The World Bank has awarded Mr Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, Programme Manager of STAR-Ghana, the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) Award for Leadership in Social Accountability for the African Region.

The GPSA Award is a recognition granted by the WB’s Global Partnership for Social Accountability, to individuals in government, civil society organizations, or the private sector, for their outstanding contributions in the field of Social Accountability as a means to eradicate poverty and foster shared prosperity.

The Award recognizes the influence and impact of its recipients in promoting social accountability in their countries and globally, a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Monday stated.

The citation accompanying Mr. Amidu’s award, stated among others that, his ability to bring together development practitioners and Civil Society Organisations to learn and support each other in implementing new participatory approaches to development.

The citation further stated that his greatest achievement had been focusing STAR-Ghana on supporting the piloting of innovative strategies linking citizens’ voices into governance processes, leading to the adoption by the Parliament of social accountability approaches in its interface with citizens, while CSOs had increased their capacity to engage with government, and promoted social accountability approaches in the governance of social services delivery.

Mr. Amidu described the award as recognition of the work of the “Star Ghana teams I have worked with over the years, to pilot and implement actions aimed at enabling citizens hold government at all levels accountable for the provision of quality public goods and services.

“At a personal level, I feel challenged to build on this achievement. I hope it will inspire others to aim for excellence in everything they do. Ultimately the best award of course is to see that all citizens of Ghana have access to quality public services that will enable them fulfill their potentials”.

Mr. Amidu has over 20 years of experience as a development practitioner, developing and implementing developing actions at all levels of governance.

Prior to his appointment as the Team Leader of STAR-Ghana, he was the Country Director of VSO International.

He has also worked with CARE International in Ghana, and the Ghanaian Danish Community Programme in Northern Ghana.