STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION

The structure of a District Assembly is made up of the General Assembly, the Executive Committee and Sub-committees as well as the Coordinating Directorate and the Decentralized Departments of the District Assembly (ILGS, 2008).

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the district. They perform deliberative, legislative and executive functions and these functions are performed under the leadership of the Presiding Member. T

The membership of the Assembly is as follows:
Twelve (12) elected; one from each of the twelve (12) electoral areas
 Five (5) Government Appointees
One (1) Member of Parliament
District chief executive
Male/ Female Ratio: 17:2 The total membership of the Assembly is therefore nineteen (19).

COMMITTEES OF DISTRICT ASSEMBLIES

In the performance of its functions, the DA works through the Executive Committee and its subsidiary committees of development planning, social services, works, finance and administration, justice and security and others. The respective functions of these committees can be found in the respective sub-committee files which are kept in the registry.

AREA COUNCILS

The District has four (4) Area Councils, namely Yagaba, Kunkua, Yizesi and Kubori. These councils perform functions assigned to them by the instruments setting them up. These functions include record keeping of ratable persons and properties, assist in revenue mobilization as well as mobilizing communities to participate in decision making in the respective Areas.

THE COORDINATING DIRECTORATE OF THE DISTRICT ASSEMBLY

As spelt out in the Local Government Service Act of 2003 (Act 656), the office of the coordinating directorate is the administrative and technical unit of the District Assembly. The office is headed by the District Coordinating Director and it is responsible for assisting the Assembly in the performance of its duties such as Coordinating and harmonizing the work programmes of the decentralized departments of the Assembly.

DECENTRALIZED DEPARTMENTS OF THE DISTRICT ASSEMBLY

The Local Government Act 2232 of 2016 establishes 16 departments of Metropolitan Assemblies, 13 departments of Municipal Assemblies and 11 departments of District Assembly. However, the Mamprugu Moagduri District has the following departments

1. Finance Department
2. Works Department
3. Education Youth and Sports Department
4. Central Administration Department
5. Department of Community Development and Social Welfare
6. Disaster Prevention Department
7. Agric Department
8. Health Department
9. Physical Planning Department
10. Human Resource Department

The absence of Industry and Trade department, Natural resource conservation department as well as forestry and wild life department presents some challenges as long as the development of the district is concern.

ROLE OF THE SUB-DISTRICT STRUCTURES IN THE PLANNING PROCESS

One important feature of decentralized planning and budgeting system especially at the district level is the promotion of a participatory approach to the preparation and implementation of district development plans. It is therefore, against this background that the development planning system in Ghana recognizes community participation as an essential and integral part of effective development planning. Sub-districts such as Area Councils and Unit committees therefore provide the lowest possible level at which all persons within the country can play part in decision making and development planning process which directly or indirectly affect them. In pursuant to this, all the four Area councils in the district were instrumental in the various stages and processes that were employed in the development of the district medium term plan.

Representatives of the Area Councils were involved in the data collection process especially in the community needs assessment and public hearings. The involvement of a wide spectrum of stakeholders including community members, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, CBOs, traditional Authorities, educational and health professionals, agric extension officers, private sector/business community and other recognized bodies to a large extent enriched the planning process.