The National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NaCCA) and LeadAfrique International have organized a national stakeholders’ meeting in Accra on Monday 24th June 2019. The purpose of the meeting was to share the progress of work on the `Basics in Integrity education` project with key stakeholders and elicit feedback.
The `Basics in Integrity education` is a Lead Afrique project, working in conjunction with the National Council for Curriculum Assessment Agency of the Ministry of Education and supported by STAR Ghana Foundation. The project seeks to weave the principles of integrity into society’s fabric by churning out a new generation of creative and responsive leaders.
The project has developed a curriculum comprising: teachers’ manual and facilitators’ lesson notes; student readers; and 6-part animations to aid the teaching. This has been pretested with 770 students spread across 5 schools.
Josephine Nkrumah, Chairperson of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and Chairperson for the event encouraged parents and guardians to show the right attitude around children to ensure that children picked the right values and habits as future leaders. She said:
“If we will fight corruption, then what you teach in the schools is important. The key to fighting corruption lies in our young ones who can imbibe the values easier,”
Mr. Michael Ohene-Effah, a co-founder of Lead Afrique International, indicated that corruption was one of the top causes for the lack of development in Africa over the past 40 years. He observed that it was preferable to focus on corruption prevention by striving to create a generation of people who were of high moral standing. This he suggested, is a more pro-active and preventive approach to fighting corruption.
It is anticipated that the new curriculum would be distributed to schools in Ghana upon approval by the Material Development Unit of the National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NaCCA).
Related projects
Development Partners’ Heads of Cooperation Group Tour Northern Ghana
Development Partners’ Heads of Cooperation (HoC) Group in Ghana, under the leadership of Philip Smith – Chair of Heads of Cooperation Group and DFID Country Director, have embarked on a study tour of the Northern Region of Ghana. The purpose was to explore and abreast themselves with the development challenges in Northern Ghana in the context of Ghana beyond aid. The tour, held on Wednesday 29th May 2019 was strategically scheduled to precede the official opening of the maiden Northern Ghana Development Conference in Tamale on 30th May 2019.
The Northern Ghana Development Conference was co-hosted by the five Regional Coordinating Councils in Northern Ghana (Northern, Savanna, North-East, Upper East and Upper West). The event, which was held on the theme: `Accelerating the sustainable development of Northern Ghana in the context of peace, security and Ghana Beyond Aid` was supported by STAR Ghana Foundation with funding from UKAid, EU and DANIDA; USAID and Care International.
The Northern Regional Minister, Hon. Salifu Sa-eed, welcomed the team on behalf of the five Regional Ministers, as well as the Chiefs and people of the North ahead of the tour. He described the brief period of engagement as an opportunity to share the challenges and prospects of Northern Ghana with the team. He bemoaned the poverty gap and inequality between the north and south of Ghana and called for synergy to mitigate the challenges.
"We need synergy, the synergy would have to come in by pulling the human resources, expertise and financial resources so that we can holistically approach the developmental challenges in our part of the country”
AVNASH Industries Ghana Limited
The Team visited the AVNASH Industries Ghana Limited, a diversified foodstuffs producer currently trading in edible oils, soap, and rice. The large-scale private sector investor provides opportunities for smallholder farmers in the northern part of Ghana.
Ranjan Ghushal, Northern Head of AVNASH received and welcomed the visiting team to the facility. He shared information on the work of the firm and indicated that the firm no longer has the challenge of unavailability of quality paddy (rice), thanks to the DFID funded MADE programme.
“People here never considered that paddy (rice) could give them economic earning, so they used to grow lady finger' (okro) and pumpkin in irrigated lands... Now after a while of engagement they have started to grow paddy, that is a good sign, land is increasing for paddy and people are understanding”
He was however quick to add that some challenges hinder the operation of the firm. These include: the relatively high expectation of farmers in terms of remuneration for the paddy they produce due to their relatively high cost of production particularly around cost of input. He also mentioned the lack of patronage of local rice among Ghanaians as the current biggest challenge of AVNASH.
"We have the plant, but we are unable to process the paddy, because after processing you have to sell the rice in the market… our price is the lowest in the market but still it is not moving, the reason behind that is imported rice is cheaper... imported Vietnam or Thailand rice is GHS20.00 cheaper for every 50kg.”
