Traditional authorities from Nanumba North and South Districts of the Northern Region have undergone a two-day training on public policy formulation at the local level to ensure efficient use of resources.
The training was to equip the traditional authorities with the right knowledge, skills and information to engage in and for active involvement in decision making, planning, implementation and execution of projects and programmes within their communities in line with the development aspirations of their people.
The event, which was organized by Mobility Foundation, a non-governmental organization with funding from Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA), ended on Friday at Bimbila in the Nanumba North District.
Topics treated included developing and preparing district assemblies medium-term plans, annual budget, policy formulation at the district level amongst others.
Mr Shiraz Yakubu Anas, Director of Mobility Foundation, said it was to improve the capacity of the traditional leaders to advocate and present community needs in the policy formulation, development planning process, programme implementation with the district as well as the community level.
Mr Anas expressed the hope that this would enable the traditional authorities to appreciate as well as own or identify with development projects in their communities to ensure that such projects were not abandoned.
He said the failure to involve traditional authorities and for that matter the local people in the planning, implementation and execution of certain projects in the past had rendered such projects white elephants, a situation Mobility Foundation was working to prevent.
Chief Amadu Issahaku Alhassan, Northern Regional Population Officer, who was the resource person for the training, said involving traditional authorities in planning and implementation of projects would ensure efficiency and relevance of such projects to the people.
Chief Abukari Mahama, Kpana of Wulensi in the Nanumba South District, who spoke on behalf of the participants, described the training as useful and timely saying it had broadened their knowledge on what happened at the assembly level in relation to development projects.