Ms. Akua Sena Dansua, Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs says all effort must be made to eliminate any form of gender imbalances at all levels. Ms Dansua, speaking at the opening of a two-day stakeholders’ workshop on GIMPA’s Gender Policy, said gender equality was crucial for good governance and sustainable development. The workshop, which was organised by GIMPA in partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat, is aimed at soliciting inputs to ensure a comprehensive Gender Policy document for training of public service officials. The minister commended the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) for the initiation of a draft gender policy for the training of public service officials. She said the draft policy would form the basis for the formulation of a comprehensive gender policy document for ensuring gender mainstreaming in the public service. Ms Dansua said GIMPA’s gender policy had come at the right moment, as government acknowledged inclusive growth as a key factor for achieving sustainable poverty reduction and human resource development. She commended GIMPA for not relenting in its efforts over the years to improve human capacities for competent planning and administration in Ghana and beyond. Ms Dansua said the establishment of a Gender Development and Resource Centre was to address the current gaps in the public service. She said the determination of the government in mainstreaming gender issues had reflected in its Affirmative Action Policy which had resulted in the appointment of women in key decision-making positions such as Speaker of Parliament, Acting Inspector General of Police and other key ministerial positions. Ms Dansua said government was also committed to gender mainstreaming and gender responsive budgeting, noting that without equal participation of women in decision making at all levels, the goal of equality could not be achieved. She said this new dimension therefore placed special responsibility on public sector officials to mainstream gender into different policies and programmes of their sectors, thereby facilitating the achievement of gender equitable development objectives. The Minster said it was expected that the final gender policy document would help address the gaps between what was expected from public sector officials and their existing levels of understanding of gender issues. Ms Dansua urged GIMPA as an institution to face the challenge of understanding the significance of gender equality in good governance and integrating the necessary knowledge and skills among faculty and staff members so that the knowledge was handed over to the public sector for translation into actual practice. She further urged GIMPA to develop a well-defined strategy to integrate gender sensitivity both within its programmes as well as institutional set-ups to provide increased attention to addressing major gender disparities which were the main stumbling blocks in mainstreaming gender into the public sector reform processes.