USAID/Ghana local-government improvement program's impact assessed

The USAID/Ghana Local Governance Decentralization Program (LOGODEP) recently held a two-day closeout workshop in Busua, Ghana, to discuss the five-year program's results.

The program aimed to teach 22 Ghanian districts' local governments how to better serve  constituents. The program also provided grants to service organizations in an effort to get citizens involved in their local governments.

At the workshop, Ghana national and local government officials and USAID representatives met with project staff and others to discuss how the program progressed and what it had achieved.

“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.”

The program included a spatial planning initiative that provided participating governments with computers and other necessary hardware, as well as mapping software and training on how to use these tools. This ensured regions' streets were named and properties numbered on maps.