He called for the Government of Ghana’s support in purchasing their produce – under the School Feeding Programme to avert a possible shut down of the factory. This he believes will save the economic livelihood of about 9,000 farmers they are connected to in Northern Ghana.
Visit to Sankpala T.I. Primary School - Complementary basic education (CBE)
The visiting team visited one of the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) schools at Sankpala in the Central Gonja District of Ghana. The team was received by Fred Birikorang of the Ghana Education Service. After a moment of exchanging pleasantries, members of the HoC Group interacted with some parents, teachers and children who are direct beneficiaries of the CBE programme.
The Complimentary Basic Education (CBE) was a £27.9 million second-chance education programme which ran from June 2012 to November 2018. The programme supported 247,888 out-of-school children aged 8-14 years, who had never been to school or who had dropped out from primary school to learn and transition into the formal school system and contribute to breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty. On completing the programme, children were supported to enter formal primary schools at the appropriate class level, enabling children fast-track their schooling years and catch up with their peers.
Mr Birikorang in his presentation indicated the CBE programme’s lack of financial resources to compensate facilitators of the CBE programme as its biggest challenge. As a result, the Programme hires non-professional teachers as facilitators. He was however hopeful that the situation could change for the better. This is because the programme had succeeded in arranging for National Service Personnel to take over the teaching/facilitation, a situation that will no longer present the pressure of remuneration for facilitators/teachers as National Service Personnel receive their allowances directly from the Government of Ghana.
Philip Smith, expressed his appreciation of the commitment of the Government of Ghana to the programme and described it as a perfect example of `Ghana beyond aid.`
“… this is an example of Ghana beyond aid because the Ghana Education Service has agreed to take on what was a DFID/USAID funded programme. The Minister of Education has committed 1% of the basic education budget to the complementary Basic Education Programme (CBE) so he’s committed to continuing that work to get out of school children in Ghana, particularly in Northern Ghana back in school. That’s a live example of Ghana beyond aid.” he said.
Demonstration of Child Protection Toolkit at Guunayilli community
The visiting team ended the tour at Guunayilli community within the Tamale Metropolis where they observed a practical demonstration on the use of a child protection community facilitation toolkit. The team was welcomed with a colourful display of culture. This was after the team had paid a courtesy call to the chief of the community, who later joined a well organised durbar where the demonstration of the tool kit was held.
Members of the HoC Group together with the Chief and People of the Guunayilli pledged to protect children from abuse. The team members interacted with the community folks and asked questions on the main protection issues among children in the community.
The Child Protection programme in Ghana is supported by Canada, DFID, KOICA, USAID, Norway, European Union, and the Netherlands Committee for UNICEF.
Statement delivered by Philip Smith on behalf of Development Partners at the Northern Ghana Development Conference
Speech on behalf of Development Partners at the Northern Ghana Development Conference by Philip Smith, Chair of Heads of Cooperation Group and DFID Country Director
Your Excellency, the Vice President of Ghana, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia,
Senior Minister, Hon. Nana Yaw Osafo-Maafo,
Regional Ministers,
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors ….
Chief Executive Officer of Northern Development Authority,
Traditional Authorities,
Representatives of Civil Society Organisations and the media,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure to be here today to represent Ghana’s development partners at this important forum.
On behalf of the Heads of Development Cooperation in Ghana, I wish to express our gratitude to the organisers of this event and our congratulations to the five Regional Ministers for their efforts to revive the Mole Series and host this maiden Northern Ghana Development Summit.
This event provides an important opportunity to discuss the challenges that face Northern Ghana and to understand how we, Ghana’s international friends, can support efforts to transform the North.
Rising Inequality
We all know that Ghana was one of the few sub-Saharan African countries to achieve the MDG target of halving extreme poverty between 1991 and 2015.
But the latest data shows that poverty reduction has stagnated, and inequality is increasing, with the majority of the extreme poor located in the northern regions.
Ghana’s progress on poverty reduction has mainly been a story of the South, while poverty levels in Northern Ghana remain, for the most part, stubbornly high.
More recently, there have been development reversals in areas which previously showed progress, which is of concern to all of us.
Development partners have over past decades supported the development of northern regions in diverse ways - through support to agriculture, health, education, infrastructure and social cash transfers as well as by supporting civil society actions to strengthen public institutions and improve service delivery.
