A traditional ruler has praised the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) for the engagement and empowerment of community members to be alive to their civic duties.
Nana Kofi Frimpong Ababio, the Chief of Dawu, a farming community in the Sekyere South District, said the Commission’s social auditing concept in the communities across the country was catalyzing community members to realize their roles in the development of their communities.
Speaking at a community forum on social auditing organized by the Sekyere South District Office of the NCCE at Dawu, Nana Frimpong Ababio, said the social auditing concept has reminded the people to initiate and implement development projects.
It is also the need to be responsible and take ownership of development projects been implemented in their communities. Nana Frimpong Ababio acknowledged that community self-help initiatives were part of the Ghanaian culture.
He said such as health, education markets, teachers bungalows, and boreholes in most communities were initiated and executed by the people through community fund-raising activities.
However, over the years, such communal spirit had dwindled. Nana Frimpong Ababio said the social auditing concept would rekindle the communal spirit and encourage the people to start their development projects.
“We as communities could self-start our projects by providing land, communal labour, organizing fund-raising activities, using the services of local artisans before seeking the help of the government, the District Assembly and other development partners and stakeholders,” he stressed.
This, he said, would not only ensure acceptability, ownership and sustainability of such projects but also instil maintenance culture in the people to prolong the lifespan of the projects.
Mr Arthur Wilson, the Ashanti Regional Director of NCCE, explaining the concept of social auditing to the community members, said it engendered community ownership of projects, effective and efficient delivery of services in communities.
It is done through promoting discourse among citizens and office or duty bearers on planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects and programmes.
Mr Wilson said social auditing was not an event but a process to achieve results such as producing community ownership of projects and citizen’s issues of concern across the various spectrum such as education, health, agriculture, roads, social services, infrastructure and energy, among others.
He said there was the need for the communities’ engagement on social auditing across the country since that was a strong tool and medium to promote good governance at the local level and to reduce corruption and improve accountability and compliance with the rule of law.
Mr Evans Kojo Nunoo, the Sekyere South District Director of NCCE, urged the community leaders and members to put into practice the lessons from the forum to initiate and implement development projects.
GNA
