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The Ghana Union of Traders (GUTA) in cooperation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation in Ghana (KAF)organized a high-quality workshop on good governance for destrict assembly members in Wenchi.

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Representatives from GUTA and KAS welcomed the participants of the workshop. Guest speakers from the Ghana Legon University and the Secretariat of the Common Fund as well as a former Chief Executive gave very informative presentations on good governance policies in practice.

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Most of the participants were assembly members, who listened actively to the interesting concepts presented to them. Afterwards the participants lively discussed the introduced ideas and theories and how to adapt them best within the district assembly framework.

Wenchi- Far away from Accra, the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation (KAF) in cooperation with Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) gave a very informative workshop on good governance to the Assembly Members from May 8th until May 10th, 2011.

The aim of the workshop was to inform the participants about the framework and concepts of the District Assemblies, which conduct their work independently from the central government of Ghana. Focusing on the adoption of good governance policies in all regions of Ghana and achieving development, the audience listened closely to the concepts and methods presented by the speakers. The District Assemblies play a crucial role in each region of Ghana, since decisions are made by the Assembly Members and in turn, those decisions have a deep impact on development issues within the communities. Unfortunately some of the Assembly Members did not follow the principles of good governance in the past. A change has to come around and the Assembly Members have to pay even more attention and focus on the following issues, in order to achieve long-lasting development:

1.) Monitoring the Common Fund so that all Assembly Members can track how much money is being spent for activities of the District Assembly 2.)Mobilizing resources (financial, material and human), in order to foster good development 3.) Conducting good, responsible leadership in the communities 4.)Participatory decision making at all levels 5.) Endorsing and adapting the principles of good governance (fairness, honesty, respect for human dignity and integrity, transparent decision making processes etc.)

By the end of the workshop the participants lively discussed the concepts and theories presented. "All the information is extremely important for me. It is crucial to set up an effective development agenda in our region and the Assembly Members play a significant role because we are making the decisions, which will influence the people living in our communities. The addressed issues remind us even stronger, to be responsible for the decision we take and to foster democracy and development here in Wenchi!" said a new elected Assembly Member, who attended the workshop. KAF and its partners plan to give more workshops in the future on the theme of good governance. As in Wenchi proven, the work of KAF highly contributes to inform people about democratic principles and support the District Assemblies to conduct good governance policies.