The Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) has organised a capacity-building workshop for Accountability Labs (ALs), within the Mfantseman Municipality in the Central Region to enhance grassroots democracy and social accountability.The Accountability Labs engen­der social accountability by support­ing active citizenship.The workshop, supported by STAR-Ghana Foundation under the project dubbed Action for Voice for Inclusive Development (AVID-2) aimed to equip young leaders and active citizens with the skills and knowledge necessary to influence local governance and advocate effectively for their communities.It was also meant to build, sustain and amplify community voices to advocate and claim their rights whilst holding duty bearers accountable.The trained youth were selected from various communities, includ­ing Anokye, Ewoyaa, Abonkor, Krampakrom, Krofu, Ansaadze, and Afrangjuah within the Mfantse­man municipality.The Head of Policy and Pro­grammes at ISODEC, Mr Bernard Anaba, said that over the years, the communities had not been able to come together and mobilise for action due to their low level of con­sciousness and inability to galvanise mass movements and articulate their issues using tools and strate­gies that will enable them to sustain social action for change.Thus, he said the capacity build­ing exercise was organised to raise youth awareness and empower them to actively address shared challenges through volunteering and commu­nity-driven initiatives, particularly focusing on issues relative to the negative impacts of mining and the effects of climate change on access to clean water.Mr Anaba ex­plained that ISO­DEC had recently gathered data on community needs, paving the way for the work­shop to deepen participants' understanding of their roles in local decision-making and access to so­cial accountability mechanisms.The Assistant Development Planner at the Mfantseman Municipal Assembly, Mr Sakyi Julius, disclosed that during the needs assessment to develop the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP), it emerged that water was the major concern affecting the communities as a result the Assembly had taken a decision to drill mechanised boreholes in the communities using the District Assembly Common Fund.Mr Michael Tettey, a volunteer at ISODEC, educated participants on how to submit petitions and the responsibilities of the Metro­politan, Municipal and Districts Assemblies.He led a discussion on how community members could partic­ipate in the local governance pro­cesses, adding that the discussions focused on the purpose of the Client Service Unit, its functions and responsibilities.He also discussed the purpose of the Public Relations and Com­plaints Committee (PRCC) and its functions.On his part Mr Kojo Bondzie, a youth representative from Abonko, shared that although he regularly visited the Municipal Assembly as a Unit Committee Member, he was unaware of the existence of some committees until he participated in the work­shop."As a unit committee member, I now know that a committee exists at the Assembly to resolve complaints or issues.

It was good I participated in this training pro­gram," Mr Bondzie stated. BY KINGSLEY ASARE