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Ghana Geographical Association ConferenceTHEME: THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHERS IN

ACHIEVING THE MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs) 1 AND 7:DATE: 3-6 AUGUST, 2011

VENUE: UDS, WA

3-6 August, 2011

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Reducing Rural Poverty towards Achieving the

MDG’s in Northern Ghana: Analysis of Strategies,

Impact and Challenges of NGO’s

PRINCE OSEI-WUSU ADJEI, PhDSETH AGYEMANG, PhD

PETER OHENE KYEI, PhD

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POVERTY KILLS

LET’S KILL EXTREME POVERTY TO ACHIEVE THE

MDG’s3-6 August, 2011

Introduction to presentation

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Introduction to Presentation: POVERTY KILLS, LET’S KILL EXTREME POVERTY TO ACHIEVE THE MDG’s

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Learning objective of this presentation

Overview of the MDG’s

Research problem and objective

Research methods and procedures

Results and discussion

Conclusion and recommendation

Limitation and acknowledgement

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Presentation Outline

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Provide an overview of the MDG’s

Expose Conference participants to poverty situation in rural and Northern Ghana

Expose Conference participants to the strategies, impact and challenges of selected NGO’s operating in Northern Ghana

Learning Objectives of Presentation

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Based on the global recognition that… The world of our time is so divided between the

rich and the poor as never before in human history

One-sixth of humanity particularly the young people, women, the aged and children continue to struggle for daily survival in a life and death battle against extreme poverty, diseases, hunger, and environmental catastrophe (UNCDF, 2003).

MDGs:BackgroundWhat informed the signing of the Millennium Declaration?

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E.g. Rio Summit in 1992 UNCED International community generally agreed on steps to

reduce poverty and achieve sustainable developmentWorld Summit for Social Development (Copenhagen 1995) Poverty eradication, employment and social inclusion Equity and equality

Shaping the 21st Century (1996) Halving absolute poverty by 2015

Geneva 2000 Better World for all

(Nelson, 2007)

UN Summits and Conferences of the 1990s (Precursors to MDG’s)

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On September 6-8, 2000, building upon a decade of major United Nations conferences and summits, world leaders (189 Member countries including Ghana) came together at United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

The Declaration committed nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty by setting out a series of time-bound targets –

with a deadline of 2015 - that have become known as the Millennium Development Goals.

Millennium Summit

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Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), are long term universally accepted global goals that aim at significantly improving human development by 2015.

The MDGs focus on reducing poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women

Initially contained 8 broad goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators.

Currently (after 2008 UN Review Summit) The 8 MDGs are broken down into 21 quantifiable targets that are measured by 60 indicators (UN MDG

REVIEW REPORT, 2008).

Baseline for MDGs 1990: Target for realization by 2015

What are MDGs?

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Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower

women Goal 4: Reduce child mortality Goal 5: Improve maternal health Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other

diseases Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for

Development

THE MDGs

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that human development reaches everyone and everywhere.

That UN member nations including Ghanaian youth and children experience a more peaceful, prosperous and just world in which all humanity can live better and safer lives

If these goals are achieved, world poverty will be cut by half, tens of millions of lives will be saved, and billions more people will have the opportunity to benefit from the global economy (Sachs, 2005).

Hopes and vision of the MDG’s

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Region Proportion below the lower (extreme) poverty line

Proportion below the upper poverty line

1991/92 1998/99 2005/2006 1991/92 1998/99 2005/2006

Western 42.0 14.0 7.9 60.0 27.0 18.0

Central 24.0 31.0 9.7 44.0 48.0 20.0GreaterAccra 13.0 2.4 6.2 26.0 5.2 11.8

Eastern 35.0 30.4 6.6 48.0 44.0 15.1

Volta 42.0 20.4 15.2 57.0 38.0 31.4

Ashanti 25.016.4

11.2 41.0 28.0 20.0Brong Ahafo

46.0 18.8 14.9 65.0 36.0 29.0

Northern 54.0 57.4 38.7 63.0 69.2 52.3

Upper West 74.0 68.3 79.0 87.9 83.9 88.0

Upper East 53.0 88.0 60.1 67.0 88.0 70.0

Urban - - - 17.8 16.6 14.7

Rural - - - 82.2 83.4 85.7

National 36.5 26.4 18.2 51.7 39.5 28.5

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Ghana is making strides in poverty reduction; but there continues to be serious geographical and occupational disparities in the share of poverty reduction efforts

Reduction in Poverty in Ghana has not been geographically (spatially) equitable:

Poverty remains a predominantly Rural phenomenon

The Northern Regions Remain underserved in national poverty reduction agenda and actions

Upper West remains an endemic/ Poverty stricken geographical region needing investigation and policy attention

Research Problem

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The poverty situation in rural and northern Ghana has attracted the attention of many operational and advocacy NGO’s as partners in grassroots development

Are the strategies of these NGO’s making any impact on poverty and livelihood development to achieve the MDG’s in the underserved areas?

This study sought to investigate the NGO’s Strategies

find out their impact and challenges from beneficiaries’ perspectives

Research Problem

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RESEARCHER INTERVIEWING A RESPONDENTPoverty is a visible

condition in rural Ghana3-6 August, 2011

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Sample Selection: The Study focused on Four Operational NGO’s

purposively selected from the Wa West and Tain districts based on their organizational type (whether operational or advocacy NGO) and their number of years of operation

The Four NGO’s selected were PLAN Ghana, Rural Action Alliance Program (RAAP) in Wa West district together with Action Aid and Social Development and Improvement Agency (SODIA) in Tain district.

