Tamale, Oct. 19, GNA - Institute for Policy Alternatives, a Tamale-based think-tank, in collaboration with the World Bank and other development partners, is organizing a "Development Dialogue" as a means of promoting dialogue and consultation on issues of public policy. The three-day forum, beginning from Monday would focus on: "Decentralising the Poverty Reduction Strategy: Challenges and opportunities for strengthening partnerships between Government, Civil Society and Donors".

The Development partners co-sponsoring the Development Dialogue are the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), German Technical Assistance Agency (GTZ), Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) and Centre for Democratic Development (CDD).

A statement signed by Dr Sulley Gariba, Director of the Institute, said the forum, the third in the series, was in response to the challenge posed by the implementation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS).

The statement explained that as the implementation of the GPRS progresses, the role of Civil Society and that of citizen groups in the poorest sections of the Ghanaian society continue to pose important challenges for strengthening partnership with government and development partners.

"It said: In particular, the limited participation of representatives of the poor in public policy discourses on poverty reduction, risks their alienation from the policy process".

The statement said the Development Dialogue would create a forum where development thinkers, practitioners, beneficiaries and other stakeholders would dialogue on the critical issues and challenges of development in Ghana and provide rich inputs into public policy-making, implementation and impact assessment.

The dialogue is expected to develop, among other things, a shared understanding of the major challenges confronting the implementation of the GPRS among policy-makers and practitioners working in poverty reduction.

Other objectives of the forum are to strengthen the partnership and collaboration among Government, Civil Society and Donors in improving the implementation of the GPRS; and to increase public awareness about collaborative efforts of Government, Civil Society and Donors in addressing poverty reduction challenges, the statement said.