Community Development Department introduces 5 transformational initiatives

The Department of Community Development under the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has introduced five transformational strategies to accelerate development, improve livelihoods and build resilient communities across the country.

The strategies are the Green Communities Initiative, Multi-Purpose Community Centres Initiative, Clean Communities Initiative, Child Safe Communities Initiative and Community Diaspora Partnership Programme.

The National Director of the Department, Mr Stephen Blay, announced this in Koforidua during an engagement with officers as part of a nationwide tour to strengthen their capacity and refocus them on the department’s core mandate.

He said the initiatives were designed to empower communities to identify their challenges and actively participate in addressing them, rather than depending solely on government for development.

Mr Blay said the Green Communities Initiative would promote tree planting to create environmentally resilient communities, generate income for women and young people, and support the reclamation of degraded lands, particularly those affected by illegal mining.

He said the department would collaborate with the Forestry Commission and the Department of Parks and Gardens to provide technical support, while community development officers would mobilise residents to participate.

Under the Multi-Purpose Community Centres Initiative, he said the department planned to establish centres where children, youth, adults and the aged could interact, learn and develop their talents.

Children would be provided opportunities to learn information technology and artificial intelligence, while young people could develop their talents in sports, culture and other fields, he said.

On the Clean Communities Initiative, Mr Blay said the objective was to make cleanliness a daily practice rather than an activity associated only with national sanitation exercises.

“We want to make it part of our culture so that Ghana will be very clean,” he said.

He said the Child Safe Communities Initiative would create safe environments for children and protect them from child labour, child marriage, prostitution and other forms of abuse.

The Community Diaspora Partnership Programme, he added, would leverage the skills, expertise and resources of Ghanaians living abroad to support community development.

Mr Blay said the initiatives would be implemented according to the peculiar needs of individual communities, with support from corporate organisations, civil society groups and other development partners.

He urged community development officers to prioritise education and mobilisation, stressing that communities must be engaged to identify their actual needs before projects were undertaken.

“When you use the community to engage the community, they will come out with the actual needs of the community,” he said.

Mr Blay said the Eastern Region was the 16th and final region visited under the nationwide engagement.

He urged district officers to ensure that development interventions reflected communities’ actual needs rather than imposing projects on residents.

He said effective community engagement would enable Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to identify priorities and undertake projects with greater impact, ensuring that government policies and initiatives reached and benefited communities

From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua

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