BRUNO B. DERY AUDREY DORWAY...Basically, poverty profiling and mapping are a set of tools and...

GHANADistrict-based poverty profiling,mapping and pro-poor planning asa monitoring and evaluation tool

BRUNO B. DERY

AUDREY DORWAY

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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According to a Bambara adage, 'He who knows all will not die'. Today, is an evident desire, inmany countries of the West African region which have launched decentralisation reforms since the1990s, to try out new approaches and new methods of cooperation to build local monitoring andevaluation (M&E) capacity!1. By sharing with the readers some of the experiences and lessonslearned from these new M&E approches, this publication aims to make a modest contribution tothe knowledge available on the subject.

This publication is for all actors in development, working in the field of decentralisation and localgovernance, especially practitioners and policymakers working on issues connected with capacitybuilding in the area of monitoring, evaluation and democratic control of local governance structures.

The case study presented in this document has been prepared in the context of an exercise thataimed to document, analyse and learn from experiences with different approaches/methods andinstruments for building the capacities of different actors in decentralisation and local governance,and in particular, the capacities of local government to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of thesecomplex reform processes.

This learning exercise started in Mali. It has been a joint initiative by the R é s e a u de R é f l exion etd'Échanges sur le Développement Local (REDL2, a Malian network of development organisationsand programmes working in the field of decentralisation and local development), the NetherlandsDevelopment Organisation (SNV-Mali), the Malian Ministry of Territorial Administration and LocalGovernment (MATCL) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), anindependent foundation based in Maastricht in the Netherlands, in cooperation with severaldevelopment organisations working in West Africa.

The purpose of this exercise has been to jointly map and document relevant experiences in theWest African region and share 'good practice' and lessons learned. A total of 11 case studies fromdifferent countries of the West African region were prepared during this exercise, and a seminarheld under the auspices of the MATCL in Bamako on 17 and 18 May 2006 provided a forum for astructured exchange of experiences.

This case study ‘District-based poverty profiling, mapping and pro-poor planning as a

monitoring and evaluation tool’ has been prepared by Bruno B. Derry and Audrey Dorway.

1- Taken from the welcome speech given by Mr. Ibrahima Sylla, decentralisation advisor at the Ministry of TerritorialAdministration and Local Government (MATCL) of Mali, at the sub-regional seminar 'Building capacities formonitoring and evaluation of decentralisation and local governance in West Africa: exchange of experience andlearning'.

2- For more details see http://www.snvmali.org/actus/redlinfo0606.pdf. The REDL members taking part in this learningexercise were SNV-Mali; the Programme d'Appui aux Collectivités Territoriales (PACT), a project in support of localgovernment run by German Technical Cooperation (GTZ); l'Aide de l'Église Norvégienne (AEN), Norwegian ChurchAid; CARE International in Mali; the Programme d'Appui aux Acteurs de la Décentralisation (PAAD), a developmentprogramme of HELVETAS-Mali; the Swiss Association for International Cooperation; 'Solidarité, Union, Coopération'(SUCO), a Canadian NGO; the Association of French Volunteers (AFVP); and the Programme Gouvernance Partagée(PGP), a programme financed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).2

FOREWORD


Bruno B. Dery is a Deputy Director with the National Development Planning Commission ofGhana. He currently heads the decentralized M&E Division and is directly responsible fordeveloping the District M&E Framework. He had previously done research and development workwith international organisations in several countries.

Audrey Dorway is a development practitioner who is employed with GTZ as a developmentplanning specialist. She has experience relating to the local government system in Ghana, and wasa team member responsible for the nationwide implementation of the poverty profiling, mappingand pro-poor programming exercise.

The case study describes a poverty mapping and profiling approach which has been jointlydeveloped and tested by the National Development Planning Commission of Ghana, the GermanTechnical Co-operation Agency (GTZ GmbH), the Ghana Poverty Reduction Programme of theSocial Investment Fund and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. Thisapproach has been conceived for actors in local governance at the district level in the context ofdecentralisation and with a view to support the implementation of the countries poverty reductionstrategy at the local level.

