Accra, Nov 1, GNA - A workshop to build competencies towards the mainstreaming of gender decentralisation in Africa on Tuesday opened in Accra with a call on all to pursue gender mainstreaming as a cardinal principle in governance at the local level.

"A clear political will and allocation of adequate resources are required in gender mainstreaming since it looks at the inclusion of the priorities and needs of both women and men", Mr Kofi Poku Adusei, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said. Mr Adusei, therefore, asked district assemblies to allocate substantial portions of their internally generated funds to promote gender mainstreaming.

The three-day inter-regional workshop on gender, endemic diseases and HIV/AIDS, being hosted by the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) is on the theme: "Building Competencies in Local Government Mainstreaming Gender, Endemic Diseases (Malaria etc) and HIV/AIDS".

Sixty-five participants are attending the workshop from the four-implementation countries of the African Local Governance Programme (ALGP) - Ghana, Mali, Mozambique and Tanzania. Other participants from Botswana Uganda, Kenya, Benin, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso and Canada are attending the workshop, which would enable participants to share experiences of ALGP partners and other local governments in addressing gender, malaria and endemic diseases and HIV/AIDS.

Mr Adusei said the workshop agenda, malaria and HIV/AIDS, dovetailed into Ghana's national programmes and activities that were geared toward total development.

He said malaria for instance continued to be the most singular cause of deaths in the country with 850 billion cedis being spent annually on its treatment.

He said as the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS kept increasing in some regions of Ghana it was important to adopt mechanisms to stem the menace, expressing the hope that, the workshop would provide useful insights that would enhance efforts at the local level. He used the opportunity to announce the upcoming local government elections next year and urged all to promote women's' participation in the elections.

Mr George Kyei Baffour, President of NALAG, said the ALGP programme was initiated to strengthen the capacities of national ministries, municipal governments and national and regional associations of municipal governments to bring about effective decentralisation of services.

He described the workshop; the third in series, as a platform that would enable participants to come out with conclusions that would help to inform the World Urban Forum scheduled for next year in Toronto Canada.