The Tamale Archdiocesan Development Organisation (TADO) has held a workshop for stakeholders of the archdiocese to review the organisation’s five-year strategic plan and solicit participants’ perspectives to aid in its re-strategising.
The two-day meeting in Tamale brought together stakeholders from the various districts of the archdiocese to deliberate on thematic areas of the plan.
Activities pertaining to the strategic planning were funded by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Misereor, a Catholic funding agency based in Germany.
The current interventions of TADO covered seven districts in the Northern and Savanna regions, with interventions including governance, justice and peace, education, health and livelihoods.
The Very Reverend Hilary Pogbeyir, the Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Tamale, speaking during the workshop, said the strategic planning workshop, which was held by TADO as the development wing of the archdiocese, was an essential step in ensuring that the archdiocese was well-prepared to meet challenges and seize available opportunities for growth.
“Our agenda for this strategic plan workshop is ambitious, reflecting the urgency and importance of our mission, expressing the hope that the developed strategies will sustain the church,” he said.
The Rev. Father Sebastian Zaato, Coordinator for TADO, said the strategic plan was to recommit to the Church’s God-given mission to assess the progress towards creating sustainable structures to shape and support the mission.
TADO, he said, would build on the assessment to ensure that subsequent implementation under the plan would identify strategies that were sustainable, innovative and accessible.
“We will distinguish between those constituents that need short-term assistance to come through a troubled time from those where intractable poverty demands a permanent commitment from the Archdiocese through TADO, and we will create and shape new structures for support for the poor and vulnerable,” he said.
Mr Chals Wontewe, a Development Practitioner, consulting for TADO, urged funding agencies to invest in the organisation to enable it to contribute more to development.
He called on well-resourced agencies to consider investing in the organisation as it was capable of delivering outstanding results in diverse areas of development.
Mr Wontewe said: “One of the key successes of TADO is that the results of Catholic schools are quite impressive although the Northern Region has constantly been at the bottom.”
Mr Timothy Akanpabadai, Head of Office, CRS, Tamale Sub-office, said the Service could not relent in providing support for institutions of the Catholic Church, which would better position them in their functions to serve the people.
He urged development institutions of the Church to commit to their mandate to receive adequate benefits from local capacity initiatives of the CRS as it was poised to provide the necessary assistance to all dioceses.
GNA
EA/BM/ABD
4 June 2024
Caption: Participants at the strategic planning workshop
