COLLABORATION BETWEEN DISTRICTASSEMBLIES AND THE DONOR COMMUNITY FOR THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF NORTHERN GHANA: THE CASE OF THE EAST GONJA DISTRICT

Abstract

Collaboration between District Assemblies and the Donor Community has become an important strategy in the development efforts of local government authorities in Ghana. This stems from the fact that even though District Assemblies are empowered to generate local revenue for development in their area of jurisdiction together with the transfer of funds from the Central Government to the Assemblies; the revenue generated from these sources is hardly able to meet the development needs of these Assemblies. The growing inflow of donor funds particularly to Assemblies in Northern Ghana in recent time in response to addressing the level of deprivation in the area and to complement the development efforts of the Central Government and the Assemblies has made it imperative to undertake this study. To achieve the research goal and objectives, the study used various methods (qualitative and quantitative) in data collection and analysis, These include Case Studies, Focus Group Discussions, Observations, In-depth interviews and Questionnaire among others. The main research findings were that collaboration has ensured resource flow from the Donor Community to the East Gonja District Assembly and indeed to Assemblies particularly in northern Ghana and this has contributed significantly to the Assemblies' ability to accomplish their mandate of ensuring the total development of the area under their jurisdiction, It was also established that donor transfers have filled a yawning gap which otherwise would have existed between the aspirations of the people as captured in the Annual and Medium Term Development Plans of the Assemblies and what the Assemblies would have been able to achieve on their own, The study recommends among others that there is the need for effective involvement of major stakeholders from the inception up to the completion of interventions implemented to ensure sustainability.