Closing Statement: Ghana Beyond Aid Forum - Northern Sector
CLOSING STATEMENT AT THE “GHANA BEYOND AID” FORUM HELD ON 19TH AND 20TH SEPTEMBER 2018 AT BOLGATANGA BY ESTHER OFEI-ABOAGYE, CHAIRPERSON, STAR-GHANA STEERING COMMITTEE
STAR Ghana is delighted to have been associated with this important event. The notion of “Ghana Beyond Aid” and what that involves and implies for national development generally, and Northern Ghana in particular, was an urgent issue for discussion. I believe that we are all leaving here with a better understanding that “Ghana Beyond Aid” does not mean “Ghana Without Aid” but the need to position ourselves to identify, exploit and optimize development resources.
Another message that has come across quite strongly is that even more urgently than before, we need to prioritize even more carefully to apply our scarce resources to game changing investments, particularly infrastructure. The slowing rate of poverty reduction and the threat of widening social, economic and regional inequalities demands urgent attention from all of us; if the gains we have made in recent years are not to be eroded and meaningful progress is to be made.
Other emerging lessons for some of us include
- The role of committed leadership – political, traditional, religious – coming together with unity of purpose with and regular interaction and engagement amongst them and with their people to reflect on, lead and monitor progress
- In relation to the above, the responsibility of the people’s representatives - namely our Members of Parliament and Assembly Members – to undertake meaningful analysis of policy decisions, budgets, plans and programmes in order to advocate effectively for an equitable share of national resources based on clear evidence
- The need for sustained implementation of key development plans and proposals in which considerable resources and time have been invested; this is no time for reinvention of wheels
- The importance of meaningful and sustained support for agricultural operators, particularly, small-holders in production, marketing, preservation and processing, with attention to innovation and application of new technologies in ways that would attract and motivate those in the sector
- Attention to our young people in ways that would harness their ideas, creativity and their enthusiasm, giving them opportunities to contribute to national development, taking advantage of the ICT revolution and providing them with an inspirational and enabling environment
- The need to integrate equity and inclusion more clearly in our developmental analysis, paying more focused attention to the impacts of national policy choices on women, children, young people, minorities and vulnerable sections of the population and on regional distribution and effects
- The issue of peace as an imperative for development; and the need to find solutions to conflicts arising from chieftaincy, pastoralist and natural resource issues; the courage to identify the underlying causes of conflict and to take various efforts and blueprints for conflict resolution seriously and make a sustained effort at their implementation
- A holistic approach to harnessing the natural resource endowments of the Regions of the North, in order to maximize the economies of the scale and take advantage of arising synergies, transparently and responsibly
- The importance of providing an enabling environment for developing the capacities of young professionals and service providers so that they are motivated to learn and remain to serve in Northern Ghana; to this end, the need for a medium to long-term vision of building corps of health, engineering, education, agricultural and other professionals with the resources required to make their training experience a rewarding one.
We are assured that Ghana and the Northern part of the country in particular, has several resources to be maximized to put Ghana on a clear path to development, particularly in its people and in their diverse strengths and potentials.
The need to work hard to attract meaningful and competitive investments, packaging our potentials and ideas convincingly, doing our homework thoroughly and diversifying where we look for resources has been brought home to us in this meeting. The opportunities offered by open sourcing, corporate social responsibility and other creative funding arrangements have to be vigorously explored.
The importance of maintaining an appropriate mind-set and attitudinal change to support the desired transformation has been reiterated in the meeting’s proceedings. Over and over, the value of ongoing, periodic, multi-stakeholder reflections to track progress, share learning, strategize, reformulate and re-calibrate direction in the tradition of the “Mole Initiative” has come up.
Apart from the learning I have referred to earlier, there are issues that have been raised here which are not peculiar to Northern Ghana but are persisting concerns we have to deal with as a nation if we are to optimize our resources and opportunities. These include
- The need for meaningful, consistent and performing decentralization; and empowerment of assemblies and citizens to direct their development;
- The importance of high quality data and evidence-based policy and programme formulation;
- A clear process of sanitizing land administration and other natural resource management;
- The limitations of our social protection efforts, particularly taking care of children, persons with limited productive capacity and older persons; and
- The need for sustained and strategic industrial development.
We at STAR Ghana recognize the value of the discussions that have been held here and support the conclusions that have emerged here. We are deeply appreciative of the commitment of the political leadership – the presence and high quality participation of the regional ministers and the representation of the Senior Minister. The involvement of former Ministers of State, Parliamentarians, eminent professionals, individuals who have served in high-level public office, academics, scholars, clergy, traditional authorities and representatives of civil society has been very encouraging and is evident in the excellence of ideas and proposals.
The assurance that the previous work done under the auspices of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) particularly extensive plans for the development of the Northern Ghana will be utilized is very welcome.
Because of STAR Ghana’s vision of active citizenship and citizens’ voice in national policy processes and transforming society in sustainable ways, meetings like these are very important. We recognize the intrinsic value of the development of the Northern part of Ghana to the progress of the entire nation.
We are grateful that this important discussion has been initiated here and civil society can pro-actively offer inputs to the Government in elaborating the details of “Ghana Beyond Aid” and operationalizing that journey.
The valuable lessons and issues that have arisen here need to be raised and continued on other platforms, including national ones. The resounding success of this meeting and the constructive, collaborative and enabling environment in which it has been conducted have been very inspirational.
There is a lot to be done to achieve communities beyond aid; districts beyond aid; regions beyond aid; and ultimately, Ghana Beyond Aid. We at STAR Ghana will want to be part of the process through working with and bringing partners together and advocacy to realize a sustainable and equitable Ghana.
