Communities build capacity to enhance accountability
The capacities of some selected communities in the Northern Region are being built upon to better inform them on how to demand the provision of basic social services such as water and proper sanitation from their respective district assemblies.
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The project titled " Empowering local communities and civil society to demand accountability," is to empower the people and civil society organisations (CSOs) to engage in monitoring, rights-based advocacy and policy to ensure that the rights of citizens were met by the assemblies.
A total of 30 communities in four districts and two municipalities in the Northern Region are benefiting from the project being organised by Friends of the Earth (FoE) Ghana in collaboration with the Rural Development and Youth Association (RUDEYA) , both NGOs, with support from the European Union (EU). The beneficiary districts are Bimbilla, Zabzugu, Kumbungu and East Mamprusi. The municipalities are Yendi and Savelugu/Nanton.
Other beneficiary areas include the Hohoe Municipality, South Afajato, North Dayi, South Dayi, Nkwanta and Kpando all in the Volta Region.
Importance
Addressing the topic, "Community empowerment and governance," at the capacity building workshop in Tamale for 30 participants from the beneficiary communities, the director of the FoE, Ghana, Dr Theo Anderson, indicated that the project would not only enable the communities to demand the provision of basic amenities but would also ensure the effective functioning of the assemblies to deliver development to the communities.
According to the director, there was not enough collaboration between the people and the assemblies in the choice and implementation of development projects at their respective communities. That sometimes led to confrontations between the people and development partners.
He, therefore, explained that the project had been designed to promote good working relations between the assemblies and the people to fast-track growth in the communities.
Participation
The Northern Regional Coordinator of the FoE, Dokurugu Abukari, in an interview, said the project was also building the capacities of the communities to enhance their participation in local governance.
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“Women have also been taken on board to sensitise them and increase their participation in local governance issues and other pertinent matters that affect them since they are mostly the victims who bear the brunt of the lack of water and other basic social needs in the communities,” he stated.
The participants were also taken through the district assemblies’ budget processes and how to build and sustain coalitions.