The Upper West Regional Minister has asked development partners in the region to pool their ideas, suggestions and contributions to be incorporated into the final Upper West Regional Development Strategy (RDS) for implementation because the RDS is a resourceful document that cannot be allowed to gather dust on the shelves.

The Minister said this while addressing participants at RCC/Development Partners engagement session on the 2nd May 2019, in Wa.

The purpose of the forum was to primarily provide a platform among the Development Partners, the RCC and the Municipal/District Assemblies to ensure effective coordination of development efforts in the region and to ensure efficient and equitable distribution of resources for accelerated development.

The RDS document is was a five-year development strategic plan drafted and finalized in 2014 but was abandoned until its expiration due to change of political leadership in the region.

According to Dr. Bin Salih, the RDS was developed through broad consultations and took into focus the region’s development peculiarities, capacity and resource endowment.

This he said, when the RDS is reviewed by stakeholders and development partners would help in the development of the Upper West Region.

The Minister noted that, many of the NGOs in the region have failed to register or renew their registration with the Department of Social Welfare as required by law and that some implement projects in the various districts without recourse to the District Assemblies.

This he said was wrong and urged all NGOs to make efforts to regularize their operations with the Assemblies. He said that would help feed their activities into the development agenda set by the government and the assemblies as captured in their medium-term development plans.

Dr. Bin Salih indicated that the forum would give the RCC, the Assemblies and the Development Partners the opportunity to articulate these challenges so that they can deal with them in a holistic and appropriate manner to the people of Upper West derive the maximum benefits from their services.

CIKOD, one of the major developments Partner in the region, used the forum to launch a new project entitled: Project to Support Livestock Mobility for Better Access to Resource and Market in West Africa (PAMOBARMA).

A field action project funded by the European Union(EU), the French Development Agency(FDA), and Air France which is aimed at protecting the mobility of herds and securing their access to resources and market and to address the issues transhumance, economic development of territories and governance.