Gifty Ohene-Konadu
GIFTY OHENE-Konadu, National Coordinator for Government’s Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat, on Thursday called on participants at an Annual Citizens Assessment Survey in Koforidua to carefully query issues contained in the survey to enable the secretariat effectively assess the perspectives and views of the Ghanaian citizenry as a way of helping government address the concerns emanating from that.
According to her, the importance of citizens’ participation was dear to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his governance.
Ms. Ohene-Konadu, who delivered the welcome address at the opening ceremony of the two-day validation workshop, said the perception survey fell in line with the thinking of the President “who deems citizens participation as a prerequisite for effective and efficient governance.”
Ms. Ohene-Konadu, who heads the reformed Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat, said the Citizens Assessment Survey which sought to collate public suggestions and opinions on governments flagship policies and programmes, will go a long way to improve effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of such policies and as well make government agencies more accountable.
“Again, it will furnish decision-makers and implementers of the flagship programmes and development partners with evidence-based information from the citizenry on the relevance, efficacy, and sustainability of government’s flagship programmes,” she added.
Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Technical Advisor at the Office of the Senior Presidential Advisor, Opoku Kyei said the Monitoring and Evaluation Secretariat was playing a very critical role in the quest to improve public sector delivery by implementing the third component of Public Sector for Reforms Project, Monitoring and Evaluation.
He said the collection of public opinions and suggestions on policies resonates with the government’s commitment to being accountable to the citizenry for which reason a lot of interventions anchored on the National Public Sector Reform Strategy (NPSRS) launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2018 has been put in place.
Chief Executive Officer for Public Sector Reforms, Dr. Thomas Kusi Boafo, who was the chairman for the workshop, underscored the importance of the findings of the survey saying it will “furnish decision-makers and implementers of the government’s flagship programmes with evidence-based information from the side of the public who are mainly beneficiaries as to whether the programmes are indeed relevant and even sustainable.”
He assured that the findings of the Annual Citizens Assessment Survey served its intended purpose and also urged participants of the workshop to provide valuable inputs for the exercise.
Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP) initiated by the Government of Ghana and funded by the World Bank is aimed at improving efficiency and accountability in the delivery of services by selected public sector entities.
The project has four components – strengthening organisational performance; improving efficiency, accountability, and citizen engagement in the delivery of selected services; improving monitoring and evaluation across MDAs and MMDAs and project management, coordination, and public reporting.