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In an intense two-day meeting at the Labadi Beach Hotel from May 29 to May 30, 2023, stakeholders were involved in drafting a national genome editing communications strategy and action plan.
The basic goal of the stakeholder engagement was to first give an understanding of what genome editing is, its importance, the risks, and the misconceptions associated with it.
With science as the driving force in our modern society, it has become imperative that genome editing is adopted.
Furthermore, the development of the Strategy and Action Plan seeks to help enhance public, government, private sector, civil society, and media confidence in modern biotechnology-related agricultural research and create a platform for more communication, education, and public awareness.
The validation workshop followed the African Union Development Agency New Partnerships For Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD), Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology and Innovation (CoE in STI) November 2022 multi-stakeholder writing workshop in Accra to develop a draft genome editing (GEd) National Communication Strategy and Action Plan.
The workshop was attended by senior officials from a larger cross-section of agencies, including representatives of the lead institutions, national champions, core institutions drawn from government, experts from GEd-related institutions, science communication, advocacy, the private sector, civil society, the media, and faith-based organizations.
The Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr. Paul Bossu, highlighted the importance of genome editing as an evolving technology and the need for Ghana to capitalize on it in his opening remarks on the first day.
In the two-day stakeholder meetings, the initial draft policy document was carefully edited to meet international standards, so that Ghana can have an appropriate communications document that explains what genome editing is about, its importance, stakeholders, and all matters related to it.
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