The Honuorable Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Daniel Botwe has said of strengthening of the capacity of local actors is key to the deepening of the decentralisation process, and Ghana welcomes external cooperation to this effect.

He noted that Ghana is benefiting from World Bank support for the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion Project (SOCO) aimed at integrating and finding a holistic response to fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) and also addressing climate-related challenges faced by four countries in the Sahel region.

He said under the support, Ghana, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, and Benin are benefiting from an amount of $450 million from the World Bank to prevent the spread of FVC in their countries.

These came up when the Ambassador for the US, H. E. madam Virginia E. Sulivan called on Hon. Daniel Botwe at his office in Accra on the 6^th of September 2022.

Under the SOCO project in Ghana, 48 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies located in the Oti, Northern, Savannah, Upper west, Upper East and North East Regions were supported with an amount of $150million from the World Bank.

The objective of the project was to improve regional collaboration as well as the socio-economic and climate resilience of border communities in the targeted northern regions of the Gulf of Guinea countries exposed to conflict and climate risks.

The project is structured on five components; community resilience and inclusion, strengthening foundations and capacities for the vulnerable, regional coordination platform and dialogue, project management, and contingent emergency response component.

On her part, H. E. Virginia E. Palmer said her country also has funding for strategy of prevention of violence and promotion of stability thus, the need to collaborate with Ghana.

She noted that Ghana was far ahead of its neighbours in the sahel region in terms of peace and stability and the US has earmarked some funds to support security cooperation and inclusive development in the sub-region.

1. E. Sulivan was accompanied by the Head of Policy and Research, US Embassy, Christopher Cunning and Ms. Kimberly Rossen, from USAID.

Source:   PUBLIC RELATIONS UNIT (MLGDRD)

The Swiss Ambassador to Ghana, Mrs. Simone Giger has called on the Honourable Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), Daniel Botwe at his office in Accra on 6^th September 2022.

Receiving her, Hon Botwe described Switzerland as an important partner in the area of decentralisation for Ghana and expressed the government’s appreciation for the Swiss support.

He said the District Assemblies Common Fund and Responsive Factor Grant (DACF-RFG) by the Swiss Government have supported the machinery for his Ministry to ensure systems were put in place for efficient and effective domestic revenue mobilisations at the local level and the Government desired to ensure measures were put in place to satisfy the aspirations of the people at the local level. He called for an extension of the DACF-RFG for a year.

He gave an assurance that government prioritises decentralization; thus, new appointments have been made for the Inter-Ministerial Steering Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation which was responsible for the coordination of all decentralization reforms initiatives to continue its work.

Hon Botwe disclosed that the Committee would start work with its Technical Working Group by October to ensure decentralisation work well. Also, work on the Local Governance Finance Bill is being expedited to be passed as soon as possible.

In her remarks, The Ambassador, H. E. Mrs. Simone Giger said the SECO mission was satisfied with the work the Assemblies have done with the DACF-RFG support funding and promised to consult on the one-year extension for the DACF-RFG.

Source: PUBLIC RELATIONS UNIT (MLGDRD)

The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD) has benefitted from ICT equipment from the Public Sector Reforms for Results Programme (PSRRP) aimed at digitising the public service to improve service delivery.

The ICT equipment were presented by the Senior Presidential Advisor, Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo included laptops, computer printers, and a projector.

Presenting the equipment, the senior advisor noted that the ICT equipment were procured to help the Ministry effectively execute its activities through modernisation which is essential to the growth of the public sector adding that the programme which was funded by the World Bank started in 2019 and would end in 2023.

Hon. Osei Bonsu Amoah, a Deputy Minister for MLGDRD, who received the equipment on behalf of the sector Minister, Hon. Daniel Botwe expressed the Ministry’s gratitude to the Senior Advisor and noted that the equipment would improve the collation of data from the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

He explained that financial statements from all the MMDAs were received by the Ministry in a manual format; a process which makes work difficult for staff, hence the timely intervention of the presentation of the equipment which will go a long way to improve work output.

Source: PUBLIC RELATIONS UNIT (MLGDRD)