HFFG leverages on existing community structures for improved social service delivery under the GSAM project.
The Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms (GSAM) project is a USAID-funded project which seeks to strengthen citizens’ oversight of capital projects in selected districts to improve local government transparency, accountability and performance.
The project, since its inception, has contributed significantly towards promoting accountable and responsive local governance through the empowerment of civil society organizations and citizens to be better informed and demand for accountability.
HFFG as an implementing partner in the current phase of the project continues to empower citizens in the Awutu Senya East Municipal and Agona East District Assemblies to demand for quality of service delivery from service providers. This is done by building the capacity of citizens so that they can actively participate in the planning and implementation of social services to ensure the delivery of inclusive services that respond to their needs.
HFFG and its project partners believe that citizens need to have the requisite knowledge and skills to understand the community structures and perform their functions. As part of activities under the project, HFFG, with technical support from the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) conducted a training for 90 community members in charge of education, health and monitoring of physical infrastructure implementation in selected communities located in the Awutu Senya East Municipal Assembly and the Agona East District Assembly.
The beneficiaries were drawn from existing community structures such as Parents Associations, School Management Committees, Community Health Management Committees and Community Development Monitors.
They were sensitized on:
- The legal framework for citizens’ participation of local governance as provided under the Local Government Act 2016, (Act 936), National Development Planning, National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) guidelines for local planning and implementation
- Monitoring Tool for Basic Education and Community Score Card Indicators and Definition
- Ghana Health Service and Ministry of Health Community Score Card Indicators and Definition
Now empowered with the necessary mechanisms for the service delivery monitoring, the beneficiaries are in a great position to liaise between community members and service providers to fix issues that will arise from their monitoring. This is to ensure that community members get the needed benefits from physical infrastructural projects implemented in their communities. They are to measure impact and make suggestions for improved service delivery.
In a discussion with Godwin Amekope, the School Improvement Support Officer for Kasoa CP Islamic Research basic school said, he said:
“The beneficiaries are happy to have been recognized as partners in development and are being equipped to function formally as that. These community structures existed merely on paper, so it is refreshing that the project is leveraging on them to function as expected. We are looking at improved services and impact.”
Akuamoah Justice, the chairperson of the Parents Association of Gada M/A Basic School also said after the training: “We can now access service delivery at the school in my community and make some inputs to resolve issues that confronts the school by engaging service providers.”