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18.04.2018 Politics

IDEG Empowers Community Members

By GNA
IDEG Empowers Community Members
18.04.2018 LISTEN

The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) in collaboration with Mondelez International Cocoa Life Programme is embarking on a project to build the capacities of community members to actively participate in local governance in the Sekyere East District.

The project, which is being organized under the Governance Issues Forum (GIF), aimed at bridging the gap between community members and their duty bearers in local governance.

It is also to provide platform for effective civic engagement to promote inclusive policy dialogue and mutual accountability between state and non-state actors towards poverty reduction, development and good governance.

Ms. Eileen Goody Gans-Lartey, Project Officer of IDEG, said GIF networks have been formed in local communities to translate people's voices, choices and collective decisions into action for development planning and implementation.

She was speaking at a forum organized for community members from 25 communities from Cocoa Life Operation areas in the Sekyere East District at Effiduase.

Ms. Gans-Lartey, said the forum was targeted at providing the GIFNets members, who were representing their communities, the opportunity to interact with their duty bearers on governance and development issues.

It was also to provide a better appreciation of roles and ensure that both community members and duty bearers in the district assembly agree on ways to facilitate development in their communities.

The National Faculty Chairman of GIFNets, Mr Jonathan Aviisah, said the network was a mechanism to empower local community members to participate in public policy decisions at the local and community levels.

He said the networks had enabled communities to manage their own political and economic development issues through continues dialogue on public policies and development programmes.

Ms. Beatrice Kwarteng, Sekyere East District Planning Officer, said the initiative was good to resolve issues of mistrust, negative perceptions and at times, conflicts between community members and district assemblies.

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