The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has designed strategies to help Metropolitan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies (MMDAs) to prepare for COVID-19 recovery plans.
As part of the collaboration, the NDPC would support five selected MMDAs to review and re-prioritise their 2021 Annual Action Plans to incorporate COVID-19 recovery programmes to make these MMDAs resilient against local and external shocks.
Also, the initiative sought to solicit knowledge and lessons from the major stakeholders in the MMDAs such as local businesses, traditional authorities, civil society organisations and youth groups and faith-based organisations to inform the next Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework (2022–2025).
This was contained in a joint statement to the press by the NDPC and UNDP in Accra on September 1, 2020.
It said the outbreak of the COVID-19 in the country has negatively affected the MMDAs as a result of the closure of local businesses, reduction in household income and decline in human welfare and well-being, especially the poor.
The statement said the collaboration would help the districts to play an essential role in building back better lives amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. “We see this partnership as critical because it is bringing together key stakeholders to support the MMDAs in prioritising their activities to facilitate the recovery process,” it added.
The release hinted that the initiative would begin with a pilot project from September to November 2020 in Kumasi Metropolitan, Ketu South Municipal, Sefwi Wiawso Municipal, Sagnarigu District and Kassena – Nankana West District Assemblies.
Ishmael Batoma, ISD
