The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening collaboration to advance the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Programme and support gender-responsive approaches to development planning in Ghana.

The commitment was reaffirmed during a courtesy call by an AFIDEP delegation, led by its Executive Director, Dr. Eliya Zulu, to the NDPC on Tuesday, 21 July 2026. The engagement focused on the next phase of collaboration between the two institutions following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier this year, as well as preparations for a Gender-Responsive Budgeting and Planning (GRB) training programme for selected districts in Ghana.

Speaking during the meeting, Dr. Eliya Zulu described AFIDEP as a pan-African research and policy institute committed to strengthening evidence-informed policymaking across the continent. He noted that the Institute works to ensure that research evidence translates into improved development outcomes and enhanced well-being for citizens.

“We are a research and policy organisation, but our focus is to ensure that evidence translates into better development outcomes and improved well-being for citizens. Planning institutions such as NDPC are therefore critical partners in achieving this goal,” he said.

Dr. Zulu noted that AFIDEP’s Women’s Economic Empowerment initiative is currently being piloted in Ghana and Kenya and expressed the Institute’s desire to build a long-term partnership with NDPC beyond the proposed Gender-Responsive Budgeting and Planning training programme.

Dr. Jackson Otieno, AFIDEP’s Lead Economist, said the Institute had shared a concept note on the proposed training with NDPC and was working with the Commission’s technical team to refine the programme.

“We are collaborating to strengthen the training approach and develop the training-of-trainers component ahead of implementation. We look forward to working closely with NDPC to deliver this programme,” he said.

Responding, the Director-General of NDPC, Dr. Audrey Smock Amoah, welcomed the continued collaboration and noted that although the Commission had initially hoped the training would coincide with the preparation of the current Medium-Term Development Plans, those plans had already been completed. She, however, indicated that the intervention could support the review of annual action plans and budgets, as well as the preparation of Annual Progress Reports, while discussions continued on the most appropriate timing for future planning cycles.

“The proposed interventions align with the Commission’s mandate and ongoing planning processes. We will provide feedback on the concept note through the appropriate technical team, and we encourage continued engagement between our two institutions,” Dr. Amoah said.

The AFIDEP delegation also introduced members of its Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme leadership team and reiterated the Institute’s commitment to supporting evidence-based planning and promoting cross-country learning between Ghana and Kenya.

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