A former Director of Cabinet at the ECOWAS Commission, Mrs. Rasaline Obeng Ofori has urged the government of Ghana to liaise with the regional body in ensuring that the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) project is of benefit to other member-states within the ECOWAS sub-region. Mrs. Ofori who is also a gender advocate was speaking at a capacity building workshop organized by the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) on the role of non-state actors in the regional integration process said, the concept of SADA could be replicated in other countries within the savannah belt of the region. According to Mrs Ofori, “if you take Burkina Faso, southern Burkina Faso is in the Savannah belt. You take parts of La Cote D’Ivoire and they are in parts of the Upper West region. These areas share the same ecological zone. They have the same resources that if SADA in Ghana is trying to tap these resources, it will be a good opportunity for ECOWAS to tap into this to make it a regional programme to benefit the larger population.” She indicated that if ECOWAS hopes to achieve its Vision 2020 regional development plan, there is the need for such developmental projects to be done across board to benefit people from various countries with similar needs. “SADA really is a very good opportunity for ECOWAS to make an impact especially on the most rural poor. The savannah belt people are normally people who are in deprivation and are into farming and various agricultural programmes. They are also faced with the problem of desertification and sometime they even lack wood for fuel,” she decried. She said government should be committed to the complete implementation of the project in order to clearly articulate its usefulness to other members of ECOWAS. She further lauded Burkina Faso for the country’s agricultural development saying their ability to produce vegetables all-year-through despite being a savannah country is worth emulating by Ghana. “How can Burkina and Ghana team up to develop an agricultural plan to benefit the two nations?” she asked, insisting the heads of state of both nations and the ministers in the specific sectors can work together and create a road map to such a collaboration to come into fruition. Mrs Ofori further encouraged civil society groups to demand accountability from the government in the drive towards regional integration. If ECOWAS is moving from a situation of a community of states to a community of people, there is a need for the various non-state actors to fully participate in this process by demanding that governments of all countries take the right decisions,” she stressed. Story by Derick Romeo Adogla/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana