Goals and Objectives

The development plan basically seeks to stimulate growth and generate wealth within the Ejisu-Juaben Municipal of Ashanti to help reduce poverty and improve the standard of living of the people. In order to help solve the various developmental problems confronting the Municipality goals have been formulated under each thematic area of the GPRS II. These are broad aspirations that will be achieved in the long term.

The realization of these goals will rely on the formulation of objectives under each goal. These objectives if achieved could also help in the solution of the development issues and address the problem of poverty and lack of adequate social and economic infrastructure in the Municipality Strategies on the other hand have widely been defined as tools for planning that can be used in bringing about the success of an objective. From the above definition it can be realized that for the objectives of the various goals to be achieved, certain measures have to be put in place. Thus strategies are specific measures put in place to help achieve the objectives of the various goals.

Overall Development Goal (Main Development Focus)

The overriding development focus for the 2006 and 2009 planning period is the improvement of income, enhancement of the quality of human resources and ensuring effective decision- making in an environment of mass participation in governance development. The background of the development focus stems from the fact that the Ejisu-Juaben Municipal   is still lagging behind in development and societal welfare and it is incumbent on the Assembly to bring sanity and development in the living conditions of the people. 

This can be traced from the fact that the present human resource and basic services situation, production levels and governance institutional status are poor and do not reach the required standard needed for socio economic development. As a result of this, the overall district goal seeks to address the problems through the formulation of goals to train and improve educational levels, health and housing status, water and environmental conditions, create employment opportunities and improve the capacity of the sub-district institutions to enhance the living condition of the people.
    
Human Resource Development

Development theme is a major area of concern at a particular time period. Such issues normally cut across several sectors and, addressing them implies the ultimate elimination of development problems in a period. The development theme of this sector is:

Private Sector Led Competitiveness

To reduce the incidence of poverty in the Municipality through wealth creation and increased productivity.

Good Governance and Civic Responsibility

To ensure effective decision making at the local level within the planned period.

Development Projections
Needs Assessment

Planning is a conscious intervention to bring about a desired change in a society. It is human oriented, hence, meant to meet the basic needs of its intended beneficiaries. In this regard, assessments of certain basic needs of the people have been made. The Population for the plan period has been projected together with the social service requirement.

Low Revenue Generation Capacity

For any Assembly to develop, it needs to generate enough revenue internally to support the transfers from the central government. Revenue generation capacity in the Municipality is low due to poor supervision of Revenue Collectors, evasion of tax by eligible tax payers, ineffective means to track tax evader, insufficient personnel and logistics to do the collection. The resulting effect of this is inadequate funds to support development activities. This implies that funds available to finance development would be limited.

Poor Roads/Accessibility

Road is a major means of transportation in the Municipality .However poor roads abound in the Municipality. This is caused by excessive erosion due to lack of drains for the passage of the surface run-off, shoddy works by some contractors and so on. This results in gullies being created making the roads immotorable and inaccessible even during the dry seasons. This affect the transportation of farm produce to market centres. This also affects the cost of transportation on the roads due to high tear and wear.

High Incidence Of Water Related Diseases/ Poor Health Care This is caused by ignorance of the people in treating their water before drinking, lack of access to potable water (streams or rivers and water sources), inadequate public health personnel, unwillingness of the people to treat their water and apathy towards their health. The effect of this is that, the health of the people is at risk as they are exposed to water related diseases. Man hours and productivity can be negatively affected since people with ailments cannot go to work or engage in any productive activity.

Poor Educational Performance/ Infrastructure

Educational is a vital tool for human resource development. Educational performance in the district is poor due to inadequate teachers, lack of motivation to learn, lack of incentive for teachers who avail themselves, poor school buildings and inadequate learning and teaching materials. The consequence of this is that the human resources of the Assembly is constrained as they cannot train people to take up positions requiring specialist skills and knowledge

Poor Sanitary Conditions/Improper Waste Management

Poor sanitation in the Municipality is caused by inadequate toilet facilities thus resulting in free range defecation in bushes and gutter, unkempt refuse dumps , lack of organised drains to serve as passage for sewage and run-off, inadequate skip containers for refuse disposal etc. The result of this is  that,  the  people are  exposed  to  unhealthy and  unhygienic environment with pollution from toilets and refuses. Some of the refuse are washed away during raining seasons to pollute rivers and streams which are also one of the main sources drinking water for some communities. This can be attributed to the high incidence of water related diseases in the Municipality.

Poor Physical Development

Physical development when orderly done beautifies and uplifts the image and status of the Municipality. There is poor physical development in most towns in the Municipality due to poor physical development management and control and lack of layouts to guide development. The effects of this are that, there is disorderliness in physical development with cases like building on roads and water ways which result in flooding and eventually loss of lives and property. There are no open spaces for public events, refuse disposal site etc. There is therefore the need to ensure proper physical development by effective implementation of development control.

Incidence of Delinquency

Unemployment and breakdown of social values is breeding incidence of delinquent behaviour among the youth. The youth do engage themselves in social vices such as drug abuse, alcoholism, prostitution and gambling, among others.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Plan implementation is the link between plan formulation and outputs. This implies that without effective plan implementation strategies, a good plan would not necessarily produce the desired results. In the same vein, monitoring and evaluation is a vital tool for smooth and effective plan implementation. Without it, a plan may not stay on course and wastage of resources could occur.
Plan Implementation Process

The implementation of the Medium Term Plan involves the following key activities:
1.    Pre-implementation Activities;
2.    Implementation Activities; and
3.    Monitoring and Evaluation.
1. Pre-implementation Activities

(a) Stakeholders’ Forum
Before the Plan was finalized, a public hearing was organized for all the stakeholders to know the content of the plan and to make inputs into it. This was to ensure high level sense of ownership of the plan and as a result increase the degree of success of its implementation.

Two Stakeholder fora were organized for identifiable groups in the Assembly for this purpose.

Finalization and Adoption of the Plan

On completion of the Stakeholder fora, the comments were analyzed and the relevant observations incorporated into the final document before its adoption by the General Assembly.

Orientation Workshop for Principal Actors

An orientation workshop should be organized for the principal actors of the Plan to ensure a unified approach and smooth take-off of the implementation process. This will ensure that the principal actors were informed of the specific actions to be taken and the need for collaboration among themselves for success in the implementation.
    
Action Plan for Projects

Action Plans should be drawn to facilitate the implementation of projects such as the construction of infrastructure facilities, training and logistics provision.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)

M&E should be undertaken at three levels:
(a)    Financial;
(b)    Works and other activities; and
(c)    Human resource performance, 
(i) Financial

The Assembly and its Heads of Departments should ensure that all expenditures are in accordance with the laid-down financial procedures and within the approved budgets. The Assembly’s Internal Auditor will be responsible for auditing of all financial records and transactions and submit audit reports to the Municipal Chief Executive.

Work and other activities for which funds are available should be implemented according to their schedules in the Action Plans. In this context, timeliness of delivery is of importance if the entire plan is to be kept on course.

Human Resource Performance

The performance of various staff will be periodically assessed based on approved performance indicators. In this respect, the MCE and other Heads should collaborate with the CDT Coordinator to develop performance indicators.
4. Other Dimensions of M&E

(i) The Timing of the M&E Process

Since the Plan consists of a variety of activities with different gestation periods, different monitoring schedules are required. For example, performance of staff will be measured at the end of each year as compared with the construction works where the monitoring team has to visit the site at short intervals, normally on monthly and quarterly basis. What is critical in all cases is the need to define the specific period for the M&E exercise and to stick to it consistently.