Uganda APRM interacts with Gomoa west oversight committee
The Chairman of the Gomoa West District Oversight Committee (DOC) of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), Dr Mark Nii Lamptey, has said the work of the APRM must be of interest to Africans because it is the citizens of Africa who own the process.
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However, he said it had not been easy creating effective awareness of enhanced functionality of the peer review mechanism.
It is for the realisation of citizens’ ownership of the process that the District Oversight Committees engage public and private sector players, all religious bodies, traditional authorities, Ghana Education Service, the police, Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), assembly members, the judiciary, etc. for sensitisation, accountability and governance assessment to arouse stakeholder consciousness and obtain relevant data for analysis.
Governing council
Dr Lamptey was addressing the National Governing Council of Uganda, which is on a study tour of Ghana.
The delegation, which was led by Professor Josephine Akihire, Chairperson of the council, visited Gomoa West District to interact with the Oversight Committee to examine the structure of the committee and study how it goes about the District Governance Assessment Project.
The Ugandan delegation was accompanied by Professor S.K.B. Asante and Ambassador Alex Abankwa, members of the National Governing Council of Ghana and some officials of the APRM Secretariat.
The Gomoa West Oversight Committee of the African Peer Review Mechanism has over the years been visited by delegations from member states of the African Union, including Mali, on similar studies. The district was meritoriously selected for the launch of the 10th anniversary of the APRM.
Oversight committee
The Oversight Committees are the decentralised structures of the APRM and undertake sensitisation and education of the citizenry on the progress of the APRM.
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They carry out surveys at the district level, organise validation platforms on governance assessment and send data to the secretariat for further processes.
The capacity of DOC members have been built in sampling techniques; participatory monitoring and evaluation; report writing; and mobile data collection.
Their functions include implementation of decisions and directives of the governing council; assisting with the validation monitoring and evaluating reports and ensuring broad-based participation, accountability and transparency.
Others are the preparation and submission of annual, biannual or quarterly plans to the governing council; deepening the community's understanding of the APRM; and assisting the governing council to build strategic partnerships at the district level.
The overall aim of the District Governance Project is to enhance and scale up the capacity of civil society actors and district assembly members on governance and social accountability at the district level by providing them with the relevant training and skills to conduct district governance assessments.
The project addresses these challenges by assisting both civil society actors and local government authorities to jointly develop local governance and service delivery indicators resulting in the development of a Citizen Report Card (CRC) to monitor progress.
The process enables civil society actors to monitor and report on the progress of implementation of the NPoA at the district level. It also affords civil society, as final beneficiaries of all the activities outlined in the APRM Programme of Action, an opportunity to hold local government authorities and service providers accountable for the quality of governance and service delivery.
The project also supports an apolitical platform for civil society and local government authorities as well as public service providers for engagement during the district report validation process.
The District Governance Assessment (DGA) survey is a perception survey aimed at measuring governance and effectiveness of service delivery at the local government level. The survey elicits views of key stakeholders including district assembly members, public servants/service providers, traditional authorities, private sector actors and citizens. The district governance assessment surveys assess and track the progress of governance and service delivery in Ghana.
The first comprehensive survey was conducted in 2009.