The final activity under the strengthening local administrative data collection project for local authorities in Ghana took place from 17 to 19 May in the form of a data validation workshop.

Recipients of the training were regional and selected district statisticians who have used the data compilation tools and metadata to collect administrative data during the previous month, having firstly received training on a zonal and district basis in how to use the tools.

Improving data collection tools

The workshop sought to enable participants to share experiences, observations, challenges and lessons learned in the usage of the tools, allowing appropriate adjustment to be made to improve the tools and, consequently, roll-out the support to all districts.

This workshop is just one part of the project, with the overall objective of contributing to improved monitoring and evaluation, which is an integral part of the planning and reporting requirements of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) of Ghana.

Specific objectives include:

• Enhancing capacity of regional and district statisticians, planning and other key officers on data compilation with appropriate tools; increasing evidence-based decision-making in the selected MMDAs.

• Enhancing capacity of regional and district Statisticians as well as budget officers in the alignment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) based budgets with the Medium-Term Development Plans of the Assemblies, and providing reports on them accordingly.

The event was organised by CLGF in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD), the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) and the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG).

Before this workshop, the development partners and the implementing Institutions collaborated to:

• develop data collection templates
• metadata to guide the data collection processes
• trained 101 of the 261 MMDAs of Ghana on how to use the templates with the metadata.
• The selected MMDAs were also given the chance to use the templates and metadata to compile administrative data for the period 2015 to 2021. 

Partnership working

CLGF West Africa Regional Officer, Ms Joyce Ekeful said: “The training has been a great contribution to an important project, benefitting so many councils in Ghana – and hopefully with the possibility of multiplying the benefits. It is also a great validation of CLGF’s firm belief that partnership working is the way forward. We are extremely grateful to our partners: donors, government and the local councils themselves.”