Over 80 Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ) have pledged their unflinching support for the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) relative to its mandate.

“We commend government for all the policy initiatives that have been introduced towards promoting the growth of the SADA zone and we pledge as Civil Society Organisations, to give our optimum support regarding the implementation of the SADA development agenda.

“We appreciate government's efforts in reconstituting the SADA board and commend government for resolving to address the development needs of the NSEZ. We wish to state that, we have confidence and trust in the new SADA management and board and are prepared to partner with them to ensure transparency and accountability to realise SADA's mandate.”

These were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a two-day SADA and CSOs consultative conference held in Tamale last week. The conference, convened by SEND-GHANA in partnership with SADA, was themed, The Role of CSO's in Achieving SADA's Mandate.

The CSOs resolved to create a platform for information dissemination for rapid transformation of the SADA zone. They also indicated their readiness to carry out participatory monitoring and evaluation of SADA programmes to ensure greater transparency and accountability. Additionally, they promised to advocate for the passage of a legislative instrument on the levy of non-petroleum imports for funding SADA.