Fomena (A/R), Oct. 02, GNA-The implementation of the Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanism (GSAM) Project in the Adansi North District has officially ended with a town hall meeting to discuss the gains and challenges.
With funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID),the project was implemented by a consortium comprising Care International, OXFAM Ghana and the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC)in partnership with other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).
The project, which was implemented in 50 districts across the country sought to strengthen citizen’s oversight of capital development projects to improve local government transparency, accountability and performance.
The implementation in the Adansi North District was facilitated by the Social Support Foundation (SSF) which held several stakeholder engagements over the six year period.
Under the Project, the SSF built the capacities of community members to effectively monitor the execution of capital projects in their localities as key stakeholders.
They also facilitated public for a, where officials of the District Assembly and the citizenry were brought together to discuss issues concerning selected projects in their communities in the interest of accountability and transparency.
At a town hall meeting to mark the end of the project at Fomena, the SSF identified lack of information on capital projects as one of challenges community members were facing in their quest to monitor such projects.
Mr Louis Acheampong, the Executive Director, said community members mostly complained about lack of information, but the Assembly blamed their representatives in the assembly for their failure to engage the electorate.
This situation, he said, was hindering active citizens’ participation in the execution of projects and urged assembly members to regularly engage the people to keep them informed.
He said 135 Community Development Monitors had been trained across the District to monitor and participate in execution of capital projects in their localities to ensure transparency.
He was positive that the project had empowered the citizens to take keen interest in capital projects in their communities and implored the assembly to put in place mechanisms to ensure citizens participated in the execution of projects at the local level.
