The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF), in collaboration with the Ghanaian Local Government Association, held a dissemination seminar in Ghana, 20-21 July 2011 to enable partners involved in the Good Practice Scheme (GPS) to disseminate the results and the learning from their projects to a wider audience in Ghana and to explore areas where the project outcomes can help shape and strengthen national policy making.

The GPS is a DFID funded programme, which supports council to council partnerships in Ghana to build capacity in local economic development.  In Ghana, the Poverty Reduction Strategy gives district assemblies a mandate to tackle local poverty and improve standards of living. A national framework for Local Economic Development is in place and significant transfers from central government to regional development agencies and the Common Fund have been earmarked for LED.  Despite this commitment to resourcing LED, district level assemblies have limited capacity and funding to undertake effective LED initiatives and interventions.  

The GPS projects in Ghana are: 

• Adenta Municipal Assembly partnered with Worcester City Council to plan and implement a series of economic initiatives, such as the publication of a comprehensive business directory a ‘Buy Local’ campaign and an integrated plan for the municipality.
• Mfantseman Municipal Assembly and Kent County Council, are working together to develop a community centre aimed at bringing together stakeholders in the local economy to exchange expertise, network, mentor, and support one another and the community in L.E.D. activities.
• Tema District Municipality, the London Borough of Greenwich and eThekwini Metropolitan

Municipality (South Africa) are in a tripartite partnership, taking on lessons eThekwini learned in a previous phase of the GPS. Their project aimed to harness sport as a delivery mechanism for LED, by providing coaching training to members of the community and building the capacity of Tema to manage large scale events and conferences to generate revenue.

• A partnership between Upper Denkyira West District Assembly and Hampshire County Council to build the capacity of the District Assembly to increase employment opportunities in rural Ghana through LED planning and by providing practical support for improving market conditions called Helping Others Grow. 

The meeting attracted high level support from the Minister of Local Government, Local Government Association Presidents from Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria and a group of representatives from the workshop met with the Vice President Hon. John Dramani Mahama to share their experiences and lobby for continued support on LED at the assembly level.  

The event resulted in very practical recommendations to strengthen the Assembly’s work on LED in the future ranging from further sharing of experiences and ideas within the country, to a directory of LED definitions and theory to improve understanding of the national LED strategy. As a result of the feedback CLGF and its partners will also be developing an LED strategy guide, drawing on the experiences from the projects and using the outcomes of the seminar, for all district assemblies in the country. 

A report will be published shortly and will be available on the CLGF website. 

The GPS is also operating in South Africa, India, Pakistan, Jamaica and Sierra Leone and the seminar is part of a series of dissemination related work being undertaken by CLGF and its local partners to ensure that the project outcomes and lessons learnt can be sustained. 

For more information please contact Cecillia Makonyola This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it