Senior members of district assemblies in areas where the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority’s Millennium Villages Project (SADA-MVP) was operational, on Tuesday ended a capacity building workshop on leadership, accountability and advocacy.
The two-day training programme aims at enhancing the capacity of power holders at the district assembly level to be more responsible and accountable to communities in the equitable distribution of development interventions.
Participants, including district co-ordinating directors, district planners and budget officers, were from Builsa South in Upper East Region and West Mamprusi, Mamprugu Moaduri district assemblies in the Northern Region.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Mr David Sumbo, Team Leader of SADA-MVP, said the training was also to empower them to use the scarce resources judiciously so as to make more impact on the livelihoods of the people.
He said since the inception of SADA-MVP in 2012, it had strived to improve the living standards of people in the 35 project communities in the West Mamprusi, Mamprugu Moaduri and Builsa South districts.
He said project interventions SADA-MVP had embarked upon and implemented ranged from the provision of improved health care facilities, school infrastructure and the rehabilitation of roads and provision of warehouses.
Mr Sumbo said in addition to the provision of infrastructure, capacity building workshops and trainings had been organised for various community groups including farmer organisations, parent teacher associations , school management committees and water and sanitation committees and cooperatives, to empower them to perform their roles and responsibilities better.
He said in June 2014, some selected representatives of the Community Based Organisations, including members of Village Savings and Loans Associations, were trained to enhance their capacity to advocate for better amenities and services on behalf of their communities.
?These capacity building efforts are also meant to enable citizens to be aware of their rights and have a stronger voice to demand change from public office holders, particularly those at the local government level,? Mr Sumbo said.
He said SADA-MVP understood the importance of working with power holders in charge of equitable distribution of resources to be more responsive, transparent, and accountable to the communities.
?It has long been held that when citizens, on one hand, are empowered and active and power holders, on the other hand, become receptive and responsive to the needs and demands of citizens, space can be created for the dialoguing and channelling of citizens? interests, thereby leading to consensus building and peaceful development of communities,? he said.
GNA
