Elmina – Monday April 03 – Tuesday 4, 2023: The Office of the Head of the Local Government Service (OHLGS) in collaboration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has opened the first of a four-zonal capacity building workshops for thirty-five (35) selected Municipal Assemblies (MAs) and Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) on the Local Economic Development (LED) Program.
The program which is a government of Ghana intervention through the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural Development (MLGDRD) with funds from the World Bank is to implement the Ghana Secondary Cities Support Program (GSCSP 2019-2024) and provide MAs in secondary cities with financial and technical support to provide urban services.
The first of the four-zonal workshop held at Elmina in the Central Region from Monday April 3 – Tuesday 4, 2023 discussed the relevance of Investment to Ghana’s Economy, its attractiveness to Investors and the effective Business Models that needed to be adopted by MAs into their LED activities.
A Senior Budget Analyst who delivered the objectives for the workshop on behalf of the Director of Budget of the OHLGS, Mr. Emmanuel Nartey, said the workshop was organised to provide RCCs and participating MAs with the needed capacity towards the LED Phase II Program and to ensure the requisite procedures are put in place for its successful implementation. He said the program was to help facilitate economic development as well as create job opportunities for the country. He expressed hope that the workshop would contribute immensely to its intended purpose and achievement with the intervention of GIPC, Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), RCCs and the dedication of the staff at the Program MAs.
The workshop session gave participating MAs and RCCs the opportunity to present the LED potentials in their respective regions for possible local economic interventions and enhance job creation in areas such as the Mine Services and the Stone Quarry at Sefwi Muoho, Rice production, Oil Palm Plantation, and Bee keeping in their respective Region.
Activities of the second day of the workshop included a site visit to the Nyame Tease Oil Palm Processing Company in the Mfatseman Municipal Assembly which was led by the Municipal Planning Officer Mrs. Mary Nana Mensah, revealed some LED potential intervention in Oil Palm processing for which participants were optimistic would contribute to increase the economic status of the country if priority is directed at them.