Accra, April 18, GNA – Ms Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, Executive Director of The Ark Foundation, said building the capacity of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) is important as it provides the organisations with essential skills necessary to sustain their initiatives.
She expressed the need for CSOs to seize available opportunities to strengthen the capacity of their staff as a means of ensuring the sustainability of the programmes they are implementing.
Ms Dwamena-Aboagye was speaking at a day’s national forum and capacity development workshop organised by West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) in collaboration with STAR-Ghana, a multi-donor pooled organisation in Accra.
Madam Merry Tobbin Osei, Deputy Team Leader of STAR-Ghana said many CSOs lack the requisite skills to manage their organisations and programmes, yet, there are few competent capacity building providers.
She said one of the challenges identified by CSOs is that donors do not prioritise the provision of capacity building.
Nana Asantewa Afadzinu, Executive Director of WACSI said the forum created a neutral space for CSOs to reflect on the role of capacity development in ensuring the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of the civil society sector in Ghana.
She said the forum also gave CSOs a unique opportunity to appreciate the current status of capacity development programmes available to them, articulate their capacity development needs, and shared their experiences and challenges.
The CSOs at the forum used the opportunity to identify current capacity gaps within their organisations and proposed strategies to resolve them.
Ms Patricia Porekuu, National Coordinator of Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health said capacity development received from the National Malaria Control Programme has enabled the Coalition for NGO’s in malaria control in creating awareness about the disease and how to reduce it.
‘Activities such as Indoor Residual Spraying and Hang-Up Campaign have contributed to the reduction in malaria cases in the country,’ she noted.
GNA