Good Practice Scheme Phase three Ghana
Country overview
Ghana is located in West Africa near the equator and on the Greenwich meridian. It is bounded on the north and northwest by Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), on the east by Togo, on the south by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by La Cote D'Ivoire (known as the Ivory Coast). Ghana's total area is 238,537sq km (92,100sq miles) and has a population of circa 22,931,299 (2007). The capital city is Accra, and other cities in the country are Kumasi, Tema, and Sekondi-Takoradi.
There are ten regions namely the Northern, Upper West, Upper East, Volta, Ashanti, Western, Eastern, Central, Brong - Ahafo and Greater Accra.
Country theme: Local economic development
Ghana was selected as a focus country for the Commonwealth Local Government Good Practice Scheme as it has a relatively advanced local government system with most services decentralised to local government. Before the changes imposed by the 1988 decentralisation programme, Ghana had a highly centralised government structure in which local people and communities were little involved in decision-making. Local government services were poor and depended largely on funds and personnel provided by the national government in Accra.
A committment to deepening the already strong history of decentralisation in Ghana was given in the President's recent speech, outlining the need for increased capacity and organisation of local government and local government departments. The role of the District Assemblies in delivering the Poverty Reduction strategy has been set out and significant emphasis is being placed on building local capacity to enable local authorities to fulfil this role as effectively as possible.
GPS projects
Upper Denkyira District Assembly project
Useful links
Institute of Local Government Studies, Ghana