‘’We cannot wait on the government; we need to start something and then call on the government for support,’’ a lecturer at the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS), Mr Felix Amakye, stated.

He was addressing a second quarter forum on Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (SPEFA) at Adentan.

It was attended by officials of the AdMA, assembly members, zonal council and unit committee members, traditional authorities, traders, farmer groups, persons with disability (PWDs), youth and women groups.

The forum, organised by Intervention Forum (IF), a non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with SNV Ghana and the AdMA, focused on Local Economic Development (LED).

According to Mr Amakye, LED was a process by which local governments, local businesses and other actors joined forces and resources and also fostered partnerships with other stakeholders to create jobs to stimulate economic activities in municipalities, towns and villages.

An official of IF, Mr Joshua Elorm, gave an update on the first quarter SPEFA forum for the year and follow-up activities, particularly with regard to citizens’ complaints sent to the Client Service Unit (CSU) of the AdMA.

Mushroom project

In a welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer of IF, Madam Nora Ollennu, who is also the focal person for the Adentan Citizens group, explained that the SPEFA forums were held on a quarterly basis and had become an avenue for the sensitisation of residents to the importance of their participation in the local governance processes and how they could contribute to the socio-economic development of their community and the assembly.

She said there had been a shift in the economic development approach globally and the focus was currently on the bottom-up economic development approach, which had proved to be a more feasible alternative to the top-down development strategies.

“It is important that local economic development efforts are encouraged and given maximum support,” she said and urged citizens groups, private sector entities and businesses, civil society organisations (CSOs) and traditional heads to come together to build consensus and form further strategic alliances on local economic development.

To spearhead LED in the Adentan Assembly, she said the AdMA, in collaboration with the Centre for Local Governance Advocacy, and with the support from the European Union (EU), had commenced a three-year local mushroom development project.

A Project Manager for the mushroom project, Mr Kofi Simpeh, said the project, dubbed PROMUSH, was being funded by the EU, which was taking care of 80 per cent of the cost.The project, which will run for three years, he said, was aimed at improving the mushroom industry to create jobs for particularly women, the youth and PWDs and would benefit 3,000 women and 2,500 men.