The Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, has urged stakeholders to move beyond dialogue and take concrete steps to integrate migration, remittances and diaspora contributions into Ghana’s development planning processes.

Speaking at the close of a capacity-building workshop held on April 23, 2026, in Accra, Dr Amoah described the engagement as both insightful and action-oriented, emphasizing the need to translate learning into results.

“We are not just ending a meeting; we are concluding a process of learning, reflection, and renewed thinking that must now inform our actions,” she noted.

The workshop brought together representatives from Regional Coordinating Councils, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and development partners to strengthen the integration of migration and diaspora issues into national and subnational development frameworks.

Dr Amoah stressed that migration must be repositioned as a strategic development lever rather than viewed solely as a social concern.

“Migration is a powerful development tool when properly understood and effectively integrated into our planning systems,” she stated.

While acknowledging that migration and diaspora engagement are reflected in Ghana’s policy framework and the President’s Coordinated Programme under the “Resetting Ghana Agenda,” she pointed to persistent gaps in implementation.

“Our discussions have been candid. We have identified the gaps and challenges, but more importantly, we have outlined practical pathways forward,” she said, adding that effective planning requires linking past experiences, present realities and future aspirations.

She called for a more deliberate and coordinated approach to mainstreaming migration across sectoral, regional and district plans, including monitoring and evaluation systems.

“We must move from awareness to action. The responsibility now lies with you to champion this agenda within your institutions,” she urged.

Dr Amoah further encouraged participants to reflect migration priorities in Annual Action Plans, budgets and progress reports, stressing that impact will be measured by implementation and not discussion.

She also highlighted the importance of the toolkits introduced during the workshop, describing them as practical instruments to support evidence-based planning, targeted interventions and results tracking.

In his remarks, Amadou Diouf, Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Subregional Office for West Africa, commended participants for their active engagement and reaffirmed the value of collaboration.

“This workshop has demonstrated what we can achieve through partnership and shared learning,” he said, urging participants to translate insights into tangible results that will strengthen development planning across the country.

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