ACTIONAID PRAISED FOR HELPING DEVELOP NORTHERN REGION (PAGE 39)

THE Northern Regional Minister, Mr Stephen Nayina, has commended ActionAid, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), for its immense contribution to the socio-economic development of the area over the years.
According to the minister, programmes by the organisation had not only facilitated the provision of services towards improving the conditions of the underprivileged in society, but had also raised the level of awareness of the people on their rights and privileges.
The gesture, he said, had also facilitated the organisational dynamics of civil society groups in beneficiary areas in the region. Among the focus of the NGO are education, peace and security, democratic governance and accountability and health. Other sectors are water and sanitation, food security and women’s rights.
Mr Nayina’s speech was read on his behalf at a stakeholders meeting on the phase-out of the Tamale urban and peri-urban development programmes of ActionAid in Tamale.
The region’s development programmes are located in Tamale, Chereponi and Nanumba. Phase-outs are undertaken when the organisation has achieved its objectives of programme activities.
The minister stated that phase-outs underlined the basic premise that development could be sustained only when it was managed and controlled. He said, “It is important that communities are involved in both the planning and implementation of the winding down of funding and programme work,”.
Mr Nayina, however, urged the stakeholders to be involved in all matters at various stages, organise regular participatory review and reflections with communities and partners while discussing roles and responsibilities and documentation on the programme at regular intervals.
The Regional Programme Manager of ActionAid, Mr Yakubu Mohammed Saani, explained that the policy of the organisation demanded that communities in its operational areas in Tamale should be in a position by now to undertake their own development agenda.
“With 10 years of external support, communities should be empowered enough to drive their own development agenda”, he stated.
Mr Saani, however, noted that in practice, most development areas in ActionAid did not phase-out in 10 years as a result of local contextual dynamics.
He further explained that the purpose of the meeting included sharing of information on phase-out guidelines, extend of realisation of project goals and objectives and the generation of discussions on the phase out of the Tamale programme.
“We have also documented our interventions and achievements over the last 10 years to deepen stakeholders understanding of our work to enable them to effectively engage in this process’, the manager added.
Mr Saani, however, stressed that the phase-out did not imply that his outfit was folding up, adding “AAG is only taking a back seat to enable community partners to drive their own agenda; we are not running away”, he added.