Community participation in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy in the Twifu-Heman-Lower Denkyira District

Abstract

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in 1999 approved the Poverty Reduction Strategies Paper (PRSP) approach to reducing poverty for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). One of the underlying principles of the PRSP is participation of key actors. Using the ladder of citizen participation framework, the paper investigates the levels of participation of key community partners in the implementation of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (GPRSP) which was produced in 2003. A total of 406 questionnaires were administered to sampled heads of households in six communities chosen from the Twifu-Heman-Lower Denkyira District in the Central Region of Ghana. The chi-square and the K-Means cluster statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. In general, citizens described their participation in the implementation of the GPRSP as non-participation. The cluster analysis showed a significant relationship between cluster membership and the geographical location of respondents. The perception on participation of other key community partners in the GPRSP varied. For instance, participation of the District Assembly members was perceived as citizen power, while participation of traditional authority and unit committee members were considered as non-participation and tokenism respectively.

Keywords:

• Community
• Ghana
• participation
• poverty
• reduction

Acknowledgements

This paper was written under a collaborative project between the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondeim, the Department of Geography and Tourism, University of Cape Coast, and the Department of Geography and Resource Development, University of Ghana, titled The New Faces of Poverty in Ghana (2003-2007) and supported by the Norwegian Council of Universities Committee for Development Research and Education (NUFU).