USAID conducts closeout workshop for Ghana Local Governance Decentralization Program

The United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Ghana Local Governance Decentralization Program (LOGODEP) is conducting its closeout workshop that ends Nov. 12 in Busua, Ghana.

USAID oversees a variety of programs aimed at stemming global poverty. The organization has been at work in Ghana since 1957, providing programs to enhance food security, improve basic healthcare services, increase access to basic educational services and make the local governments throughout the nation stronger.

LOGODEP was launched as a five-year program with the goal of solidifying the ability of the governments in 22 Ghanaian districts to serve the needs of their citizens. The initiative offered small grants to civil society organizations, which led to increased public input in local government issues.

A separate planning process provided for educational sessions on information technology and mapping software. These sessions were followed up with training, after which an initiative was launched to name streets and number properties in each district.

"LOGODEP’s activities have helped district assemblies improve transparency, boost citizen participation and plan more effectively,” Emmanuel Mensah-Ackman, deputy director of the Office of Democracy, Rights, and Governance at USAID-Ghana, said. “It is critical that each and every one of us put our shoulders to the wheel to ensure that Ghana’s decentralization program succeeds over the long term.”