Accra, July 18, GNA - An international workshop which sought to develop a framework for the application of the NEPAD Capacity Development Strategic Framework (CDSF) on the level of African countries has ended in Accra.

The three-day workshop, which was also aimed at deepening national dialogue and understanding of the exact nature and scope of the capacity challenges confronting the government and people of Ghana, explored avenues and modalities to address these challenges through the application of the NEPAD CDSF.

Dr. Francis Appiah, Executive Secretary, National African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council (NAPRM-GC), at a press briefing on Wednesday explained that the CDSF was a tool to assist countries, institutions and individuals to deeply analyse, understand, identify and recommend appropriate measures to address capacity related problems. Participants from Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Madagascar attended the workshop, which was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and NEPAD together with the NAPRM-GC. Dr. Appiah said the CDSF would enhance public sector performances by harnessing existing capacities at an individual and institutional level, thereby ensuring an accountable and responsive public service as well as forging true partnerships through experience sharing and skill transfer.

He noted that capacity related constraints had been identified as one of the greatest impediments for the attainment of the goals encapsulated in the Constitutive Act of NEPAD. He said even though the exact nature and extent of these deficiencies was still a subject of debate, there was overall consensus that it had an adverse effect on the conceptualisation, management, execution and impact of development initiatives. Dr. Appiah said the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in Ghana identified lack of capacity in strategic areas as a major challenge, while other problems including deficiencies associated with leadership, low morale, brain drain, knowledge, information and institutional misfit retarded national development.

He said the workshop agreed on the need for deeper analysis of the capacity constraints and challenges at the country level, with more focus on both structural and systemic challenges that hampered effective delivery of services as well as the attainment of development goals. Dr. Hesphina Ralkuto, Deputy Chief Executive, NEPAD Secretariat, said the gaps that had been identified in the APRM programme in areas including employment and health were being addressed, but it required the participation of all partners to make the framework a success. She mentioned the National Youth Employment Programme in Ghana as an example of a positive feedback on the call to address youth unemployment and expressed the hope that other areas would be looked at to improve upon the human resource base of the country. Other participants from Kenya and Madagascar attested to the fact that Ghana was making headway in the APRM programme and said their countries would learn from Ghana's success stories.