Workshop on participatory governance for district assemblies held
The Hunger Project-Ghana (THP-Ghana), in collaboration with the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), has organised a one-day workshop in Koforidua on participatory governance for senior officers from six district assemblies in the Eastern and Volta regions.
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It was attended by 18 senior officers comprising coordinating directors, district development planning officers and district budget analysts, as well as the regional economic planning officer and the regional budget analyst.
The participants came from the Birim North, Upper Manya Krobo, Kwahu South, North Dayi and Kwahu West district assemblies, as well as the Kpando Municipal Assembly.
Aim of workshop
The workshop aimed at sharing best practices, experiences and lessons among the participants on participatory approaches in governance.
It was also to ensure the effective involvement of THP-Ghana’s partner communities in local governance and socio-economic development through its epicentre committees.
The workshop was also held to encourage the district assemblies to involve the epicentre committees in their planning, budgeting and governance processes.
An epicentre committee comprises representatives of communities that come together to form a cluster with the objective of forging a partnership for addressing their priority development needs and a focus on eliminating hunger and poverty.
Funding
The workshop was funded by STAR-Ghana under the project, “Institutionalising Citizens Engagement Approaches for Openness and Accountability of MMDAs”.
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The project was designed to help address limitations and challenges that undermine effective citizens’ participation in local governance by building the capacity of communities and empowering them to demand services and accountability from duty bearers, particularly the district assemblies.
The project is being implemented by THP-Ghana and the GACC in 10 epicentres (clusters of 5 from 15 communities), including Nkawanda, Nsuta Aweregya, Odumase-Wawase, Adausena, Omane-Tweapease, Atuobikrom, Konkoney and Osonson, all in the Eastern Region.
The rest are Fesi-Bame and Tokome in the Volta Region.
It is expected that the project will result in municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) becoming responsive and citizens being proactively involved in development planning and budgeting processes for effective and participatory local governance.
Mistrust
Addressing the participants, the Eastern Regional Economic Planning Officer, Mr Jonathan Awuah, bemoaned the mistrust between district assemblies and local communities due to limited information flow and inadequate involvement of the people in the local governance process.
In order to address the situation, he said the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) was in the process of developing guidelines for participatory and accountable governance at the local level.
The facilitators at the workshop were Mr Isaac Olesu-Adjei and Mr Raphael Manu Agyarko, both from THP-Ghana, and Madam Sandra Arthur from the GACC.