But while Ghana has progressed impressively on many human development indicators, the North still lags. Poverty levels in the northern regions overlap with the lowest levels of educational access and attainment.
One in three children are still stunted, compared to the national average of one in five.
And – despite a disproportionately high concentration of agriculture-related development interventions - Northern Ghana still has the highest prevalence of food insecurity.
In short, decades of investment by development partners in the North have been less than transformational.
Rising inequality presents a huge challenge for Government and for Ghana’s progress. High levels of inequality create a vicious cycle of higher population growth, poorer education outcomes and less development progress.
And high inequality means that economic growth is not as efficient in reducing poverty.
We applaud the Government of Ghana’s commitment to doing something about this. The recently published Ghana Beyond Aid strategy sets a target of reducing the poverty rate in the region with the highest rate to no more than three times that of the region with the lowest poverty rate.
This is ambitious – poverty rates in the northern regions are up to 12 times higher than down south in Accra.
We are, though, already seeing examples of how Ghana can move beyond aid, even in Northern Ghana. Yesterday in Gonja, we visited a programme aimed at getting out-of-school children back in to school. This is a programme previously delivered by DFID and USAID which is now being led by, and funded directly by, the Ghana Education Service.
We are happy to be supporting the transition of this programme from aid-funding to government-funding. A really tangible example of Ghana Beyond Aid.
Conflict and Security
Excellencies,
As well as trapping people in poverty, leaving populations behind, and undermining growth and prosperity, inequality can also cause violence, radicalisation and extremism.
Growing terrorism and insecurity in neighbouring countries - and especially in Burkina Faso - is of great concern.
We look forward to today’s discussions to consider how significant this threat is to Ghana’s internal stability as well how the threat might be addressed.
We commend all stakeholders – Government and the Committee of Eminent Chiefs - for bringing to closure, the protracted Dagbon conflict and restoring peace. The significance of this progress for the development of Northern Ghana cannot be overstated. Development can only happen when peace and security prevail.
We encourage government to continue to adopt appropriate strategies to deal with other inter-regional conflicts which remain unresolved. [e.g. Konkombas vs Chokosis in Chereponi, the Bimbilla, chieftaincy clashes in Bolgatanga and the long-standing ethnic and chieftaincy conflict in Bawku, among others]
Ghana Beyond Aid
Ladies and gentlemen,
Today we are at a point of decision and opportunity, where in the 11 remaining years of the Sustainable Development Goals, we still have time to realise their full ambition to address the root causes of poverty and inequality and achieve development that works for all people.
The timing of this Summit comes at a critical moment for Ghana - hot on the heels of the publication of the Ghana Beyond Aid Charter and Strategic Document.
As Development Partners we welcome the government’s focus on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and we also applaud His Excellency the President’s vision for a self-reliant Ghana Beyond Aid.
Ghana beyond aid may be a mindset change for Ghanaians, but it also demands an attitude adjustment from western countries.
It requires from us a different kind of approach, recognising that Ghana Beyond Aid changes the motor of our relationship from one based on aid to one based on enterprise, mutual economic benefit and strategic political cooperation.
As your international partners, we are keen to adopt a new partnership with Ghana to jointly tackle the big global challenges of our time: ensuring opportunity for all, tackling poverty and inequality, maintaining security, stability and peace, combatting climate change and promoting inclusive growth.
And we congratulate Ghana for showing impressive global leadership in tackling many of these big global challenges: on regional stability, on cleaner cities, on child marriage, on combatting anti-microbial resistance, on tackling mental health to name but a few.
However, Ghana Beyond Aid doesn’t mean "no aid". Development partnerships are still important to help Ghana to achieve its self-reliance:
- Development Partners are supporting Ghana to improve domestic capacity for tax and other revenue collection that can – given the right political will - generate sufficient national revenue to finance health, education and social services for the people.
- We are helping Ghana to build resilient systems to help protect people from shocks (macro-economic, climate, epidemics).
- We are working with Government and the private sector to increase economic development and help create jobs.
- We are helping Ghana to leverage R&D and new technology (as we've seen in the past weeks with new vaccine delivery drones).
- And we can do more to help Ghana to protect its borders and tackle extremism.
