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20.10.2018 Social News

Gushegu officers trained on GESI

20.10.2018 LISTEN
By GNA

About 20 key officers from relevant public institutions in the Gushegu Municipality have received training on the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) project to factor the interest of the vulnerable into their programmes.

The training was also to enhance the capacity of participants in GESI planning and service delivery, facilitate a dialogue around barriers to GESI and how to address them as well as identifying areas of collaboration between the Gushegu Municipal Assembly and project implementers to ensure GESI in the performance of its functions.

It forms part of the Enhancing Social Inclusion in Local Governance project (ESILG) funded by SATR-Ghana, USAID, and Danida with the aim to reduce the inequality gap and the rate at which some particular groups of people such as the aged, youth, women, Fulani and people with disabilities are excluded from local governance.

The ESILG project seeks to build capacity, promote social accountability and facilitate the participation of socially excluded groups thus participants are given the platform to outline some reasons that led to social exclusion and inequalities within the municipality and the steps that are taken as remedies to the outlined causes.

GESI is a year's project, which began two months ago, and it is being implemented at the Gushegu and West Mamprusi Municipalities by the Regional Advisory Information Network System (RAINS) in partnership with Women Support and Activist Group (WOSAG).

Dr Chrys Anab, a Facilitator to the ESILG project at RAINS, who made a presentation at the training at Gushegu on Thursday, said social inclusion would be achieved when all individuals had the necessary opportunities and resources to participate fully in economic, social, cultural and political activities.

He said the inclusion of everyone in decision-making and local governance could eliminate employment segregation, which would increase productivity by three to five per cent and equalise access to agricultural inputs, which would as well increase output by up to four per cent.

Dr Anab expressed need for the Assemblies to factor the needs of GESI groups into their activities to enhance social inclusion in local governance as there had been a great loss of human capital for local and national development as a result of social exclusion.

Madam Ruby Osman, Head of Department of Social Welfare and Community Development at Gushegu Municipality said the Department was not able to undertake effective sensitisation and monitoring on GESI issues because of inadequate funding and resources.

Madam Osman commended RAINS for the training, which would ensure that the vulnerable and socially excluded were considered in the operations of the Assembly.

Mr Abdulai Zabaga, President of the District Cross Disability said the exclusion of persons with disability started from the family level through to the district level lauding the training saying it should also target the family level to recognise that persons with disability were equally important in nation-building.

Participants suggested language and cultural barriers, and geographical locations as some of the reasons for the exclusion of the vulnerable from decision-making in local governance in the area calling for intensified sensitisation to address the situation.

GNA

By Wayo Rosemary, GNA

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