Stakeholders in Prestea Huni-Valley trained on monitoring of MDF projects

Bogoso (W/R)-Ghana, Nov. 19, GNA – Participants at two-day training programme at Bogoso in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality have been trained on how to monitor projects being funded by the Mineral Development Fund (MDF).
Opening the training, the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for Friends of the Nation (FoN), Nana Efua Ewur, explained that the focus of the programme was to empower some key selected stakeholders to have the required knowledge on the kind of projects that were being funded by the MDF.
She said with the education acquired by the participants they would be able to monitor the MDF projects closely from henceforth and ensure it is properly executed to serve the needed purpose.
Nana Ewur implored the participants to take the training programme seriously and practice what they have learnt to help support development in the Municipality.
Mr Charles Ofori, Policy Lead on Climate Change and Energy Transition at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), also admonished Municipal and District assemblies to utilize the MDF well.
He indicated that “You need to be very circumspect in carrying out your needs assessments. For instance, if two communities need a community center, one community center would be able to serve the two so you can free up some money to solve other developmental challenges within the municipality.”
“When the assembly organises a public hearing, most residents don’t show up but that is the time we render accounts, find out their needs and work towards It,” Mr Stephen Kwabena Danquah, Budget Analyst, Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly, lamented.
He encouraged the citizens to be present at all public hearings so they would be able to identify their needs and provide the necessary solutions.
Mr George Kojo Scott, Head of Works Department, Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality, led participants to inspect some MDF projects which included; two-storey Information Communication Technology (ICT) center at Bogoso, speed calming devices at Ayensukrom No 2 on the Tarkwa-Bogoso Highway, Community Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compound, two-unit bedroom detached nurses quarters with mechanized borehole overhead stand, tank and furniture for Ehyireso and Beppoh have been completed.
Also, works were ongoing on a six-unit classroom with offices at Ayensukrom No 1, three-unit classroom block, library, staff common room, principals’ office, and storeroom with furniture for the Roman Catholic Lower Primary School at Bogoso and two storey office complexes for education, health and other departments for the assembly at Bogoso.
Some participants who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the programme commended the organizers and said it had provided them with the needed knowledge to appreciate the MDF.