A five-member delegation from the Africa Centre of Excellence in Coastal Resilience (ACECoR) of the University of Cape Coast participated in the second ACE Impact Workshop in Dakar, Senegal from September 24 -27, 2019. 

The workshop, organised by the World Bank and coordinated by the Association of African Universities (AAU), saw the participation of forty-six (46) Centres of Excellence from across Africa involving twelve (12) countries including Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea, Cote D’Ivoire, Togo, Cameroon, Djibouti, Senegal, and Niger. 

The University of Cape Coast will receive result-based funding to the tune of US$ 6.4 million from the World Bank through the Government of Ghana to implement the multi-year project spanning 2019 to 2023. ACECoR was represented by the Director, Prof. Denis W. Aheto, Deputy  Director, Dr. Precious A. Mattah, the Director of Finance, Mrs. Elizabeth Obese, the Project Accountant, Mr. Eric Agyenim-Boateng and the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Mr. Joshua Adotey.  

Objectives

The objective of the Workshop was to provide participating centres, their host institutions, and governments with the tools necessary to ensure timely Project effectiveness and effective implementation. Areas of key focus included: 
•    providing centers the opportunity to share best practices on higher education excellence and relevance  
•    taking stock of the status of progress towards achieving project effectiveness for each country and institution 
•    planning key next steps for each country and institution in achieving project effectiveness 
•    initiating capacity building activities and finalise capacity building plans for the ACE Impact projects 
•    providing clear guidance on requirements for the first disbursement, fiduciary and safeguards matters 
•    providing networking and collaboration opportunities for the Centers
•    sharing global best practice on digital skills and technology in higher education 
•    sharing global best practices for higher education with a focus on designing and implementing specific strategies for institutional impact.  
    
The workshop was officially opened by Hon. Dr. Cheikh Oumar Anne, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation of Senegal at the King Fahd Palace Hotel. The Workshop provided the ACECoR team with renewed enthusiasm and focus to steer the project to achieving effectiveness and effective implementation of activities.