ACCRA – WEDNESDAY APRIL 11, 2018: The Head of Service, Ing. Dr. Nana Ato Arthur visited and interacted with the Governance Unit of the German Development Co-operation (GIZ). The visit was to express the felicitations of the Local Government Service (LGS) for the capacity building support to 60 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in all 10 Regions; and to seek further collaboration.
Dr. Arthur said with the recent reforms in the decentralisation sector, the Service sought further collaboration with GIZ to build the capacities of staff to enable them gain knowledge and learn best practices to improve upon their experience and performance. The Head of Service called for an increase in the number of personnel trained per Assembly for greater impact of the programme. He said a major challenge of MMDAs was the issue of reliable data for revenue generation. He advocated for the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to boost performance indicators.
The governance unit was optimistic about the ambition of the UN Agenda 2030 programme for Sustainable Development of which Ghana is a role model. The head of unit said, it was in that regard that GIZ had sought to work closely with Service. In the implementation of the Performance Management System (PMS) by the Service, he said GIZ had committed to support the strengthening of the Human Resource Departments of MMDAs. He added that GIZ was also supporting the street naming and property addressing system, a project which when completed would facilitate mobilization of Internally Generated Fund (IGF) by Assemblies. He suggested the need to improve quality assurance processes, information dissemination and follow-up mechanism that focus on effectiveness and efficiency in the discharge of the duties by staff.
Accompanying the Head of Service were Directors and other senior staff of the Office of the Head of Local Government Service (OHLGS).