The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and GIZ, convened a Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting to improve data coordination and management for social protection delivery in Ghana.

The technical meeting held on Wednesday, January 29, 2026, brought together representatives from key Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) and Development Partners.

Delivering the welcome remarks, the Acting Director for the Development Policy Division at NDPC, Mrs. Alice Amekudzi, highlighted the importance of timely, accurate and well-coordinated data in the effective delivery of social protection programmes. She noted that fragmented data management across Ghana’s social protection systems limits data sharing and effective use for planning, monitoring, and national reporting.

She explained that these challenges informed a GIZ-supported initiative “Improving Data Management for Social Protection and Building Capacity of Relevant User Institutions at the National and Sub-National Levels”. The initiative seeks to assess existing data coordination mechanisms and support the development of an integrated data coordination and sharing framework.

Mrs. Amekudzi announced that the meeting also served as the formal convening of the Technical Working Group established under the initiative, with members drawn from institutions with mandates in social protection delivery, data management, planning, and monitoring and evaluation. The TWG is expected to provide technical guidance and quality assurance for key project outputs, including a proposed national data coordination and sharing mechanism.

The project consultants, Mrs. Mary Mpereh and Dr. Wilfred Nelson, disclosed that an inception report outlining the scope, objectives and roadmap for the assignment had been submitted. Mrs. Mpereh noted that despite the existence of several social protection data platforms, systems remain poorly linked, with limited access across institutions, particularly at the sub-national level, affecting effective planning and implementation.

A representative of the GIZ PAIRed, Ms. Laetitia Erny, underscored the importance of strengthening social protection data to support better planning and implementation at all levels. Ms. Erny said the initiative focuses on improving coordination among institutions, enhancing data accuracy and sharing, and reviewing existing systems to ensure they work better together, adding that GIZ remains committed to supporting assessments, capacity-building and practical actions to improve data coordination outcomes.

Key institutions, including MDAs in social protection, finance, health, education, labour, statistics, and spatial planning, shared findings from completed surveys and data systems to inform discussions under the initiative.

GIZ Ghana

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NDPC PR-UNIT