Catholic Bishops' good governance workshop opens

Accra, May 3, GNA - A day's workshop to mainstream good governance activities through capacity building, facilitating and co-ordinating initiatives at the national and grassroots levels was held in Accra on Tuesday.

It discussed building consensus with identified target groups in their priority areas for capacity building and identified opportunities for collaboration with other national governance programmes. The workshop on: "Advocacy for Good Governance in Ghana" was at the instance of the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference Project in collaboration with Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), the watchdog committee for Bishops' conference.

Participants included politicians, religious and traditional leaders and representatives from the Judiciary, Media, women groups the youth and civil society organisations.

The five-year project with an initial three-year phase from January 2005 to December 2008, seeks to improve the capacity of Catholics towards strengthening action aimed at maintaining good governance in the country.

It would also seek to mainstream activities in the Catholic Church, deepen linkages for advocacy on good governance, build capacity within the Catholic Church for peace advocacy and monitor general election before and after the vote.

Mr Kofi Asubonteng, Executive Director, Laity Council, said while Ghanaians might be applauded for staying the democratic course for 13 uninterrupted years, that achievement also presented new opportunities and challenges for good governance particularly in the management of State resources and institutions, and broadening public participation in governance.

The Commission would organise capacity building training programmes for target groups such as Media Practitioners, Politicians, religious bodies, women groups and civil society organizations.

He it would also develop early warning systems for the Damongo Peace Centre to meet the ethnic conflict needs in these areas. "We also intend to develop women to take interest in good governance debates and to stand for district and national level elections," he said.

Mrs Agnes Sekyi-Hughes, National President of JPC, urged the participants to join hands to improve the lives of the people.