Government to equip Information Officers with tools - Baba Jamal

Koforidua, Nov. 7, GNA - Mr Baba Jamal, Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, on Friday reiterated Government's commitment to adequately equip all information officers with the necessary tools, skills and expertise to support the activities of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, as far as information management was concerned. He therefore expressed the hope that most of the reportage would focus on developments going on in the various communities and educate the public; thereby sensitizing them to be well-informed and bring them aboard government's development agenda to improve the standard of living. Mr Jamal was closing a four-day 'Human-Centred Development Reporting Capacity Building' workshop in Koforidua, organized by the UNDP for 20 District Information Officers and Journalists, drawn from the regions. He was optimistic that the workshop, with the aim of training the participants in developing and writing reports on human centred activities in line with the activities of the Community Information Centres (CIC's). Mr Jamal urged the participants to provide relevant, reliable and timely information to the public, by way of content management at the CICs. He assured the UNDP that government would continue to work hand-in hand with them to map out procedures and strategies, to promote the principles and practices of communication for development among district information officers and journalists for a better Ghana.

Mr Jamal expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Communications, specially the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), the Ministries of Local Government and Rural Development, and Finance and Economic Planning, for the roles in the establishment and management of the CICs for the benefit of the citizenry living outside the urban centres. Mr Fredrick Ampiah, Partnership Adviser, UNDP, said the workshop among other things has exposed the participants to the development challenges that face the government, the UNDP and other development partners, as they jointly strive towards Ghana's achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015.

He entreated the participants to put the skills they had acquired to good use by promoting awareness on development goals including the MDGs, enhancing grassroots participation in the formulation of development programmes among other things.

Mr Ampiah assured the participants that the UNDP was committed to working with government and its partners, to ensure that Ghana's vision of communications for accelerated economic development is realized. 7 Nov 09