The National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) is embarking on a sensitisation campaign to raise the awareness of village administrators on their roles and responsibilities as stipulated in the Local Government Act.
The 10-day forum targeted 50 members of village development committees and village heads in Lower River Region.
Speaking at the opening on Friday at Kwinella, Chief of Kiang Central Demba Sanyang, dilated on the importance of the forum, saying it is long overdue.
He said the forum can lead to avoidance of conflict that usually happens among village administrators, either at village level or inter-village conflict.
Chief Sanyang said there are many challenges and gaps that need to be addressed by the local authorities but they are weak in addressing some of those issues due to little or no knowledge about their legal roles and responsibilities.
Alkalo of Kwinella village, Nakoto Sanyang, said by the end of the training, village administrators “will surely” be able to deliver what is expected of them at their various communities after getting au fait with the Local Government Act.
Yusupha Bojang, programme manager of NCCE, said the training is targeted mainly at VDCs and village heads to better enhance their knowledge on their rights, roles and responsibilities as provided in the Local Government Act.
The training is also geared towards helping VDC members to discuss their roles and responsibilities with village heads and council of elders or entire committee members in their villages so that they can know and appreciate each other’s work.
“The roles and responsibilities of village development committee are clearly spelt out in the Local Government Act,” he said. “But still it seems VDCs and village heads don’t know their roles and responsibilities and this always results to conflicts of interest in villages. Therefore, the NCCE deems it fitting to organise the forum to build the capacity of VDCs and village heads so they can better understand each other to avoid conflict of interests among themselves.”