List of Projects

The District Assembly would also promote the plans through workshops and seminars to attract financial agencies in addressing people’s need. The plans would be summarized into brochures and leaflets whilst a Website is also created for the wider international community. Expected Roles/Responsibilities of stakeholders in the plan implementation

The role of all key stakeholders in the implementation on the plans is very important. Hence, the anticipated role that each stakeholder will play is highlighted as follows:

Ellembelle District Assembly

The decentralization policy coupled with the Local Government Act 462 designates District Assemblies as planning Authorities and not responsible for the preparation/ formulation of plans but also their implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This implies that the Ellembelle District Assembly in collaboration with departments and agencies as well as other non-governmental organizations are responsible for the day to day running of the district and the assessment of projects after implementation.

To, implement these projects/programmes; it is necessary that the district assembly mobilizes funds both from within and outside the district. The Local revenue base needs to be fully assessed and restructured to give the assembly a sound financial footing for projects implementation.

The District Assembly is charged with the overall responsibility for the process of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the development projects/programmes. This role can best be performed by tapping the available human and technical resources of the Expanded District Planning Co-ordinating Unit, Departments and Agencies, Sub-Committees, Executive Committee, NGOs and development partners

The technical skills of the assembly/departments/agencies need to be tapped for the performance of the following functions:

• Generation and provision of funds for implementation of programmes/projects

• Setting up of terms of reference and framework for co-ordination and collaboration among institutions involved in the implementation of the development plans

• Identification and due response to implementation issues such as legal, administrative and traditional bottlenecks

• Identification and invitation/attraction of potentials investors in the district

• Periodic revision of plan implementation, procedure and effective adjustments in the response to the changing circumstances

Executive Committee

The Executives Committee would have to play the leading role of informing the Assembly members about the content of the plans, status of projects implementation and problems being encountered during the implementation to enable the electorates understand issues

Sub-Committee

The various sub-committees need to be strengthened with the requisite personnel; skills knowledge and experience to enable the members participate actively in the implementation of the development plans.

Decentralized Departments/Agencies

There are major actors in the process of implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The departments/agencies will provide technical guidance and facilitate the implementation of desirable projects/programmes.

Chiefs, Opinion Leaders and Traditional Authorities

The chiefs, Opinion Leaders and Traditional Authorities and owners need to be part of the process of the plan implementation to enable them have informed decisions on their responsibilities in implementing the programmes/projects designed in the plan

Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)/ Development Partners

The District is mindful of the crucial roles played by Non-Governmental Organizations in support of various projects/programmes in the district. The role of NGOs and other development partners has been very crucial for the successful implementation of planned programmes/projects. It is hoped that the development partners will bite into the plan to enhance the overall development of the district.

Communities

Communities offer a lot of support starting from project identification, design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation. They also play important roles by providing counterpart funds towards projects implementation. This is to enhance the principle of community ownership and management for sustainability. In this direction, communities provide labour, land, local expertise, counterpart funds, etc for projects implementation.It is hoped that communities would continue to offer their best through project identification, implementation, and evaluation for sustainability.

Strategies for promoting dialogue/management of public expectations concerning services.The District Assembly has adopted several strategies for promoting dialogue and eliciting information from the public regarding the implementation of planned programmes and projects in the plan. Stakeholders meetings would be held periodically at the Town/Area Council level to update the people on progress of work.

Also, the Assembly would hold meeting with identified civil society organization, Artisans, Religious Groups, etc to discuss the implementation of the plan and receive feedback.The District Assembly would to a large extent involve the people in the monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects to quickly respond to the concern and expectation of the people during the implementation of the plan. Progress reports on plan implementation would be discussed at sub-committee meetings and quarterly review meetings would also be held to address people’s concern in the process of implementation. Furthermore, the Public Relations and Complaint Committee of the Assembly would provide a platform for the hearing of issues regarding the implementation of the programmes/projects in the District

Conclusion

The consultative participatory nature of the plan preparation process will mean that all relevant stakeholders and development partners will be very keen and show commitment in the implementation of the plan. The document should be seen as the Manifesto, all stakeholders should ensure that all planned strategies or interventions are strictly implemented. This will help improve the quality of lives of the people by ensuring wealth creation and improving the living standards of the people in the District.

To achieve the set objectives of the MTDP of Ellembelle District, adequate resources must be mobilized both internally and externally to fund the planned activities between 2010 – 2013.

The SEA tools reveal the importance of mainstreaming environmental issues in the DMDTP. This will afford the District to achieve sustainable development.Lastly, it is expected that funds would be released on timely bases to support planned activities in order to achieve the objectives set in the DMTDP, 2010 – 2013 for Ellembelle District Assembly.

Development Goals and Objectives

The district lies in the interior woodland savannah belt and its common grass vegetation with trees such as baobab, acacia and sheanuts trees. Grasses grow in tussocks and can reach heights of three metres or more. The vegetation changes markedly, depending on which of the two prevailing climate conditions is dominant at the time.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Framework for Monitoring and Evaluation

The Monitoring and Evaluation system has not been properly placed in the district. It is however appropriate for a monitoring team to be established which should include the DDA, DAOs and the District Planning Officer of the District Assembly, a representation from MOH and GES. The team should establish and maintain an efficient, effective and reliable database system that will help track changes that would occur as a result of the implementation of the plan.

Benchmarking

To help check development that would occur as a result of the implementation of the plan, MOV and OVI have been developed for all the objective and outputs of the plan.  The data   requirement as well as the data collection methods has been specified in the M & E matrix. 

M & E Cycle

M & E would be performed quarterly by the team.  Its findings would be used as feed back into the system for corrective measures to be taken, where implementation schedules had not been on track while best practices would be documented and replicated.

M & E Reporting

Reporting format would be designed for AEAs to collect information monthly on the various indicators.  The information would be collected by the DAOs and submitted to MIS Officer for analysis, documentation and reporting,
 
The DDA will use the information to write monthly, quarterly, mid-year and annual reports.  These reports will be submitted to the District Coordinating Director of the District Assembly with copies to the Regional Director of Agriculture.

 CONCLUSIONS

 Agriculture is the main economic activity of the Jirapa/Lambussie District.  About 80% of the population is engaged in Agriculture.  The core problems identified as affecting agricultural development include low crop and livestock production, low volumes of processed agricultural products, high post harvest losses, low market prices, inadequate transport services and soya utilization.

The potentials for agricultural development in the district are in the area of available farm lands, irrigation facilities, technologies, labour, project (CDP, LDP, AGSSIP, and FABS), NGOs, and traction animals.There is a strong collaboration between DADU and the various stakeholders in the district to avoid duplication of programmes and projects. 
    
The collaborating stakeholders will help address agricultural development needs of the target beneficiaries who are farmers, processors and traders. The agricultural development needs of women, the physically challenged as well as people living with HIV/AIDS have also been considered in agricultural service delivery in the district.

Resources for the implementation of the agricultural development plan will be sourced from the Government of Ghana, Donor Agencies such as CIDA, AGSSIP and the private sector. To help track implementation of the plan a monitoring system will be put in place at DADU level.  At the same time the agricultural development plan will be reviewed annually with all stakeholders.