LACK OF A COMMON PLATFORM FOR NGOs, THE CAUSE OF WIDESPREAD POVERTY IN N/R

The lack of a common platform for the numerous Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) operating in the Northern Region, to enable them meet to discuss relevant issues of common interest that probably could help in addressing serious development needs of the masses, has been cited as one of the obstacles thwarting efforts by NGOs to alleviate widespread poverty in the region.

Development practitioners claim that, the lack of a common platform has led to the execution of similar development projects from different NGOs in one particular geographical area, which are detrimental to the progress of those communities.

For these people, the duplication of their efforts in the Northern Region and for that matter Northern Ghana, is a matter of concern and thus, should be addressed immediately.

In view of this, over ninety (90) organizations that attended this year’s Annual Festival of Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and Local NGOs under the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) had on their agenda, the creation of a common platform for all CBOs and Local NGOs to come together and show what really each of them was doing in their various intervention areas and also in a way advocate towards minimizing duplication of their own efforts.

According to Mr. Ismail Lansah, CBO Technical Committee Chairman, the festival also sought to encourage networking among CBOs and other informal groups to advocate on these issues for accelerated grassroots development in Northern Ghana; and furthermore, to expose the activities of CBOs and Local NGOs for potential partnerships and collaborations.

Undeniably, the aforementioned he noted is worth encouraging because Northern Ghana is the poorest and the most marginalized area in Ghana with a population of over three million people.

Mr. Lansah indicated that, poverty is endemic because of little income earning opportunities that have left the rural areas desolate and in terms of human development indicators, Northern Ghana has 20% of the national population and accounts for the 60% of the poorest tenth of the national population.

The last three decades have seen the emergence of NGOs in Northern Ghana from faith based to those based on friendship to contribute towards bringing relief to the people of the three regions of Northern Ghana – Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions. Today, the Northern Region of Ghana is host of many international and local NGOs than any other region in Ghana, all contributing with different strategies towards alleviating poverty in the area.

GDCA, one of the earliest NGOs that started operations in the Northern Region collaborated with IBIS Ghana to organize the fourth edition of the annual festival of CBOs and Local NGOs in Tamale under the theme: “Citizen’s participation in development planning; a key to achieving sustainable development”.

Both GDCA and IBIS Ghana are funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) and have a common operational area in the Northern Region of Ghana.