- Move to Enhance Accountability and Transparency in Administration of the Fund

The Ga East Municipal Assembly (GEMA) has been selected among ten (10) Districts in the country by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to pilot a software application to support accountable, judicious, and transparent administration of the three percent (3%) allocation of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) for Persons With Disability (PWDs).

The App, DACF Support, developed by AO Holdings, which uses Citizen-Generated Data by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), is meant to create a platform for Persons with Disability (PWDs) to give feedback on their awareness of the DACF allocation, challenges with accessibility, use and benefits to them, among other issues.

At a day's workshop to introduce the App to and train the members of the District Technical Team (DTT) of the Ga East Municipal Assembly (GEMA), the Project Manager of the Citizen-Generated Data at the Ghana Statistical Service, Mr. Cyrus Kwesi Darpoh, noted that the initiative is aimed at bridging the gap between the policy-makers and target beneficiaries to help improve the allocation and utilization of the fund.

He further added that the App seeks to provide vital data to aid policy direction and facilitate the realization of the Goal Ten (10) of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which enjoins member nations to "Reduce Inequalities" (inclusiveness).

"We get to encourage to gather strong data to support Policy makers to do the right thing that is improve upon decision-making. This will also give Persons with Disability stronger voice to input into decision-making, thus mother Ghana ends up winning and hence everybody wins. We will ensure that by the year 2030 we will achieve the SDGs, no one will be left behind, this is the way we have to do it", he explained.

Mr. Darpoh urged the team members to make frantic efforts to engage the target persons by educating and encouraging them to understand the App and its benefits to them in order to elicit the right responses and generate useful data.

"This advocacy has to be a rigorous one. We can't just tell them about the App and then leave them to try it themselves. We need to encourage them to download it and even use it. We need to tell them the benefits that everybody receives from it", he charged them.

The Greater Accra Regional Statistician, Mr. Fritz Adom, commended GEMA for the support and cooperation the GSS has been receiving from them, indicating that it was no surprise that the Assembly is always mentioned and selected for their project implementation.

He said the data generated will be beneficial to the Assembly and urged the team to put in their maximum efforts to achieve the desired outcome.

The team lead and Ga East Municipal Statistician, Iddisah Yeboah Seidu, thanked the GSS for always seeing the Assembly as a force to reckon with and assured of their commitment towards ensuring accurate and timely generation of the needed data.

Mr. Ela Koku Ametor, Chairman of the GEMA branch of the Ghana Society of Physically Disabled Persons and also Secretary of the Federation of Persons With Disability in the Municipality, expressed delight at the introduction of the App, noting that it will help them to let the government know about their challenges with and how they benefit or otherwise from the fund.

He pledged to pass on the information and educate and assist his members to install and use the App.

The pilot phase of the project starts in the Ga East Municipality from Tuesday, 18th and ends on Monday, 31st July, 2023.

Ga East Municipal Assembly is the only district from the Greater Accra Region participating in the pilot implementation of the project.

The rest are West Mumprusi Municipal, North East Region, Tamale Metropolitan, Northern Region, Central Gonja District, Savannah Region, Sunyani Municipal, Bono Region, Asunafo-North, Ahafo Region, Kumasi Metropolitan, Ashanti Region, Hohoe Municipal, Volta Region, Awutu-Senya East Municipal, Central Region, and Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan, Western Region.

The DACF Support App is currently available on android devices and can also be accessed through SMS using the short code: *920*153#