Let's implement knowledge from capacity building - Deputy Minister

Accra, Nov. 7, GNA - Ghana will see much growth if developmental players could "graduate from holding series of capacity building workshops" and bring to fruition the knowledge accumulated from such forums over the years, a deputy Minister has held. Mr Abraham Dwuma Odoom, a deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said people have gotten so much information but very little of what had been acquired from capacity building seminars had been implemented.

"If anything, what Ghana needs now is not too much of capacity building workshops, but rather implementing what have been acquired through workshops and seminars," he stated. Mr Odoom said this when opening a four-day capacity building workshop at Abokobi for civil society organisations. It was under the theme: "Promoting Community Participation in Local Government: The Role of Civil Society Organisations."

The workshop was a collaborative effort of Philip Foundation Programme, a social service oriented non-governmental organisation and the German Development Services aimed at equipping civil society groups at the community level to participate and make meaningful input into local governance issues.

Mr Odoom said Ghana was at the crossroad and critically needed leadership with direction and purpose, especially at the community level where effective decision-making would largely impact on the people. He said there was the need to strengthen the sub-structures at the local level so as to enhance good decision-making, particularly in the management of resources.

Mr Boateng Mensah, Executive Director of Philip Foundation, said the workshop was organised based on the realisation that many communities either did not understand the role of civil society organisations and how their activities could positively impact on their developmental agenda.

Besides, the participation of some NGOs in community development, have purely been cosmetic, leaving little story to be told about them, he added.

"Every development must meet the needs of the people over whom we preside, anything other than that is a failure," Mr Mensah said.