Ghana

Overview

Ghana is a peaceful and stable democracy, making good progress toward its goal of becoming a middle-income country by 2020. With economic growth rates consistently topping 6 percent over recent years, Ghana is being hailed as an emerging African economic success story. It has had five consecutive democratic elections and two peaceful transitions of power since 1992, leading other African nations to look to Ghana for assistance with their own elections.

Since 1990, the Ghanaian government has been working closely with the donor community and has nearly halved the number of citizens living in extreme poverty. However, about 30 percent of Ghanaians still live on less than US$1.25/day. Some two million individuals have limited access to food, and food shortages are recurring in the three northern regions. Children are especially vulnerable, with approximately 12 percent of Ghana's children under the age of five currently underweight. Ghana ranks 135 out of 187 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's 2011 human development index.

In terms of the 2008 international food crisis, Ghana has been fairly successful in minimizing the impact by means of social support programs and such measures as the removal of import duties and taxes on food and fuel.

However, Ghana does face serious macroeconomic challenges, including high inflation, significant deficits, and a growing debt load due, in part, to high public sector spending to ease the impact of the international food and fuel price crises. Though revenues from recent oil discoveries may help contain the deficits and debt, these are not likely to materialize before 2011 and may create other challenges.

Ghana is still vulnerable to the ongoing effects of the global economic crisis, and poverty has recently deepened among some groups, especially women, farmers, and people living in the northern regions.

Ghana's main challenges include:

• Weak public sector institutions, resulting in poor delivery of basic services in areas such as agriculture, health, and education
• Persistent food insecurity in the three northern regions
• Limited access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
• Inequality between women and men

Thematic Focus

In 2009, as part of Canada's new aid effectiveness agenda, Ghana was selected by CIDA as a country of focus. In keeping with this agenda, CIDA continues to provide direct support to the Government of Ghana's budget in order to carry out the objectives of Ghana's national plan. The current national plan, known as the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (PDF, 946 KB, 179 pages), ended in 2009 and will be replaced by a medium-term development framework in 2010.

CIDA's program in Ghana builds on efforts already being undertaken by the Government of Ghana to support public sector reform, promote a stronger parliamentary role in terms of government oversight and accountability, and enhance public participation in the development and assessment of government plans and policies. CIDA continues to have a strategic focus in the North―where poverty and food insecurity are highest―and continues to dialogue with the Government of Ghana, other donors, and various Canadian and local civil society organizations for more effective aid delivery.

Children and youth

CIDA supports the Government of Ghana in playing a lead role in the design, development, and implementation of a multidonor program to support Ghana's new national water policy, which will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of women, children, and youth.

In keeping with Ghana's decentralization plan to deliver basic services more efficiently at the local level, CIDA also provides increasing technical and financial assistance to local governments to help them provide health and education services that benefit children and youth.

Food security

CIDA focuses on increasing food security in Ghana through:

• Continued investment in community-level food security initiatives in the North
• Complementary investments in agricultural research and in the strengthening of farmer-based organizations
• Support to sustainable management of land and water resources

CIDA also continues to support the strengthening of Ghana's Ministry of Food and Agriculture by helping it be more effective in implementing the national food and agriculture sector development policy.

Progress on Aid Effectiveness

Aid effectiveness, as the term implies, is an approach for improved delivery and monitoring of aid to achieve greater efficiency, strengthened partnerships, and greater results. Overall, aid to Ghana is more untied, and more funds are flowing through program-based approaches. As well, donor coordination of analysis and reporting is more effective.

In 2008, Ghana hosted the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, and, in recent years, it has demonstrated strong ownership of the development agenda. The Government of Ghana has prepared a new aid policy containing bold measures to strengthen Ghanaian ownership and leadership of development cooperation in the country.

Accomplishments 2009-2010

Food security

• Contributed to agricultural growth of 6.2 percent in 2009, up from 5.1 percent in 2008
• Helped train 55 community livestock workers in disease control, who then assisted farmers in 180 communities, resulting in improved health and longevity of livestock
• Supported the implementation of 254 community-based food security initiatives and the participatory development of 250 community action plans and 74 area-level plans in twelve districts in northern Ghana

Children and youth

• Helped 90 percent of pregnant women undertake at least one antenatal visit
• Helped the national Youth Employment Programme provide jobs to more than 110,700 young people in 2009
• Helped approximately 1,700 schools and 657,000 children benefit from the national school feeding program in 2009, compared to 975 schools and 476,000 children in the previous year
• Helped increase the enrolment rate at the primary school level to 88.5 percent
• Helped the government to complete 605 new water points in rural communities in 2009

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