Mr Daniel Banuoku, Deputy Director, Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD), has said there is the need for civil society to establish strong partnerships with state agencies for improved performance in service delivery to communities.

He said civil society working in isolation from state institutions such as the district assemblies often did not only lead to non-harmonization of development efforts but also defeated the purpose of their expected complementary role in providing development services to communities.

Mr Banuoku, who said this during the “Water for Resilience” project implementation review meeting in Lawra in the Lawra District of the Upper West Region, said district assemblies have enough competent men and women with the capacity to deliver but lacked the necessary resources to do so effectively.

He said all civil society needed to do was to provide the resources to trigger them to move out and work, citing CIKOD partnership with Lawra and Nandom District Assemblies in the implementation of the “Water for Resilience” project as one perfect example of such partnership.

“If civil society wants to ensure that their activities have long lasting benefits, then it is important to work in partnership with the appropriate state institutions that are available at the district level to promote sustainability after the project expires”, he said.

Mr Banuoku said partnerships help in saving resources, saying “a clear example is the demarcation and mapping of our garden sites where the Town and Country Planning Department was empowered to provide that service, thereby saving the funds we would have been used in engaging an outsider to get the job done”.

Madam Rita Nyorka, Nandom District Planning Officer, said the partnership with CIKOD has helped to reduce the duplication of efforts and promoted trust amongst them.

She said the “Water for Resilience” project was among the first ever effective collaborative partnership the Assembly has had and that it did not only teach them the essence of partnership but also the sense for continuity when the project comes to an end and CIKOD fades out.

Mr Michael Asare, Lawra District Works Engineer, said the project has assisted in enhancing their partnership skills as well as helped to reduce the burden of the Assembly in providing services such as water for communities.

The project, which was developed by HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation (HIS), is being implemented by CIKOD across 45 villages in eight communities in the Lawra and Nandom Districts with partnership from Groundswell International (GSI).

The project implementation review meeting was also attended by a team of partners from HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation.