Kombusgo, (UER), March 27, GNA- Managers of non-governmental organisations have been urged to use funds they attract for specific projects judiciously and complete such projects on schedule. Mr. Andrews Kitcher, a Member of the UK-based Monitoring team group of Africans in the Diaspora, known as GHARWEG and partnership to Foundation for Grass Roots Africa (GrassRootsAfrica) made this known at Kombusgo in the Upper East Region, during a team inspection of the progress of some projects in the Region.

GrassRootsAfrica is implementing a project entitled "Enhancing Democratic Governance Through Local Civic Coalitions" in the Region. The goal of the project is to contribute to poverty reduction within the context of the Ghana Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II (GPRSII) and the Millennium Development Goals.

Since the inception of the project in 2007, the project has consolidated democratic governance in some localities and expanding to other districts in the Region by empowering and increasing civic involvement in public policy at the local level. It is founded on four strategic pillars comprising facilitation, information, local resource mobilization and Advocacy. Mr. Kitcher asked the local officials of GrassRootsAfrica to be transparent, accountable and responsible to their donors in order to improve on the lives of the poor.

He stressed on the need for GrassRootsAfrica to endeavour to meet their set target objectives and said this would enable the organisation to win public confidence and to get more funding for physical development.

Ms Catherine Enoh, a member of the Monitoring Team, was full of praise for the project implementation and said: "The activities of the project carried out so far are quite perfect and impressive." She said the project would help hasten and improve the quality of the Government's decentralization concept, and urged the district assemblies' in the Region, to support and co-ordinate with GrassRootsAfrica so that together they would make a greater positive impact on the concept of decentralisation.

She explained that one of the major aims of Africans in the Diaspora is to contribute to the development of Africans, especially in the field of human resource development.

Ms Enoh pledged that the team would continue to look for and mobilize resources in the Diaspora to assist Africans to develop. She encouraged Africans to be positively minded and adopt the "can do" spirit, by working harder wherever they found themselves. Ms Enoh noted that all over the world Ghanaians are recognized as hard working and could perform better in the job market. Collaborating partners of the project are Community Partnership for Health and Development, ProNet South, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.

The Department for International Development, UK and the European Union are sponsoring the project in four Districts in the Region namely: Talensi-Nabdam, Bongo, Kessena-Nankana and Bolgatanga Municipality.