NGOs in Upper West sensitised on GPRS

Wa, Aug. 30, (Seidu), GNA - Mr Ambrose Dery, Upper West Regional Minister on Tuesday urged NGOs and Community based Organisations to assess the micro-economic indicators at the grassroots to see the extent to which the Millennium Development Goals have been achieved, and make their inputs available to the National Development Planning Commission. He noted that the macro indicators were good for the country but as grassroots structures, local NGOs and other civil society groups had a big role to play in feeding public agencies with information on the ground.

Mr Dery said this at a Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) review workshop as part of the Grassroots Economic Literacy and Advocacy Programme (GELAP) of the Social Enterprise Development (SEND) Foundation of West Africa at Wa.

The One-day workshop was funded by the German Development Service (DED) and attended by representatives from local NGOs and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in the region. It sought to review the achievements of GPRS one before the inception of the second phase, which would be launched next year and expected to end in 2009. To create a humane society, Mr Dery said there was the need for the participation of all stakeholders at the various levels of the development process.

"The involvement of the grassroots is critical to the success of the GPRS but most often those who need the development particularly women who form the most stable segment of the communities are often sidelined".

Additionally, he said donors usually wanted to see women organized into groups in order to qualify to access credit to improve their circumstances but that condition was a major problem and ought to be reviewed.

Ms Henrike Mohr, a representative of the German Development service, said GELAP was a good example of informing the people and motivating them to participate in politics.

Bringing the GPRS to the Grassroots was a tool for improving the living conditions of the people, she added.

Mr Cuthbert Kuupiel, Advocacy Programme Manager of SEND Foundation said his organization was building on creating awareness on the medium term development agenda of the country.

SEND Foundation, he said, was broadening and deepening the understanding of grassroots based NGOs and various groups to enable them provide meaningful input and recommendations as civil society's feedback to review the GPRS before its second phase takes off next year. Aug. 30 05