The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), has held consultations with relevant stakeholders to formalise the roles, responsibilities and establishment of Gender Desk Officers (GDOs) at all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

The consultations are to afford stakeholders the opportunity to discuss and validate the proposed roles and structures, collect evidence-based experience from local government partners to identify the numerous challenges that confronted GDOs and to facilitate its formal establishment.

The engagement was held in partnership with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Governance for Inclusive Development (GovID) Programme, with funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

Speaking at the event in Accra, Mr Raphael Frerking, Programme Manager, GIZ- Governance for Inclusive Development (GovID) Programme, reiterated the need to mainstream gender equality into planning and budgeting processes and to build strong institutions to implement the reforms.

Mr Frerking noted that gender-responsive planning and budgeting should eventually result in local development plans and budgets that addressed women’s priorities and needs to the same extent as their male counterparts.

He therefore emphasized the need for MMDAs to include the voices of women and marginalised groups in the sub-national planning and budgeting processes.

“Gender-responsive planning focuses on equal access to education, health, transport, water, income-earning possibilities and food security. However, local development plans that are drafted with a gender perspective not only contain projects that are of high relevance for women, but also consider the possible gender impacts of all other projects and programs,” he said.

He expressed optimism that the outcome of the engagement would ensure that GDOs were formalised and their capacity enhanced, advancing a coherent approach to gender and social protection from the district to the national level.