Public servants urged to help achieve SDGs
The Ghana Association for Public Administration and Management (GAPAM) has held a day’s workshop in Accra to discuss the role of public servants in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
The 17 goals, which seek to end poverty, protect the earth, and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030 charges countries to come up with clear approaches in achieving it.
The SDGs inspires countries to think creatively by leveraging innovative approaches and critically rethinking the way to approach the development challenges of today.
The workshop was, however, aimed at building team spirit among the public servants to engage each other through strong and sustained alliances with unions and associations such as the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOSAG).
It was on the theme: “Role of the Public Sector in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s).”
Dr Gifty Oforiwaa Gyamera, the President GAPAM, speaking at the event noted that the public service remained one of the key institutions for achieving the goals as they coordinated and directly provided the needed public goods and the implementation of the sector policy.
She said it was therefore important as the mandate of the SDGs required to revamp the capacity of the public service in scope and urgency for success.
Ms Christine Evans-Klock, the United Nations Resident Coordinator, in her address lauded Ghana’s efforts at enacting various policies and strategies aimed at achieving the SDGs.
She, however, called for the translation of such policies into clear cut strategies as government invested more resources to see to its implementation.
Ms Evans-Klock noted that three years had already passed since the SDGs was adopted and it was important that serious work go into the implementations in the 12 years left, assuring that the UN was committed to partner Ghana in that regard.
She acknowledged the role of the public servants as key partners in realising the SDGs and urged the workers to be innovative and ensure accurate data was obtained and policies well-coordinated to compliment government efforts to achieve the goals.
Mr Kodjo Mensah-Abrampa, the Senior Technical Adviser, Ministry of Planning, said public servants needed a substantive knowledge to realising the SDGs as they were important and allowed for shares framework that fostered collaboration within and across countries, stakeholders and inspired action.
Mr Mensah-Abrampa urged public servants to mobilise support, collect data for analysis, analyse the sector problem, have a policy leadership and interpretation planning, and prioritise programmes.
Implementation, financing and administering, accountability and reporting, adding that advocacy and facilitations were also key in creating a long lasting change.
Mr Issac Paul Bampoe-Addo, the Executive Secretary CLOSAG in a speech read on his behalf expressed gratitude to GAPAM for the opportunity and pledged their support towards achieving the SGDs.
He called on the Government not to relinquish its responsibility for training and providing requisite tools and congenial working environment to the staff within the CLOSAG for efficient and effective service delivery to the good people of Ghana.
He noted that, the supplementary capacity building workshops were measures to motivate the staff to give of their best, adding that, the development of human capital towards higher productivity at the least cost was in the interest of both employer and employee.
Source: GNA