ICA needs to adopt sustainable financing mechanisms

By Maxwell Awumah, GNA

Ho, Nov. 19, GNA - Mr Felix Chaahaah, Chief Director, Volta Regional Coordinating Council, has called on members of the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA)-West Africa to adopt sustainable financing mechanisms to implement community development projects in member countries.

He envisaged that Finance Ministry could throw out their laudable actionable plans, projects and programmes at the local and community levels to complement the efforts of government and other development partners.

Mr Chaahaah said this in an address read for him at the opening session of the fifth ICA West Africa annual Regional Conference in Ho.

The event was held under the theme: “Consolidating Energies of WA-ICAs for Sustainable Community Development.”

The five-day conference is under the auspices of the Development Institute (The DI-Ghana) and partners and it is being attended by ICA West Africa member states including Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cote d’ Ivoire and Nigeria.

He said ICA is preoccupied with sustainable community activities which include collective mobilisation of people to identify development problems and challenges, generate alternative solutions and strategise for the implementation of best practical solutions.

The Chief Director urged ICA WA to share experiences and lessons, conduct refresher training courses and methodologies to continue to provide the communities with social amenities and commended the group for chalking many successes.

Mr Yao Gator Adufu, Vice President of ICA West Africa called on member countries of ICA to adopt and replicate the community/village savings and loan association (VSLA) – Community Sustainable Financing Engineering mechanism schemes operational in Ghana as a tool for community financial mobilisation at the local level with capacity to fight poverty.

He said the world is facing monumental challenges in youth unemployment exacerbated by climate change and deepening inequality between the rich and the poor.

Mr Adufu said some NGOs and civil society institutions including ICA continue to deploy innovative actions to overcome the challenges to stop the youth from using the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean to emigrate to Europe in search for greener pastures.

He said ICA Benin has provided a water scheme for all peri-urban settlements in that country; ICA Cote d’Ivoire equipping the youth in agribusiness; ICA Ghana having a highland analog forestry curricula with DI; ICA Togo having a river’s protection programme; and the ICA Nigeria working in the area of youth empowerment programme.

Mr Adufu said Nigeria has the capacity to feed Africa, when strategies were rolled out for such an ambitious programme.

He said ICA international was implementing a global strategy based on facilitation of peer-to-peer interchange, learning and mutual support across the world.     

Mr Ken Kinney, Executive Director of Development Institute, a not-for-profit entity, said ICA since its inception has been promoting human development globally in various forms through a network of organizations with a common goal, which was to ensure the positive transformation of individuals for the good of communities towards sustainable development.

He said ICA West Africa, in the past four years has been meeting to explore the prospects of establishing a strong partnership through the sharing of ideas and experiences towards sustainable community development.

Mr Kinney said the purpose of this year’s conference is to consolidate synergies of WA-ICAs to review and develop a three-year strategic plan for the network.

Mr Clemence Spenoo Kugbey, Director, Administration, Finance and Partnership, DI, said ICA was about honouring the past and building the harmony for the future change through community development strategies.

GNA

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