of the Commonwealth Clean Ocean Alliance (CCOA) to eliminate single use plastic and address marine plastic pollution. To create change on the global stage, under the Commonwealth Blue Charter, the United Kingdom and Vanuatu are working together to lead this Action Group. The UK Government has set aside up to £10m to provide technical assistance (TA) to eligible Commonwealth members in delivering their priority actions under the CCOA ambitions of: i taking steps to eliminate avoidable single use plastic waste ii significantly reducing single use plastic carrier bags by 2021 iii banning the sale and manufacture of micro-beads in rinse-off personal care products by 2021. The TA support could take a number of forms indicatively including the following support to develop: i A plastics or waste management strategy ii An action plan to translate strategy and policy into action plans iii Specific Policy and Action Plans for Targeted Plastic Leakage Priorities iv Research and Data Analysis v Evaluation of existing strategies, policies and plans vi Project Proposal Development Support – to help draft things like infrastructure bids vii Development of strategies/plans to support the enforcement of existing policies or legislation. (Further details of eligible types of support are provided in Annex 1) The TA assignments that are designed through this process must be implemented within a timeframe of up to 12 months from late 2019 onwards. The UK Department for International Development (DfID) and UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) (the clients) have engaged DAI working with Common Seas (“the Coordination Team”) to establish a Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) to coordinate an engagement and scoping exercise across 23 eligible Commonwealth member states that will determine how to allocate these funds to support meaningful action to reduce plastic pollution across the Commonwealth. The scoping exercise will be coordinated by the Coordination Team working with a range of expert partners through the UK Government Expert Advisory Call-Down Services (EACDS) Lot B Facility. The Government of Ghana has engaged with the UK Government to seek assistance under the TAF.