The Friends of the Nation (FoN) and the Shama District Assembly have jointly held a day's training session on budget preparation for some media personnel in the Western Region.

The goal was to help create better understanding among media practitioners and solicit their support in educating the citizenry on their tax obligations, to help raise the needed resources for development.

Mr. Abu Mahama, the Shama District Planning Officer, explained that the 2020 Annual Action Plan (AAP) of the assembly, which incorporated all segments of development, would require GHC16,408, 047.65 to execute.

The AAP covers economics, social, environment, governance and International relations - aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, and ties in with the government’s vision to accelerate development.

Mr. Mahama said in all, 197 projects or activities would be implemented through the plan, adding that, 51 per cent of the funding would come from the Central Government, with donor support accounting for 22 per cent and remaining 26 per cent, from the assembly’s internally-generated revenue.

The District Planning Officer said helping journalists to have better understanding of what the assembly was doing had become imperative, to help create public awareness and win the full support of everybody.

Mr. Emmanuel Nana Yartel, the District Budget Analyst said the assembly believed in programme based budgeting to reflect current needs and trends.

He said for the 2020 budget, pro-poor activities had been given significant attention.

Some media participants called for regular information flow, interaction and capacity building, to consolidate the relationship.