France, Ghana sign €800 million agreement

The governments of Ghana and France have signed a €800 million a financing agreement to facilitate the implementation of the SPF Project “Strengthening the accountability of Ghana’s central and local administrations.

According to the French government, the objective is to contribute to the culture of accountability through practical and concrete support to specific mechanisms, both at central and local level, involving the full range of stakeholders.

The agreement is composed of three operational components. The first component, implemented by Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), will consolidate the public sector accountability at central government level, while the second component, implemented by Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS), will consolidate at local level in the Western region.

The third component implemented by Centre for Democratic Development will allow the innovation for social accountability.

French Ambassador to the country Frederic Clavier, speaking at the signing ceremony, stated that the project aims to reinforce reforms and make the realities involved in their implementation clearer to policy makers.

“The activities should focus on the consolidation of good practice in the general functioning of the public administration, and should try to enhance effective citizen participation, based on accountability mechanisms. The Civil Society will finally have a better understanding of issues relating to administrative reforms and the tools at its disposal to ensure the accountability of policymakers,” he said.

According to him, “state and non-state actors can participate effectively in development processes through the implementation of those governance principles. In Ghana, if positive progresses have been made during the last decades, key reforms remain to be launched in order to ensure public sector efficiency and transparency.

The Ambassador said the deal opens a “new chapter in the history of the relationship in the field of the good governance”.

Ghana was represented at the signing ceremony by the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Julius Debrah, and the Minister of State for Public Sector Reform, Alhassan Azong.

French cooperation with Ghanaian authorities on administration issues has been ongoing since 2006, with the programme called “Fond de Solidarité Prioritaire – Solidarity Priority Fund (SPF)”, a major tool to finance cooperation actions of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the framework of the policy of development aid.