A civil society developed manual that will boost local council efforts at becoming viable through local economic development around natural resource extraction has been unveiled to trainers in Bo, southern Sierra Leone.
The coalition campaign, led by the National Coalition on Extractives (NACE), would provide tools and approaches for people-centred development especially moving local authorities away from their traditional mode to a more proactive participatory endeavour, according to Bishop Akolgo, a Ghanaian social development expert,who led the training of dozens of trainers at the Bo City Hall.
“This mode ensures that councils are better placed to play their as efficient and effective public services providers, facilitate the provision of private goods and services, promote local economic development, mobilise and invest in ways that reduce leakages and enhance local economy and mobilise citizens to maximise their natural resource endowment while reducing the risks towards building and sustaining resilient economies,” he said.
Chair of the coalition and head of Campaign for Good Governance, Valnora Edwin, explained the need for the document and said it would help participants and the public take ownership of council led developments.
“Council mobilise resources and they deal with the extractives sector players. We hope the training manual will help participants under those processes and take ownership by engaging, contributing and taking decisions around their own development,” she said.
Other partner members are the ministry of local government secretariat, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, the Integrated Social Development Centre and local councils, especially those in the southern districts of the country.
Chairman of the occasion and Acting Mayor of the Bo City Council, Mohamed Wurie Jalloh agreed that there was need for those kinds of partnerships.
“We hope this will help solve the problems with often encounter with companies in the extractives sector. The council and people look forward to benefitting from the understanding we get with them,” he hoped.
Civil Society groups and participants, drawn from diverse sectors of the districts in the region, said three years from now after the workshop they expect to see improved agency coordination and networking, improved government tax obligations, clear channels of communication, and most importantly local councils would have been more proactive in mobilising domestic revenues for sustainable development.
(C) Politico 16/06/16