A sample of 198 beneficiaries were randomly selected for the study from the NGO’s projects’ communities

Research Methods and Procedure

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104 beneficiary respondents were selected from Wa West District and 94 from Tain based on total number of beneficiaries in the two districts.

In all, 12 villages were involved in the study; eight from Wa West serving as project sites for Plan Ghana and RAAP and four from Tain serving as project sites for Action Aid and SODIA

Wa West Communities selected included: Chebare, Dalanyiri, Dornye, Tampienni, Buli, Chogsia, Wechiau and Woloyiri

Tain communities selected included: Nassana, Bepoase, Nsuhunu and Kwame Tenten

Research Methods conti’

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Data Collection Techniques included questionnaires with both close and open-ended questions, structured interview guide, focus group discussions and participant observation

The mixed methods allowed for triangulation and authentication of data collected

Data analyses were done with descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages and supported with cross-tabulation, correlation significant at (< 0.01) and transcription of interview data and focus group discussions

Results were generated with the Version 16 of the SPSS Software and presented in the form of text, tables, line and bar graphs

Research Methods cont’

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Strategies of the NGO’s Basic Means strategies targeting individual households’

livelihood development.

Basic Needs strategies targeting communities’ access to basic social services

Thus, generally, the NGO’s employ an integration of Livelihood development and social service access improvement strategies for poverty reduction in the study communities.

Results and Discussion

BENEFICIARY RESPONDENTS

CASH LOAN

INPUT LOAN MARKETING AID

STORAGE AID

TRAINING/ EXTENSION SERVICE

TOTAL

FREQUENCY 90 27 23 9 49 198

PERCENTAGES 45.5 13.5 11.5 4.5 25.0 100

NGO’s Social Service Action Areas in the Study CommunitiesFACILITIES Health Water Education Sanitation

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Respondents Perceptions on the effectives of NGO’s strategies

Effectiveness of NGO’s strategies as perceived by respondents

Effectiveness of NGO’s strategies as perceived by respondents

0102030405060

Tain

Tain

very

effect

ive

not e

ffective

0

10

20

30

40

Wa West

Wa West

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Impact of NGO’s Strategies on Respondents’ ProductivityGenerally respondents perceive

improvement in their productivity levels due to NGO’s interventions

Very High High Low Very Low0

10

20

30

40

50

60

BeforeAfter

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Impact of NGO’s Strategies on Respondents’ Income levelsGenerally respondents perceive

improvement in their income levels due to NGO’s interventions

Below GHc 50

GHc 50-80 GHc 80-100

Above GHc100

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

BeforeAfter

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Living condition Education Health

Water and Sanitation

Productivity and Income

Community participation

Living ConditionPearson CorrelationSig. (2-tailed)Frequency(N)

Productivity and income Pearson correlationSig. (2-tailed)Frequency(N)

1

198

.781**

.000

198

.650**

.000 198

.920**

.000 198

.806**

.000 198

. 898**

.000 198

.840**

.000 198

.819**

.000 198

.781**

. 000 198

1

198

.834**

.000

198

.875**

.000 198

Generally there is significant and positive association between the NGO’s social service and Livelihood development interventions and Respondents’ living conditions

Correlation coefficients of selected variables

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Rate of Respondents’ participation in NGO’s Projects’ design

Percentage

Those participating through NGO’s Needs assessment and Workshops

42 per cent

Those not participating in any form. 58 per cent

In a focus group discussion at Dornye, a respondent asserted,

‘Plan Ghana renovated our old primary school block without the knowledge of the school management team. All the planning processes were done with only the headmaster who is not a member of our community.’

Greater percentage of respondents are not involved in the design of the NGO’s poverty reduction intervention which can lead to misplaced priorities and unsustainable project impact

NGO’s and Community Participation

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Strict adherence of communities to certain cultural practices inimical to community advancement and poverty reduction such as land tenure systems and gender role differentiation rooted within the rural milieu

Transportation and communication barriers to project sites affect project implementation

Inadequate and delays in the release of donor funds affect timely service delivery in the project sites

Key challenges of the NGO’s

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The study has been revealed that improved income, productivity levels of beneficiary households are significant impact of operational NGO’s in the study areas.

However, low level of participation of beneficiaries in the NGO’s strategies’ design and delays in donor funds are among the major challenges inhibiting the effectiveness of NGO’s activities t in the districts.

It is recommended that local government institutions should create enabling environment through infrastructural provision for the NGO’s to combat the manifestations of poverty at the grassroots levels to actualize the MDG’s in rural communities in northern Ghana.

Conclusions and Recommendation

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Limitation: The key methodological limitation was the problem of

recall of actual values of respondents’ income and productivity levels. To avoid bias, four point likert-scale was used to assess the situation before and after NGO’s interventions

Acknowledgement:

The authors acknowledge the contributions of the staff of the selected NGO’s and all beneficiary respondents for their data. We also acknowledge the efforts of Mr. Emmanuel Kullo and Joel Onuro who assisted in the collection of data from the study areas to make this paper possible.

Study Limitation and Acknowledgement

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THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR ATTENTION

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