The Upper West Region is to receive GH¢107 million for the implementation of the second phase of the Gulf of Guinea Northern Region Social Cohesion Project (SOCO) in the eleven municipal and district assemblies (MDAs) of the region.
The five-year $150 million project is being implemented in 48 MDAs in the Upper West, Upper East, Savannah, North East, Northern and Oti Regions of Ghana, and is expected to deliver resilient community infrastructure and assets through a Community-Driven Development Approach (CDD)
Mr Dan Botwe made this known on Thursday at Wa during a stakeholder consultative forum on the SOCO Scoping Report and Digital Knowledge Management Platform at the instance of the National Development Planning Committee (NDPC) in collaboration with the MLDGRD and other partners.
According to the Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), a total of GH¢48 million was given to the region last year for various implementation under the project and said more than double of that amount would be disbursed this year for the continuation of the project.
The meeting was, therefore, to afford stakeholders and beneficiaries of the intervention the opportunity to deliberate on critical issues impacting development in beneficiary regions and consider reliable policy initiatives using the SOCO Project as a case study.
According to the minister, the forum also sought to promote evidence-based decision making for integrated and inclusive development in northern Ghana and further underscores the need to fulfill the desired development in the northern part of the country through data-driven evidence to guide decisions on development paths for the regions in northern Ghana.
Mr Botwe, who was more concerned about sustainability and meeting the needs of the communities, charged the Regional Coordinating Councils of beneficiary regions as well as Municipal and District Coordinating Directors to effectively coordinate and ensure that funds disbursed were used to benefit intended beneficiaries.
“The SOCO Project will be different from other interventions if there is proper coordination and collaboration; MDAS are supposed to promote local economic development and give guidance to other administrative structures in the assembly, so we need proper coordination to ensure that we are keeping faith with the people and doing what will satisfy them because if the programme benefits the people, they will know and feel it and testify,” he said.
The Vice Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Mr David Quaye Annang, added that the government through the MLGDRD, the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank was implementing SOCO to help address challenges imposed by spillovers of conflicts and extremism from the Sahel region, reduce vulnerability due to exposure to the impact of climate change, strengthen local institutions, provide economic opportunities and build public trust.
He, therefore, called for continuous and sustained collaboration of all stakeholders towards the implementation of the intervention in the region.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, WA
