The role of NGOs and Local Government in the socio-economic development of Lambussie Karni district, Ghana

Abstract: Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) scramble for Africa which begun in 1980 and 90’s as a result of the introduction of Structural Adjusted Policies (SAP) by the neo-liberalist which are; International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank was purposely meant for free market economy, less government intervention in the economy in order to raise competition, induce rapid growth and economic development. The introduction of SAP resulted to a vacuum in the provision of welfare in Ghana especially in the remote areas. Since the introduction of SAP bilateral and multilateral institutions are increasingly entrusting NGOs to carry out the needs of the people more than government. This has led to a myriad explosion of local and international NGOs in Ghana for development purposes. Though the rural poor are the primary aim for NGOs and District Assembly (DA) activities, they are often the least to be contacted on the implementation and formulation of programs or projects in terms of priorities and interventions. The materials and methods used in the write up of this thesis include field survey, interviews and literature study. Both primary and secondary data was used. Purposive sampling is adopted based on the objectives of the study. Forty households were selected in order to interview project participants since they were expected to have first-hand knowledge of the organizations projects and activities. This was supplemented with interviews with focus group discussion, key informants, international and local NGOs and government officials’ interviews were made. The study emphasized that NGOs suffer from external agenda-setting which makes their programs or projects rigidly defined and create new dependencies. This prevents them from carrying out other actions apart from those initially foreseen in the project or program (not flexible) (top-down). Interventions have not benefited the people and lack of transparency and co-ordination among the NGOs and the DA is a primary problem in the study area. The stakeholders often contribute to an all-ready decided projects or programs and participated in past development programs or projects as laborers. Clientelist has weakened the DA system in Lambussie. There has not been any training for sustainable self-reliant organizations by the nine NGOs operating in Karni. Also it was evident from the study that farmers have not made any collective efforts to improve their marketing situation in the area and neither has NGOs and DA made any effort to improve farmers marketing situation. The study made the following suggestions; access to improved infrastructures, availability of unrestricted funds from donors, education and gender issues, enhancing micro-credit schemes and small scale industries, modernization of agricultural productivity, transparency and accountability—of which would help to improve DA and NGOs activities and achieve sustainable food security in Karni.