A conference was held on the theme: “Leveraging Digital Tools for a Balanced and Coordinated Development in Northern Ghana”, to discuss the progress made on the Gulf of Guinea Social Cohesion (SOCO) Project implementation and the impact made on the lives of Ghanaians in the beneficiary communities across the five regions of the north and the Oti region.

The conference was on the backdrop of a World Bank Group mission field visit to the SOCO Project sites, which allowed the Ministry and the Group to learn firsthand the impact of the Project.

The Minister of State at the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Hon Osei Bonsu Amoah, who opened the conference, described the $150 million credit support by the World Bank for the SOCO Project as a game changer due to its span of intervention.

Referring to the Multidimensional Poverty Report in 2020 by the Ghana Statistical Service, Hon. Amoah said that the northern Regions are lagging in the national average on electricity coverage, Housing, Assets, cooking fuel, Drinking water, Toilet, School attendance, School attainment, and Nutrition.

He noted the wide development gap between the north and south and said it required a coordinated effort to bridge the north-south divide, and this, he said, the Project aimed to achieve in the six SOCO implementing Regions.

Outlining the progress of the Project, Hon. Amoah chronicled that under the first year of implementation, over 556 infrastructure projects were executed. These consist of 74 rural markets,  55 health facilities, 66 classroom blocks and teachers' accommodation,  42 roads,  and 228 water facilities, including boreholes with handpump, mechanized boreholes,  and small-town water systems.

He

added that the project has also created 3,748 jobs for community members through their participation in the construction of community infrastructure projects, strengthened the capacity of 4,709 local development actors, including staff of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and community members for local development planning and management, as well as 9,954 farmers and rural enterprises are currently receiving technical and financial support from the project.

The World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Robert Taliercio O’Brien together with other officials and the SOCO Technical Implementation Mission as part of the SOCO field visit, earlier toured the Sagnarigu Municipality to ascertain the progress of work on some infrastructure projects in the area.

The delegation also interacted with the Shishegu Soap Makers group, which was selected for support from the SOCO initiative after a needs assessment by the Community Project Implementation Committee (CPIC).

The five-year project is being implemented in 48 MMDAs in Ghana. The project seeks to prevent the spillover of conflict and activities of extremist groups from the Sahel, reduce vulnerability to climate change, strengthen local institutions, provide economic opportunities and improve public trust.

Source:     Matilda Tettey

(Public Relations Unit, MLGDRD)

A delegation from the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) called on the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation, and Rural Development (MLGDRD) to discuss programmes and projects undertaken by the CLFG.

Discussions also centered around advocacy on local governance issues, sharing of knowledge and networking between the Ministry and local actors in promoting and strengthening local governance.

The Chief Director of the Ministry, Amin Abdul-Rahaman was grateful to the CLFG for the efforts in promoting local governance in Ghana, acknowledging the seriousness the CLFG placed on all programmes and projects of the Ministry and assured them of the Ministry’s support.

He expressed the Ministry’s appreciation for the support of CLFG and implored them to propagate the works of the Ministry to encourage local actors.

Mr. Abdul-Rahaman stressed the Ministry's commitment to the cause of CLFG and said it is open to partnerships in promoting local governance.

The West African Regional Programmes Officer for CLFG, Joyce Ekuful, said the visit to the Ministry was to inform it about the projects and programmes of CLFG.

Ms. Ekuful applauded the efforts of the Ministry in supporting CLGF’s projects and programmes, acknowledging the Forum’s benefits from the good practices of the government of Ghana and urged other commonwealth states to emulate.

She said contributions from the Ministry will help strengthen local governance and stressed the need for more funds to promote more programmes and projects.

She highlighted the benefits of the Local Economic Development pilot programme in four Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), which spanned from 2016 to 2020, such as the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) project to train women assembly members, in nine regions and the collaboration with Ghana Statistical Service in the collation of administrative data for Ghana.

She called for sustainable mobilisation to the commitment to good governance in the commonwealth region and asked for the Ministry’s participation.

Source:           Rhodaline Abba

                        (Public Relations Unit, MLGDRD)

The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development held a management meeting to sign an agreement based on the Performance of Directors, Heads of Departments and Analogous Grades, on the 8^th of April 2024 at the Ministry.

The purpose of the meeting was to ascertain the 2024 performance assessment agreement was signed and the occasion was also used to introduce two new Directors.

In his opening remarks, the Chief Director Amin Abdul-Rahaman stated that, as part of plans to achieve targets set up by the Ministry, it is prudent to sign a performance agreement with various Directorates.  This will help ensure that the organisational objectives and goals of the Ministry feeds into the National Policy and attain the mandate of the Ministry.

He besought the Directors to ensure that their targets set for the year were in sync with the goals and achievements of the Ministry and he encouraged and advised them to also set smart targets that can be actualised and achieved.

For his part, the Director for Human Resource, Kwabena Denkyira stated that, the Performance Assessment also forms part of the Chief Director’s Performance Assessment with the Head of Civil Service which was very crucial for the Ministry’s Performance.

He also advised his colleagues to adhere to the requirements in the Chief Director’s schedule and called for the need to sign the Performance Agreement to help appraise them fairly.

On the assessment of performance of Deputy Directors and its equivalent grades to the last grade, Mr. Denkyira said the Civil Service used the E-spar to ascertain their achievements.

The Director for General Administration, Dela Kemevor also gave his input and said the importance of this exercise, was to help assess the performance of Directors within the civil service.

He mentioned that ‘the target is what drives us and guides us’. Saying “When targets are set, it helps to complete the guideline for the Ministry”.

Source:             Humble Owusu Yeboah & Rhodaline Abba
                              (Public Relations Unit, MLGDRD)