By Solomon Gumah
Tamale, May 30, GNA –A total of sixty women-led Community-Based Organisation (CBO) leaders from three Districts in the Northern Region have undergone intensive training on accountability, project monitoring and expenditure tracking to strengthen citizens participation in local governance and climate-responsive development.
Drawn from the Mion, Nanumba South and Kumbungu Districts, the training, organised by the Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency (SWIDA Ghana) with financial and technical support from Co-water implemented Strengthening Investments in Gender Responsive Climate Adaptation (SIGRA) project funded by Global Affairs Canada, sought to equip participants with practical skills to engage duty-bearers and monitor development commitments within their districts.
The capacity-building programme formed part of a broader budget consultation and citizen engagement activities under the SIGRA project aimed at promoting inclusive participation in district planning, budgeting, expenditure tracking and accountability processes.
Participants including women leaders, youth representatives and Persons with Disabilities, were trained on community advocacy, participatory governance mechanisms, project monitoring and expenditure tracking to improve service delivery and climate resilience in their communities.
Hajia Alima Sagito-Saeed, Executive Director of SWIDA Ghana, speaking during the training, underscored the importance of empowering women and vulnerable groups to actively monitor development interventions and ensure that community priorities were addressed through transparent and accountable implementation processes.
She noted that empowering women-led groups to participate meaningfully in governance and development planning would strengthen accountability and improve inclusive development outcomes within local communities.
Hajia Sagito-Saeed hinted that a key highlight of the training was the introduction and practical application of the “Issues Tracker” tool developed by SWIDA Ghana to help communities identify, document, monitor and follow up on development concerns and commitments captured in district development plans and budgets.
She said the initiative would strengthen community advocacy efforts and deepen engagement between citizens and local authorities on issues affecting livelihoods and climate resilience.
She reaffirmed SWIDA Ghana’s commitment to promoting inclusive participation, gender-responsive governance, accountability and climate resilience through sustained engagement with communities and local authorities across the Northern Region.
District Development Officers from the three participating districts also made presentations on priority interventions captured in their respective Medium-Term Development Plans highlighting progress made, challenges encountered and areas requiring stronger collaboration between communities and local authorities.
Presentations from the Mion District focused on ongoing interventions in climate-smart agriculture and women’s economic empowerment although officials indicated that inadequate financial resources continued to slow implementation of some programmes.
Officials from the Kumbungu District highlighted socio-cultural barriers limiting the participation of women and Persons with Disabilities in local governance processes and called for sustained advocacy and stakeholder engagement to address the situation.
Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, a representative from the Nanumba South District, stressed the need for stronger community participation in environmental protection initiatives and increased youth involvement in local development planning and decision-making processes.
Mr Ibrahim Sawei, Kumbungu District Secretary of the Federation of Disability Organizations commended SWIDA Ghana and the SIGRA project for creating an inclusive platform that enabled vulnerable groups to contribute meaningfully to local development discussions.
GNA
Edited by Eric K. Amoh /Kenneth Odeng Adade