North East Chief Director expresses support for Empowerment for Life Programme

Mr Mohammed Avona Akape, Chief Director, North East Regional Coordinating Council (NERCC), has expressed support for the Empowerment for Life (E4L) Programme being implemented in the region, saying it will help to propel the development of the area.Mr Akape said the E4L Programme's focus areas formed part of the development challenges facing the area, adding its (E4L Programme) strategy to create awareness and advocacy around such issues was a step in the right direction to get duty-bearers to address the challenges for the benefit of society.He expressed support when a team from the E4L Programme visited the NERCC at Nalerigu to meet with him (Chief Director) and his team to discuss the Governance thematic area of the E4L Programme.Issues discussed at the meeting, which was also attended by representatives from the Internal Audit, Planning, Budget, and Accounts Units of the NERCC, focused on the implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Law, equitable allocation and timely release of the Distric t Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), functionality of District Audit Committees, and improved public service delivery from local government institutions.The Governance thematic area of the E4L Programme focuses on good governance issues such as equity, inclusiveness, active participation, transparency, responsiveness and accountability at both local and national levels.The E4L Programme seeks to ensure that civil society organisations in northern Ghana contribute to improved resilience, equity, and more accountable governance in the country.It is being implemented in the Northern, North East and Savannah Regions by four local partners; Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), School for Life, Changing Lives in Innovative Partnerships, and YEFL-Ghana with funding support from Civil Society in Development, through Ghana Venskab, a Danish organisation.Mr Akape said, 'The E4L Programme is in our own interest because the DACF is what sustains us. It is good that you are working to serve our interests. We will collaborate with the programme to succeed to propel the development of the region.'He urged the programme partners to ensure their advocacy also focused on the quantum of the DACF allocated to the MMDAs, saying for MMDAs that did not generate high revenues internally, the amount (DACF) was too small to undertake capital projects.Evita Emma Dunee, Technical Advisor, Policy and Governance, GDCA in-charge of the E4L Programme, said the programme would build collaborative relationships with the Ministry of Information, RTI Commission, RTI Coalition, Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs), the programme MMDAs amongst other relevant stakeholders, create awareness of the RTI Law amongst the citizenry and push for the establishment of information desks at MMDAs and assigning RTI officers to man them to ensure improved response and access to information for the citizenry.She said it would also build collaborative relationships with the Internal Audit Agency, CSOs in Local Government Reforms, RCCs, MMDAs a nd citizen groups to push for improved functionality of District Audit Committees to reduce the infractions recorded by the Auditor-General as part of the auditing of state institutions (MMDAs).She said the programme would also work with various relevant public institutions, CSOs, citizen groups and journalists to advocate equitable allocation and timely release of the DACF.She was happy about the commitment of the NERCC to the successful implementation of the programme in the area and gave assurance that the programme would work closely with relevant stakeholders at both regional and district levels for the benefit of society.Mr Abdul-Ganiw Abubakari, North East Regional Coordinator, E4L Programme, said the programme would work with like-minded CSOs, using evidence from the ground for strong advocacy to get the issues addressed.Source: Ghana News Agency