Equip planning officers to generate reliable data - MMDCEs urged

A senior Development Planning Officer at the Northern Regional Coordinating Council, Mr Habib Shahadu, has called on metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) to equip planning officers to generate reliable and accurate data to develop strategies for the various assemblies.

He again challenged them to be committed to the collection of reliable and accurate data and to make good use of the information that would be collected to enhance development in the various districts.

Mr Shahadu, who was speaking at the dissemination workshop on profiles of some district assemblies at Sunyani, in the Brong Ahafo Region, challenged the various assemblies to collect data and information to help them assess the progress at the various districts.

Programme

The workshop was on the theme: “Data driven decision making in development work”.

It was part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project dubbed “Monitoring, Evaluation and Technical Support Services” Project II (METSS) aimed at enhancing livelihoods through improved agriculture and nutrition among children and women.

The METSS project sought to provide support services and data for evidence-based decision policy planning and programming.

Mr Shahadu mentioned lack of technical skills, lack of data systems, lack of a clear definition of indicators and lack of data quality assurance protocols as some of the technical challenges facing the assemblies in collecting data.

He also identified inadequate hardware and software, including internet connectivity, and lack of transport as some of the logistic constraints which were undermining the collection of data at the district level.

Mr Shahadu, therefore, called on the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs), which were responsible for the various assemblies, to establish a central databank, ensure leadership commitment to evidence-based data and identify and prioritise indicators, especially Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

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Online platform

The Director of Human Resources at the USAID METSS, Madam Jane Reindorf-Attoh, said the project had developed an online knowledge management platform, “www.ghanalinks.org” that would help USAID partners and other stakeholders access and translate data to help them in the formulation of policies and decision making.

In a speech read on his behalf, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, said the absence of accurate and reliable data had contributed significantly to the poverty and unemployment situation in the country.

He charged the MMDAs to plan and implement programmes, projects and polices for the development of their respective jurisdictions.

“If we are to make any significant progress in our development aspirations, we need to place much premium on the collection and analysis of accurate and reliable data,” he stated.

Mr Asomah-Cheremeh thanked the management of USAID for its continued support to the country through the implementation of various social interventions aimed at addressing social inequalities in the country.