The Tamale Ecclesiastical Province Pastoral Conference (TEPPCON), as part of efforts to help promote good participatory governance at the local level, has engaged vulnerable groups and duty bearers in two districts in the Upper East Region.
The engagement brought together women, the youth and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) from the Builsa South District and Kassena-Nankana Municipality.
The programme was part of the project dubbed, “Strengthening citizen participation in local governance in the Tamale Ecclesiastical Province”, being implemented by TEPPCON and sponsored by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a German-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).
It is a pilot project which seeks to address issues of weak and low involvement of vulnerable groups’ participation in major decision making processes, covering 10 administrative districts in the five Catholic Dioceses including Tamale, Yendi, Damongo, Wa and Navrongo-Bolgatanga.
The programme further saw the launching of a manual for good governance and development at the local level, representing a framework for civic education.
The forum created a platform for the socially excluded to interact with the duty bearers on the implementation of certain social intervention programmes.
The Chairman of TEPPCON, Mr Alfred Ndago, stated that the Catholic Church over the years had not only worked to propagate the Gospel, but had contributed to promoting peace, justice and development for the wellbeing of mankind.
The chairman noted that the poverty cycle and inequalities in northern parts of the country was being worsened due to lack of information and awareness, explaining that, it was based on this that the platform was created for dialogue interface between citizens and local government authorities to help confront the phenomenon.
He said the marginalised such as women, the youth and PwDs were mostly affected when it came to decision-making, and added that their views were mostly not considered in the formulation of policies and programmes.
Mr Ndago explained that the project sought to strengthen the capacity of citizens, particularly the vulnerable groups to participate fully in local governance by demanding accountability from political and administrative leaders.
Speaking on behalf of the Bishop of Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocese, Most Reverend Alfred Agyenta, the Navrongo-Bolgatanga Diocesan Partnership Coordinator of the project, Reverend Father John Kantongi Kanzire, said town hall meetings were organised in order to make the citizens know their rights and enable the leadership of the assemblies account for their stewardship.
The Builsa South District Coordinating Director, Mr Mahama Bukari Mumuni, explained that development was a collective responsibility, and applauded TEPPCON for creating the platform for the assemblies to explain issues to the citizenry concerning the operations of the assemblies.
The various departments of the assemblies including Social Welfare and Community Development, National Youth Authority, Business Advocacy Centre and National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), among others, who were part of the programme accounted to the vulnerable groups their stewardship focusing on the government pro-poor programmes.
FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, FUMBISI
