Three Year Project By Gub-Katimali Society Yield Results

Sheik Abdul Kareem Yakubu

The implementation of a three-year project by the Gub-Katimali Society (GKS) in the Northern Region of Ghana, which seeks to promote an all inclusive governance and empower the vulnerable to be able to demand accountability from local officials, has so far recorded some significant gains within two years since its inception.

The project, sponsored by the European Union and implemented by BasicNeeds-Ghana in collaboration with four of its local partners including the GKS, is being rolled out in some 20 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Upper West, Upper East, Northern and Greater Accra Regions to advance socio-economic and political development by holding MMDAs accountable.

Some of the 20 MMDAs include Central Gonja, East Mamprusi, Bunkprugu-Yunyoo, Nanumba South, Tamale Metropolis, Bawku West, Builsa, Wa, Lambussie-Karni, Ayawaso Sub-metro, Okaikoi Sub-metro, Ashiedu-Keteke Sub-metro and Ablekum Sub-metro areas.

The 471,029 Euros project intends to contribute to ensuring people-centered development that meets the needs and aspirations of the majority of the population, especially the poorest and most vulnerable. The poorest and vulnerable in this case refers to men and women with mental illness or epilepsy and their caregivers, women groups, the youth as well as peasant farmers who are mostly excluded in decision making or development processes at the local level. 

According to the Executive Director of GKS and Project Coordinator Sheik Abdul Kareem Yakubu, since the inception of the project two years ago the various Assemblies officials are now beginning to see the need to involve vulnerable groups in the decision-making processes of the Assemblies so as to achieve an all inclusive development that would make everyone satisfied and go a long way to promote unity and peaceful coexistence.

Speaking at a forum organized by GKS in Tamale, that saw participants drawn from the different beneficiary districts in the region, Sheik Yakubu lauded the accommodating attitude of the District Assemblies and encouraged them to do more for vulnerable groups in order to attain a level of development that would be considered unbiased and friendly.

However, most participants at the forum confirmed that their respective District Assemblies were now living up to expectation by honouring their obligation towards them through the allocation of their share of the District Assemblies Common Fund as well as other social protection programmes which were gradually bringing improvement into their lives.

For instance, in the Nanumba South District a lot of persons with disabilities had been enrolled onto a skill training programme like dressmaking whereas some four other individuals had also been supported with money totaling GH¢6,100.00 to open a provision shop, smock weaving shop, ruminants rearing and farming as well as payment of schools at the tertiary level.

In the Nanumba North District, three PWDs had been offered GH¢3,600.00 to buy a sewing machine and its accessories, open a computer repairing shop, operate plastic bags business as well as some amount of GH¢25,000.00 to foot the medical bills of a child with ceil anus.

Elsewhere in the West Mamprusi District, Assembly officials also supported the mentally handicapped and epileptic group with GH¢4,000.00 to buy their medications and organise sensitization programmes to enhance their understanding of some governance issues. Besides, those into farming were supported with inputs such as fertilizers, weedicides and tractor services to boost their farming activities.

It also emerged at the forum, that PWDs in the East Mamprusi District received 32 sewing machines from the Rural Enterprise Project in 2012 which were given to members who were being trained in dressmaking. Hair dressers also received 30 driers from the Assembly in the same year whereas about ten children received financial support towards their education.

Furthermore, women who are into rice processing in the Tamale Metropolis were contracted by the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly to supply rice to schools under the Ghana School Feeding Programme as well as the National Food and Buffer Stock Company. In the Central Gonja District, PWDs received skills training in dressmaking and hair dressing.

Meanwhile, by the end of the project in October 2014, best practices for engaging disadvantaged civil society groups would have been well documented, widely disseminated and adopted or adapted.

Also, persons with disabilities, women groups, the youth and farmer groups would effectively participate in decision-making processes; and the 20 MMDAs in the target regions effectively respond to mental health and other social development issues to improve quality of life of the poorest and most vulnerable people, their families and communities.