The Ghana Beyond Aid strategy recognises that there is a broader shift away from aid in lower middle-income countries like Ghana already happening. Away from Development Partners directly funding service delivery towards helping Ghana to spend its own money better.
Increasingly, development partners will offer advice and expertise where it is needed (and requested), rather than aid money, to fund basic services.
So we look forward to a renewed partnership with Ghana. A partnership to support Ghana to tackle inequality, seize the economic opportunities and to harness its leadership role in fostering stability within the West African region.
In conclusion, both myself and my fellow Heads of Development Cooperation are looking forward to engaging in the discussions here today.
We have been asking ourselves: what role can we play in the North to support the transition? How can we work with Government to ensure that the gap between the haves and the have-nots does not widen further? What are some of the building blocks for inclusive socio-economic transformation that we can help to put in place to achieve the very ambitious targets to reduce the poverty gap? How will insecurity and climate change impact on the Northern Ghana and what does this mean for our efforts to accelerate the sustainable development? Moreover, as over 90% of Foreign Direct Investment into Ghana takes place in the South, can we find space within our private sector work to drive investment to the North so that its economic transformation creates jobs?
We hope that this Development Summit will identify some concrete actions to address these challenges and to set this country on the path to self-reliance for all Ghanaians, regardless of where they live and work.
Your international friends are with you every step of the way.
Thank you very much
Vice President opens Northern Ghana Development Conference in Tamale
The vice president of the Republic of Ghana, H.E. Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has opened the maiden Northern Ghana Development Conference in the Northern Regional Capital, Tamale.
Speaking at the event held at the Tamale City campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS), the Vice President commended the Regional Ministers of the five regions in northern Ghana (Savanna, Upper East, Upper West, North-East and Northern) and the respective Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC) for hosting the event. Dr Bawumia also extended the government of Ghana’s appreciation to the development partners who supported the event and expressed his optimism of the benefits of the conference.
“As a government, we are particularly grateful to you our development partners for your continuing interest in the development of the north. Of course, I should also mention STAR Ghana and USAiD for collaborating with the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs) to organise this event…. This summit in my opinion marks another important milestone in the historic journey of northern Ghana. The achievements of the objectives of the summit will significantly contribute to the acceleration of the social and economic development of northern Ghana”
Dr. Bawumia urged participants at the event to come out with permanent solutions to the several development challenges stagnating northern Ghana's socioeconomic growth. "The deliberations should come out with comprehensive ideas, plans and programmes to drive national development." He said.
Speaking on behalf of Development Partners (DPs) in Ghana, Philip Smith, Chair of Heads of Cooperation Group and DFID Country Director, indicated that: “the timing of the summit comes at a critical moment for Ghana - hot on the heels of the publication of the Ghana Beyond Aid Charter and Strategic Document.” He applauded the President of Ghana’s vision for a self-reliant Ghana Beyond Aid and welcomed the government of Ghana’s focus on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
He shared DPs’ appreciation of Ghana beyond aid and their preparedness to adopt new partnership with Ghana:
“Ghana beyond aid may be a mindset change for Ghanaians, but it also demands an attitude adjustment from western countries. It requires from us a different kind of approach, recognising that Ghana Beyond Aid changes the motor of our relationship from one based on aid to one based on enterprise, mutual economic benefit and strategic political cooperation. As your international partners, we are keen to adopt a new partnership with Ghana to jointly tackle the big global challenges of our time: ensuring opportunity for all, tackling poverty and inequality, maintaining security, stability and peace, combating climate change and promoting inclusive growth.”
Northern Ghana Development Conference
In September 2018, a conference convened by STAR Ghana Foundation in partnership with the NDA, NDF, ISODEC and TAMA Foundation at Bolgatanga to discuss the implications of the Government’s vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid for northern Ghana’s development. This event ended with a unanimous call for the defunct `Mole Series` platform to be reconvened to build upon some of its recommendations. Giving birth to the maiden edition of the Northern Ghana Development Conference.
The Mole Series then
Mole was initiated eighteen years ago by Regional Economic Planning Officers (REPOs) of the three Regions of Northern Ghana. The founding meeting which took place at the Mole Game Reserve gave the unique gathering its name, the “Mole Series”. The REPOs felt the need for a coordinated approach to regional economic planning – to adopt a Northern Ghana-wide lens – rather than their separate regions - to promoting development in northern Ghana.
