STAR-Ghana in collaboration with the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), TAMA Foundation and the Northern Development Authority (NDA) held the Northern Sector edition of a high-level conference on Ghana Beyond Aid in Bolgatanga.
The two-day conference which brought together the academia, Civil Society Organizations, Regional Ministers, Municipal and District Chief Executives, traditional and religious leaders in Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions, forms part of STAR-Ghana’s series of Convenings with the broader range of stakeholders for dialogue, and to support the identification of opportunities and critical entry points for action and engagement.
Hon Frank Fuseini, delivering the welcome address indicated that: Ghana beyond Aid is in tune with the changing world with a move from aid and grants to partnerships and development cooperation. “Northern Ghana must prepare itself to take advantage of the new paradigm of Ghana Beyond Aid. To this extent, Foreign Development Assistance must be redirected to building social infrastructure" he said.
Prof Agnes Apusigah, member of the STAR-Ghana (SC) speaking on behalf of Dr Esther Esther Ofei Aboagye, Chairperson of the the STAR-Ghana SC. Said that "STAR-Ghana has a consistent and deliberate agenda to ensure civil society thinks around the issue of sustainability within the ever-changing environment, using our 3CL (Convening, Coordinating, Catalyzing and Learning) approach as a means of promoting strategic change in a coordinated manner"
In an address read on his behalf, Hon Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Senior minister, said the drive to move the country beyond aid does not mean Ghana would be refusing to accept development aid. The government would rather make sure that donor support tied in with development priorities of the nation. “We will politely decline aid that is not in line with Ghana’s development priorities.” It should also be consistent with the effort at increasing efficiency and value for money in public sector expenditures.
Mr. Osafo-Maafo noted that the three regions were a popular destination for aid and direct donor support and said, “While this is welcoming, it is important to take stock and see if we are indeed achieving the expected impact”. He made reference to the dwindling volumes of aid and indicated that it was time the nation moved aggressively towards modernizing its agriculture.
Dr Hakeem Wemah, Board Chairman of the Northern Development Authority and Chairman of the high-Level conference, said the area had been and remained a major beneficiary of development assistance because of the level and depth of poverty.
Grant-aided programs had financed education, health care, agriculture, roads and bridges, nutrition interventions, school feeding and occasionally humanitarian relief when the people were faced disasters like flooding.
“We recall the Upper Region Agricultural Development Programme (URADEP) largely World Bank funded, which was the main driver of agricultural transformation in the 1970s and 1980s in the Upper Regions, Northern Regional Rural Integrated Programme (NORRIP) largely funded by Canada which invested in water resources and social programmes in the Northern Region. Both died when donor funds ceased. No post-mortem was ever carried out,” Dr Wemah added.
The output of the conference will be channelled to the Hon Osafo Maafo Committee and shared with constituencies, especially civil society at the regional level to map out a strategy going forward.
