CSOs in Ghana support Better Aid and Open Forum CSOs agenda

Representatives of 40 civil society organisations have stated their support for the Better Aid and Open Forum CSOs agenda at the forthcoming Fourth High Level Forum for Aid Effectiveness (HLF-4) slated for Busan in South Korea November 29 to December 1, 2011.

In a communique adopted at the end of a two-day workshop in Accra from October 26 to 27, 2011, the CSOs meeting under the auspices of the Ghana Aid Effectiveness Forum (GAEF) and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) suggested the following:

o     Capacity building especially of: local government authorities, CSOs and public institutions responsible for promoting social protection and human rights.

o     The rights of  persons with disability, women and children to development

o    Access of the citizenry to information  concerning  government programmes and finances is fundamental to development effectiveness

o    The development  of the indigenous private sector to include micro-entrepreneurs.

The CSOs arrived at these positions after discussing  various issues including, the aid effectiveness agenda: civil society perspectives from Paris to Accra, Better Aid processes, challenges and key messages to Busan, Donor perspectives on HLF4 and  key issues, Open forum initiative, progress towards Busan, CSO accountability, 2011 Paris Declaration Survey, Aid in the context of national development, Independent assessment of CSO engagement with HLF4 and beyond and Gender dimension of
aid effectiveness.

The theme for the workshop was ‘Accelerating Ghanaian Civil Society participation for Development Effectiveness; looking to and beyond HLF4 in Busan’.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi