By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA
Accra, Aug. 31, GNA – The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) is collaborating with the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) to strengthen the capacity of budget and planning officers on gender-responsive planning and budgeting.
Opening a three-day capacity-building workshop in Accra on Monday, Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, the Director-General of the NDPC, said gender-responsive planning and budgeting were central to ensuring that national resource allocations positively impact the lives of women and girls.
She emphasised the need to create equal opportunities for women and vulnerable groups to access economic resources, noting that women constitute the majority of Ghana’s population and represent 53 per cent of the labour force.
“In allocating resources, their needs must be factored prominently at both national and district levels,” she said.
Dr Amoah said areas such as healthcare and social services must integrate gender-responsive planning and budgeting to enhance welfare and productivity.
She added that the NDPC had developed gender-responsive toolkits to help Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Regional Coordinating Councils, and Assemblies mainstream gender considerations in planning and budgeting.
Dr Maame B. Peterson, Research and Policy Analyst at AFIDEP in charge of the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Macroeconomic Policy Project, said the training would empower planning and budget officers to apply the NDPC’s gender-responsive toolkits in district-level planning and budgeting.
She explained that AFIDEP, a Pan-African research and policy NGO headquartered in Malawi, supports African governments to utilise data and evidence-based approaches in allocating national resources efficiently and in a gender-responsive manner.
Its work hinges on human capital development, sustainable development goals, and governance, and it currently operates in 26 African countries.
Participants include gender desk officers, planning and budget officers drawn from across the country, as well as staff of the NDPC.
GNA
Edited by Benjamin Mensah
Reporter: Godwill Arthur-Mensah,GNA
[email protected]