 |
Participants and
facilitators in a group photograph at the end of the workshop
|
By Benjamin Xornam Glover,
TEMA
The drive towards improving the
local governance processes, alleviating poverty, promoting gender equality and strengthening
institutional and technical capacity in the Ashaiman Municipality has received
a major boost following the official launch of a new project “Enhancing
grassroots civic participation in governance using digital tools”.
The project, funded by the
Canadian Fund for local Initiative, seeks to empower citizens through digital
tools to effectively participate in the local government decision making
processes and promote better public service delivery especially in health, education
and sanitation.
The projects seeks to
promote the use existing digital tools by citizens to engage with their
assembly in the comfort of their homes or work places to access information or
request for one.
Through this civic
engagement, it is expected that local governance processes would have improved while
duty bearers and public officials would be more responsive to citizens’ needs
.
ROLE OF MEDIA
Recognizing the role of the
media as an effective watchdog in holding duty bearers account in public
service delivery, Penplusbytes with funding from the Canadian Fund for local
Initiative has organised a 2-day media workshop to train selected journalists
from the Ashaiman/Tema area on the project.
The aim of the workshop was
to equip the selected journalists with the necessary skills and knowledge to
develop compelling citizen engagement stories in their communities.
A total of 14 media practitioners within the
Tema and Ashaiman corresponding for various media outlets took part in the workshop.
NEW DIGITAL TOOLS
The participants were schooled
on how to use technology and the opportunities it provides to empower citizens
in their quest to demand transparency and accountability from their local assemblies.
In his welcoming speech, the
Programmes Director of Penplusbytes, Mr. Jeremiah Sam underscored his organization’s
commitment in equipping journalists with skills in using new digital
technologies in order to enhance traditional journalism.
He emphasized the role of new
digital tools stressing that it offered creative opportunities and urged the
participants to put the knowledge gained into
practice.
MAKE A DIFFERENCE
The Programme Manager, New
Media Innovations at Penplusbytes,
Precious Ankomah charged the
participants utilise the knowledge gained to tell stories that will compel duty
bearers to change the manner in which they feel, think, and act towards the
greater good of their community.
A facilitator at the
workshop and programme manager for Governance and Technology at Penplusbytes, Mr.
Cosmos Akorli said civic engagement aims at making a difference in our
communities.
He added that it focuses on developing
knowledge, skills, and promoting motivation to make that difference.
Therefore, constant
information about citizens' satisfaction with service provision serves as a
basis for improvement.
At the end of the session, participants
were presented a certificate of participation.
Writer’s email: benjamin.glover@graphic.com.gh
@Glovben
No comments:
Post a Comment