While this poverty mapping and profiling method was originally developed with a view to facilitatepro-poor planning and a better targeting of interventions to the poor, the authors argue it can alsoform the basis for monitoring and evaluating the effects and impacts district development plans aswell as other projects and programmes have on the poor.

The facilitators of this joint documentation, analysis and learning exercise would like to thank theauthors, the members of the Malian REDL network and the organisations working in other WestAfrican countries that have supported and co-financed the preparation of the different case studies.Through the generous support of these organisations and the Swedish International DevelopmentAgency (SIDA) these case studies are being published in both French and English and will also beincluded in a more comprehensive publication, bringing together all the case studies and theresults of the regional seminar held in May 2006.

They would also like to express their gratitude to Mr. Ibrahima Sylla, decentralisation advisor atthe Ministry of Territorial Administration and Local Government of Mali, for his indefatigable supportfor the success of this joint initiative. Last but not least, they would like to thank Tony Parr for hislanguage editing work.

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In order to make the Ghana Pove r ty Re d u c t i o nStrategy (GPRS I & II) more effe c t i ve in addressingthe needs of the poor, the Ghanaian gove r n m e n thas been pursuing a number of programmes,including special presidential initiatives. Whilst thec o m p r e h e n s i ve nature of these pro-poor policiesand programmes is the strength of the curr e n ta p p r o a ch to pove r ty reduction, it is also itsweakness, as the programmes are not suff i c i e n t l ytargeted at the poor. Policies and programmesi n t ended to help the poor cannot succeed unlessthe government and other stakeholders knowwho the poor are, where they live and how theyare likely to respond to different grow t hstrategies. Thus, providing information on thespatial heterogeneity of poverty can greatly assistanyone wishing to identify the poor and find outwhere they live and what causes their poverty.

Poverty is a multi-faceted problem that tends tovary considerably in terms of space. The pro-poortargeting of development initiatives is both apolitical and a technical procedure. The politicalprocess in Ghana often results in the packaging ofcomprehensive support measures that addressthe needs of the poor as identified and prioritisedby the government. When this political approachis pursued as a way of pro-poor programming, ittends to skew the responsibility for pove r tyreduction unduly towards the gove r n m e n t ,generating a recipient mentality among the poorand creating dependency in the community.

INTRODUCTION

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) brought poverty onto theglobal development agenda and encouraged all nations to renew theircommitment to the battle against poverty. As a result, governments anddevelopment agencies all over the world are now paying more attention thanever before to measures to improve the quality of life by reducing poverty.The need to formulate Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS) also brought theissue of poverty to the fore in almost all socio-economic and political debatesin developing countries. The PRS process presents a range of challenges,from facilitating and managing effective participation to identifying policies forpro-poor growth. By making its PRS its main development policy instrument,the government of Ghana is displaying its commitment to poverty reductionand wealth creation, especially in rural areas.

The political approach has to be balanced with at e chnical approach that seeks to address the rootcauses of pove r ty and strengthen the copingm e chanisms of the poor. This technical approachs tarts with indicators such as low income, poorhealth, unemployment, etc. Howeve r, it uses thesesymptoms as entry points towards understa n d i n gthe forces and factors that combine to keep peoplep o o r. Thus, instead of addressing the symptoms asthe actual problems, the technical approach isinterested in the causes of pove r ty and how theyp r event the poor from breaking out of the mould.This is where the techniques of pove r ty profilingand pove r ty mapping come into play.

Basically, poverty profiling and mapping are a setof tools and procedures that enable developmentagents to identify the incidence and prevalence ofpoverty, locate the groups that are regarded aspoor, and describe and categorise them in socio-economic clusters as well as in geographicalterms. Poverty profiling and mapping can bep e r formed as a quantita t i ve and computer-supported exercise that manipulates a socio-economic dataset obtained through a populationcensus or a carefully organised survey.

The project that is the subject of this paper usedan alternative, participatory form of pove r typrofiling and mapping pivoted on a series ofguided dialogues, involving the poor themselvesand the agencies that supply services to them.


