The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), through its Enhancing Civil Society Coordination for the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Ghana project, has held a sensitisation and awareness campaign workshop for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the Northern Region.
The workshop, supported by the European Union, formed part of series of sensitisation and awareness creation campaigns on OGP National Action Plan five, which marks the country’s drive for greater transparency, accountability and active citizens’ participation in governance.
It was attended by about 40 CSOs including the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), RUWA-Ghana, Inspire to Act, Simba Ghana amongst others.
They were exposed to the National Action Plan (NAP) co-creation process, case studies and best practices across the globe on OGP Action successes.
There were also group discussions and presentations on ways to promote responsible governance and active citizen participation at the local level.
Mr Jacob Tetteh Ahuno, the Programmes and Research Officer at GII, speaking during the workshop in Tamale, said it was to strengthen the capacity of the CSOs on advocacy and engagement strategies, to interact effectively with key stakeholders to advance OGP commitments within the selected decentralised agencies.
He said it was further to enable CSOs to integrate OGP principles into their programming and public engagement efforts such as media outreach and community discussions.
The workshop would help facilitate the development of a collaborative action framework to serve as a structured plan for CSOs and government coordination in the NAP five implementation and monitoring at the local level, he stated.
Participants, after deliberating on how to enhance transparency, accountability and active citizen participation among others, recommended that Assemblies should prioritise making their meetings open to the public, increase awareness on the medium-term development plan and the need to prioritise media engagement and dissemination of information after every general assembly meeting.
Mr Mohammed Shani Iddrisu, the Local Focal Person for OGP reiterated the role of OGP to enhancing responsible leadership and bringing governance close to the citizenry.
Alhaji Masud Aziz Rauf, the Executive Director, RUWA-Ghana, commended GII and partners for the engagement and expressed optimism about it will impact on the overall sustainable development in the Assemblies.
GNA
