Ghana — Solutions and Mobility Index Round 1 Report (October 2023)

The coastal countries of West Africa are experiencing the impact of climate change and spill-over of the Central Sahel crisis. These vulnerabilities contribute to increased risks of conflict, crisis and a humanitarian situation that is worsening fast and significantly. In this context, there is an urgent need to strengthen the capacities of governments and other relevant actors to conduct evidence-based Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) interventions to reduce disaster and climate related risks, while forced displacement is also a pressing risks. The coastal countries of West Africa – especially Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin – lack disaggregated data to make informed decisions on how to prioritize the responses in certain sectors and localities, as well as reliable information to identify the root causes of instability that are driving the deterioration of living conditions.

To help find durable solutions for populations in areas that could be more likely affected by a disaster and to prevent displacements in the region, it is critical to understand their relative levels of stability.​ In order to understand which factors influence a location's stability to identify priority interventions for transition and recovery, with the goal of strengthening the resilience and stability in this conflictual and displacement-affected region, IOM developed the Solution and Mobility Index (SMI) tool. This tool measures perceptions of stability and analyzes which factors have a relatively larger impact on the decisions of populations to remain in place or to move. The tool is implemented in the Upper East and Upper West regions in Ghana to enable governmental authorities and partners to develop informed strategies.

This report presents the results of the SMI Round 1 data collection conducted in Upper East and Upper West regions in Ghana between the 18th and 28th October 2023.