TEERE call on CSOs/NGOs networking to work together under one umbrella.
TEERE, a Non - Government Organization has call on CSOs/NGOs unit to work together under one umbrella, saying it would ensure their effective coordination as well as great resources mobilization to undertake development interventions in the region to improve livelihoods. Mr Maxwell Babilo Banu, the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager of TEERE made the call during a meeting with some Civil Society Organization (CSOs), organized in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region on the findings the NGO had uncovered from the implementation of the TEERE Local Governance Forum (TLGF) since 2016. Highlighting the findings resulting from the implementation of the TLGF, Mr Banu revealed that forced marriages, bad road networks and teenage pregnancies were prevalent at the community levels especially in the Bongo District. He further explained that the objectives of the meeting was to provide an arena for an interaction between local government leadership and citizens to enhance responsiveness to citizens, to increase citizenship participation in governance at the local and national levels, to promote activism among CSOs and the public, to demand improved service delivery from public institutions and to increase citizenship participation in governance at the local and national levels. He indicated that in 2016 and 2017, TEERE received funding support from a Germany based organization, Robert Bosch Foundation to implement one of its flagship programmes, TLGF, which created the platform for the realization of the decentralization policy and practice with the ultimate goal of improving livelihoods at the poor communities in Ghana. Adding that TEERE has since organized forums in poor communities particularly in its operational zones in the region including Bolgatanga Municipal, Bongo and Nabdam Districts and it brought together stakeholders including local governance actors, traditional and religious leaders, local structures of political parties, CSOs, social groupings like churches, farmer groups, youth groups, and disadvantaged groups including women, physically challenged and so forth. At the District forums he indicated that the participants mentioned forced Marriages, bad road networks, Teenage pregnancies, lack of portable water, lack of market center, lack of job mostly in the dry season for women, inability to access decision makers in the district, inability to develop local businesses, lack of children’s ward at the Bongo District Hospital, lack of hospital beds among others as the challenges hampering quality of life. At Regional forum he said lack of development working plan, systemic barriers to an all inclusive local governance system, neglect of state infrastructure and slow pace of developing new ones, no clear cut duties for deputy regional ministers, technocrats, indicating that the Regional Coordinating Director is enough to run the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) but stated that cost analysis of Deputy Regional Ministers needed to be made. Mr Banu however, explained that TEERE was able to secure funds from the Germany Embassy and supported 50 women from five communities in the Bongo District to engage in dry season farming. “TEERE secured medical donations worth 35, 00.00 EUR from ICH for Bongo District Hospital. Second batch of medical equipments are due to arrive by November. The items includes 59 beds, tables, chairs, chests and bed cabinets, two treatment beds, two ultrasound devices, one lung test device, one ECG device, 200 food trays with heater, one wheel chair, 3 walkers, various components for the doctor’s office and lab, a bulk of baby lotion and up to 70 footballs.” “TEERE has secured funding for piggery and guinea fowl farming in Nabdam District”. He added. Mr Banu, who said Persons With Disability (PWDs), the aged and the poor were vulnerable in society much attention needed to be paid to these people, advocated for the networking of various Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Non - Government Organizations (NGOs) in the Upper East Region to make impact to society. Mr Sumaila S. Saaka, a Development Consultant addressing the stakeholders indicated that lack of funds, absence of strategic planning, limited capacity, poor governance and networking, greed among others were major factors hindering CSOs and NGOs from creating networks which would help them secure enough funding from donors to undertake development oriented project. Mistrust Some stakeholders at the meeting said, lack of spontaneous information, transparency and accountability, fear of losing one’s identity, dominant of the larger NGO’s over the small NGO’s, fear to start on a voluntary basis and lack of priority and planning adding up to the challenges of CSO’s/NGO’s networking in the region. To provide a platform for practitioners as well as experts of local governance to share ideas on decentralisation and local governance policy.
A crossection of paricipants at the workshop
A crossection of paricipants at the workshop