Cape Coast, Feb. 24, GNA - Project Citizen Ghana, a portfolio based civic education programme aimed at promoting competent and responsible participation in local and national government, was on Tuesday showcased for students and youth groups in the Central Region. The three-day programme which is being run by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in Cape Coast, is expected to help young people to learn how to monitor and influence public policy and develop support for democratic values and the rule of law.

In his opening address, Mr Charles Kofi Nkrumah, Regional Director of the NCCE, said the project, which began in 2006, aimed at boosting the country's democratic process and expressed the hope that it would "churn out" people who would be very active in all spheres of the nation. He explained that the project was inter-disciplinary and would ensure that the participants are equipped with skills that carry in their purview the components of tolerance, civility, hard work, compromise, dialogue, consensus building and co-operation. He was of the view that when students are imbued with such qualities, they would contribute positively towards the society.

The Regional Director of Education, Ms Rosemond Blay, in an address read for her, expressed the hope that the programme would develop the intellectual and participatory skills of participants and commit them to the fundamental values and principles of constitutional democracy. The Omanhene of the Oguaa Traditional area, Osabarima Kwesi Atta II, advised the participants to take the project seriously, adding that it could groom them into good and effective citizens.