Accra, July 4, GNA - The Planning Department of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), on Friday held a community meeting with representatives of Avenor, a suburb of Accra, to create a platform for the involvement of residents in project planning, budgeting and implementation processes of the Okaikoi South Sub-metro of the Assembly. The meeting was held under the auspices of Nimba Community Support Services (Nimcoss) and Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF) International Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organization that mobilizes residents to improve their living environment and asset generation opportunities.

It sought to educate representatives of the community on the processes of planning, budgetary allocations, implementation and evaluation of community projects, and to form a community sanitation and development committee that would assist in the overall development including monitoring city-led projects in the community.

The Project Manager of Nimcoss, Mr Yaw Duah, said the meeting was aimed at facilitating youth development and job placement for unemployed youth in the community as well as to create a viable community that would champion the kind of development that their populaces demanded. The next six months, he said, would be an intervention period to focus on improving housing in terms of domestic drainage, renovation and replacement of roofs, piloting of household toilet facilities, youth employment and job placement.

Mr Duah said it was expected that technical assistance would be given to selected landlords and tenants for housing improvement and the provision of clean water in Avenor through improved community governance and management strategies by December 3 2009.

Under the first intervention area, Nimcoss would mobilize community members, including identifiable interest groups, such as the landlords' association, the youth, traditional leadership to meet the AMA Planning Department to formulate projects that address their needs and facilitate the process of integrating the community needs, priorities and projects into the AMA's planning and budget plans for 2009 and beyond. Mr Richard Oduro, Planning Officer of the AMA, explained the vision of the government in Ghana's Vision 2020, the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS I and II) and other developmental documents and strategies and asked the participants to learn about what the government's priorities were at any point in time so as to fashion out the community's developmental plans along those lines.

He further explained that once the vision and orientation of government were known, local authorities including metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies would then be charged to design developmental projects that reflect the vision of government. The Planning Officer added that a taskforce made up of officials from key departments of the local government authorities had been tasked to prepare Medium Term Development Plans (MTDPs) that captured the goals, objectives and activities aimed at improving the wellbeing of residents in various parts of the country.

Mr Nathaniel Adzotor, the sub-metro Director for the Okaikoi South sub-metro, expressed gratitude to participants for a fruitful engagement, and urged residents to continue working with development partners and the city authorities to address some of the numerous challenges in the community. 4 July 09