By Juliet Aguiar DUGBARTEY, Takoradi
The Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) District Citizen Monitoring Teams have conducted independent social audits on 14 projects within their respective districts in the Western Region.
The independent audit was to assess the quality and overall impact of such projects on beneficiary communities.
At a dissemination event in Takoradi, the eight monitoring teams presented their social audit findings to participants including traditional leaders, officials from the Western Regional Coordinating Council and the eight districts, the CoST Multi-Stakeholder Group, civil society representatives as well as other identifiable groups.
The monitoring teams are composed of diverse stakeholders including traditional leaders, women and youth groups, persons with disabilities, media representatives, NCCE and representatives from civil society organisations, ensuring broad participation and inclusivity.
The monitored projects primarily focused on health and education infrastructure. It was discovered that disability-friendly access remained a major issue in public infrastructure delivery, highlighting the necessity for Assemblies to pay critical attention to the needs of marginalised groups in meeting people’s basic needs.
The teams operated in eight CoST participating districts of the Western Region: Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipal Assembly, Nzema East Municipal Assembly, Ahanta West Municipal Assembly, Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly, Mpohor District Assembly, Wassa East District Assembly and Shama District Assembly.
Isaac Aidoo, CoST Sekondi-Takoradi Manager, indicated that the monitoring teams were playing significant roles in ensuring that the CoST programme have a strong footprint at the local level, strengthening transparency and accountability in local infrastructure governance.
He noted that the teams were formed by CoST Sekondi-Takoradi Foundation to empower district-level actors in taking an active role monitoring infrastructure projects within their districts.
The Foundation is a local chapter of CoST International – a leading global initiative that operates in 19 countries to implement transparency and accountability reforms within the public infrastructure sector.
The social audits were conducted following eight district-level training and capacity-building sessions on Ghana’s legal framework for disclosing information on public projects and contracts, social accountability tools and the CoST approach to infrastructure transparency.
By empowering local communities to actively participate in monitoring public infrastructure initiatives, the Chapter aims to foster a culture of social accountability at the grassroots level; thus promoting effective infrastructure delivery that improves the lives of communities
Mr. Aziz Mahmoud, CoST Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer, stated that the primary purpose of forming the monitoring teams was to empower local champions at the district level to actively participate in monitoring ongoing and completed infrastructure projects using social accountability tools.
He said: “When it comes to social auditing, constructive engagement between the monitor and project owner is key – and the name of the game is evidence. This is the surest way to ensure reforms are made in the delivery of public infrastructure”.
He therefore urged the teams to strengthen collaboration with officials of their various Assemblies in this endeavour. He also advised the teams to follow-up with the various districts on implementation of their audit recommendations.
Eugene Ofori-Atta, the Multi-Stakeholder Group Chairperson, expressed gratitude to the teams for taking up the responsibility of ensuring communities derive better project outcomes. He emphasised that the practice of holding decision-makers to account is enshrined in the 1992 Constitution, and encouraged individuals and communities to actively participate in providing oversight in the delivery of publicly-funded infrastructure projects within their districts.
