Building MMDAs capacities in SDG budgeting and expenditure reporting

As part of our efforts to strengthen local financing for sustainable development, the Ministry of Finance (MoF), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Ghana, organized a five-day Workshop on

SDG Budgeting and Expenditure Reporting for selected Metropolitan,

Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) under the Integrated Assembly

Financing Framework (IAFF).

The workshop brought together budget and planning officials from five

Assemblies: Kumasi Metropolitan, Kassena-Nankana West District, Ketu South

Municipal, Sagnerigu Municipal, and Sefwi-Wiaso Municipal.

The sessions aimed to enhance their capacity in SDG budgeting and expenditure reporting, ensuring that local development planning and spending are better aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Through a series of technical and practical sessions, participants were guided on how to develop their respective 2024 SDG Budget and Expenditure Reports.

These reports outline the Assemblies’ budget allocations, expenditure patterns,

and the degree to which their local activities contribute to SDG targets.

The MMDAs were encouraged to provide verifiable evidence to support all data,

keep reports concise and user-friendly, and ensure that their expenditures align

with both SDG targets and local priorities.

Speaking during one of the sessions, Huzaif Musah, National Coordinator – Tax

for SDGs at UNDP Ghana, emphasized the importance of empowering local

governments to own and drive the implementation of the SDGs.

“When you want to reach the farthest behind, which is the main pillar of the work we do at UNDP Ghana, you work with MMDAs. That’s what SDG localization is about: empowering local governments to own and drive the SDGs. Through data, we

can see where Assemblies invest, what their priorities are, and how these align

with national SDG targets. This exercise may seem small, but it’s designed to

catalyze important conversations on financing, accountability, and local

ownership of the SDGs,” he noted.

The Workshop on SDG Budgeting and Expenditure Reporting forms part of

ongoing efforts under the Integrated Assembly Financing Framework (IAFF), a

framework that support assemblies to bring together all current financing

sources and also identify novel sources of financing.

By building the capacity of local assemblies in SDG budgeting and expenditure

tracking, UNDP Ghana and the Ministry of Finance are helping to promote

transparency and results-driven local governance, ultimately accelerating

Ghana’s progress toward achieving the SDGs.

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