MyProject
In Ghana, I am working with the Governance and Rural Infrastructure Team on public sector infrastructure planning and implementation in the Northern Region of Ghana. The goal of the placement is to work within the framework of the Ghanaian government to develop improved planning mechanisms for selecting infrastructure projects including water, sanitation, schools, health centres. Understanding field realities will lead to better allocation and prioritization of water projects.
The Ghanaian government operates at three levels: National, Regional, and District. I’ll be working for the first three months in the Central Gonja District in the Northern Region which has a population of 80,000 people. After the first three months, I’ll transition into the Northern Region government based in the capital, Tamale. This region services a population of 1,820,000 people.
EWB is working towards strengthening the Monitoring and Evaluation practices for rural infrastructure across the Districts in the Northern Region. Our main assumption is that current rural infrastructure projects do not benefit the poor because they are not planned, sited, monitored and evaluated properly by the Districts. We want to change that. Our hypothesis is that we need to create a behaviour change at the District level that is in the form of a continuous cycle, not unlike most monitoring & evaluating behaviour change models.
EWB’s work will aim at creating an environment that allows Districts to create quality district development plans for their infrastructure and follow-up on their plans.
At the district level, we will build a set of planning tools and behaviour change approaches within the existing government planning framework that will allow us to effectively change the way Districts undergo their:
- Field monitoring activities
- Data gathering analysis
- Planning and siting of infrastructure development
At the regional level, we will build a set of planning tools and implement a behaviour change approach that allows the Region to
- Use their field visits to gather data on the situation of the region as well as build their capacity to plan and analyze data
- Analyze their own data such that they have a clear picture of the Region’s situation and needs and can advise policies accordingly
- Vet the districts projects in relation to the District 5-year development plans and their District’s current data
At the donor level, we will document the impact of their program’s design on the District’s ability to plan and influence their policies and practices. Specifically:
- Change the way they impose their priorities on the Districts, namely by giving them more time to plan, more resources to monitor and by valuing the existing 5-year development plans
- Change the way they perceive the Region and increase its decision-making power
- Change the content and the way they attempt to build District capacity through workshops
Our aim is to reach 80% of districts, 3 regional offices and 4 major donors by 2011.
Governance & Rural Infrastructure Team - Jan 2009
