The programme, which is being organized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Monitoring, Evaluation and Technical Support Services (METSS) under the theme ‘’ Data Driven Decision Making in Development Work “ is aimed at encouraging state institutions to adopt ways of getting full database to assist development planning.

In his keynote address, the deputy Northern Regional Minister and Member of Parliament (MP) for the Bunkpurugu, Mr. Solomon Boar commended the USAID for their support projects including ADVANCE, Africa Lead, FINGAP, Agricultural and Natural Resource Management Project, Northern Ghana Governance Project, Agricultural Technology Transfer Project and RING PROJECT, that has contributed significantly to improving livelihood in the area.

The Minister, who expressed his delight for being part of the all-important event, added that the program was in line with government's objective to ensure accurate and reliable database to help in the planning of development at all levels.

He bemoaned the lack of accessible data across the facet of development in the country as a major hindrance to effective planning and government's development efforts and for this reason commended USAID and METSS for the initiatives they have taken.

He pledged his support and full collaboration to ensure the objectives of the project comes to fruition. He thanked the president United States of America for their continuous generosity in the fight against poverty in the region.

Participants to the workshop included; District Chiefs Executives in the Northern Region, Regional Directors of Education, Health, Agriculture and Statistics, District Co-coordinating Directors and other key supporting institutions.