The president’s vision of ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ is meant to end poverty and create equality for both genders in the country.

Dr. Yaw Ansu, the Special Advisor at the Ministry of Finance, said this at a forum jointly organised by Star Ghana Foundation and Civil Society Platform Ghana, in Accra on Thursday.

On the theme ‘Ghana’s Journey to the Sustainable Development Goals in a Beyond Aid Context’, the meeting sought to discuss the nexus between the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

It also sought to strategise for the universal call to action to end poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

Ghana Beyond Aid is essentially to mobilise and conscientise Ghanaians “that no one is going to come from anywhere to develop Ghana for us other than ourselves.

“Progress will be made when we accept responsibility for our own actions and thereby conduct ourselves in a manner that will be fruitful,” he added.

Philip Smith, Country Director at the Department for International Development, touching on the contribution of the donor community in support of the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda, said the Department will support the country with effective skills on taxation and revenue mobilisation to be used for the public good.

“Government needs to initiate effective steps to protect people from shocks, and we pledge the support of donor agencies to make our expertise available. Ghana need not see itself as a donor-recipient but rather a global player, and develop new partnerships to enable it achieve set goals,” he said.

Eugene Owusu, an official from the Office of the President, during a panel discussion explained that the SDGs’ aim of transforming and improving livelihoods in the world is in sync with ideals of the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda, which seek to improve the lives of Ghanaians.

Both SDGs and Ghana Beyond Aid ideals seek to build on strong institutions, and strengthen the private sector to be vibrant and robust in order to achieve its objectives. The two ideals seek to fully leverage on innovation in the area of science, technology and agriculture to achieve results.