: The Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS) has completed the first and second clusters in a series of four zonal trainings on Local Economic Development (LED) for Municipal Assemblies (MAs) and Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) participating in the Ghana Secondary Cities Support Program (GSCSP). The training is aimed at providing step-by-step guidance in LED interventions implementation to the MAs to complement government efforts at employment creation, incomes improvement and revenue mobilization.
The MAs were represented by their Co-ordinating and Agriculture Directors, Planning, Budget and Physical Planning Officers as well as the Heads of the Business Advisory Centers. The first in the series of trainings took place in Tamale from August 16-18, 2021 for a total of 46 officers from six (6) participating MAs in the Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East and Upper West Regions. The second was for eight (participating MAs from the Ashanti, Bono, Bono East and Ahafo Regions with a total of 57 officers in attendance. Regional Economic Planning Officers and Regional Budget Officers of all the RCCs named were also in attendance.
The training sessions Tamale and Ejisu were opened by the Directors of Budget (Mr. Emmanuel Nartey) and Administration (Ms. Golda Grace Asante) respectively; all of the OHLGS on behalf of the Head of Service. They reiterated the fact that the participating MAs were privileged to have been selected to participate in the GSCSP as this provides them with additional funding. They urged the MAs to work hard to ensure continuous qualification for the annual allocation. They indicated that most MMDAs over rely on central government transfers due to the low levels of IGF mobilized. They urged the MAs to leverage on LED to improve their funding fortunes. They called officers of the MAs to have a change of mind set, optimism and the can-do spirit and more importantly a shift in paradigm from government having no business to do business to vigorously supporting LED activities.
The training was put together by the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) with, Dr Nicholas Awortwi, Director of ILGS as lead facilitators in addition to other from the Institute. Areas covered included Understanding LED concept and Emerging Trends; LED Legislation, Policy and Programs in Ghana; Mapping of Municipal Economic Resources and Institutions for LED Niches; Developing ‘One Area One Product’ Value Chain; Governance of LED at the Municipal Level; Tracking the LED Outputs of Job Creation, Income Growth and Local Development; and Managing a Municipality as a Business (panel discussions).
Ms. Asante closed the training session in the Ashanti Region with the quote that ‘we know nothing until our lives reflects what we know’ as such she urged the beneficiaries to implement the ‘new knowledge’ they have acquired with urgency. She entreated the Coordinating Directors to up their game in order to court the needed political will and support for implementation of LED.
The GSCSP is a Government of Ghana Program for selected 25 MAs with funding from the World Bank with the goal to support the participating Assemblies deliver improved municipal services to their local residents. The OHLGS is responsible for capacity development and ensure the availability of the right skills mix at the respective MAs and RCCs; while the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development (MLGD&RD) is responsible for the overall management of the program.
Training for zones 3 and 4 will take place from August 23 – 27, 2021 at Elmina and Ho respectively.