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This approach, based on a participatory dialogue,brings together quantitative data on poverty andthe poor, as well as qualitative information on howthe poor perceive themselves, what theyconsider as the causes of their poverty, and thecoping mechanisms they use in organising theproduction, distribution and consumption ofgoods and services. The result of thisparticipatory process is that both the poor andchange agents interested in helping to reducepoverty gain a better understanding of the forcesthat keep people poor, the minimum threshold ofsupport that could get the poor out of the povertytrap, and the technical and human resourcesneeded to initiate pove r ty reduction supportmeasures.

Acting in collaboration with the GhanaianM i n i s t ry of Local Government, Rural Deve l o p m e n tand the Environment (MLGRDE), the NationalD evelopment Planning Commission (NDPC) andthe Social Investment Fund (SIF), the GermanTe chnical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) embarked ona nationwide project to compile pove r ty profilesand maps for all the country's 110 districts. Th eaim was to help make the pro-poor targeting ofd evelopment initiatives more effe c t i ve. Th ep a r t i c i p a t o ry methodology for pove r ty profiling andmapping was first piloted in two districts and laterimplemented in 16 districts. In 2004, assista n c ewas given to the remaining 94 District As s e m b l i e sin preparing pove r ty profiles, maps and pro-poorprogrammes. The implementation process issummarised in Figure 1.

Preparation of a 'How-to-do Guide' to poverty map-ping and pro-poor programming

Pilot exercise in Kintampo and Atebubu districts

Consultations between SIF, GTZ, MLGRD and NDPCon poverty profiling, mapping and pro-poor program-

ming

Training of selected institutions in poverty profiling,mapping and pro-poor programming

Preparation of poverty profiles, maps and pro-poorprogrammes in 16 District Assemblies

Training of three representatives from each of the 110District Assemblies

Training of selected national and regionalstakeholders

Preparation of poverty profiles, maps and pro-poorprogrammes for 94 districts

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2

5

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3

6

7

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Source: MLGRD, GTZ, Nkum Associates (2004).


The use of participatory methods is one of thecore elements of poverty profiling, mapping andprogramming. The methodology allows for grass-roots involvement and inputs from local civilservants. Another feature is that the symptoms ofp ove r ty are not addressed in designinginterventions. Instead, interventions stem fromidentifying the causes of poverty and how thesecombine to keep people poor. The approach usesplanning tools and procedures that are bothquantitative and qualitative. Another noteworthyaspect is the use of existing institu t i o n a lstructures for implementation purposes.

The district pove r ty-profiling and mappingt e chnique consists of five steps that can becompleted in five or six days using ex i s t i n gt e chnical expertise. The District Planning andCoordinating Units (DPCUs), NGOs/CSOs, priva t e -sector actors and traditional authorities in the

district come together in a process lasting two orthree days to prepare a district profile and make ap r e l i m i n a ry analysis of local pockets of pove r ty. Th eprocess then goes into the poor areas identified inthe first step to engage assembly members, localcouncil sta ff and focus groups comprising wo m e n ,young people, settler communities and otheridentifiable groups so as to validate, correct and/orrefine district-level perceptions and finalise thep ove r ty profiles and maps for the district.

Organised as a series of dialogues between thepoor, the poverty profiling and mapping processgenerates fairly accurate data on the povertysituation in a district and identifies the factors andforces that cause and maintain pove r ty. Th eprocess also generates ideas for realistic target-group and gender-specific interventions thatcould help alleviate poverty in the district inquestion.

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1. METHODOLOGY

2. PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE APPROACH

2.1.The context of

decentralisation and local

governance

Although the Fourth Republican Constitution of1992 provides a broad framework for thegovernment's policy of decentralisation, the LocalGovernment Act of 1993 was enacted to devolveauthority, resources, competences and capacityfrom central government to lower administrativeand political structures and the communities. Thedecentralisation policy was intended both tostrengthen local government and to encouragecitizens to participate in governance and localdevelopment. The policy also sought to promotepopular participation and ownership of thedevelopment process, so that all are part of thedevelopment process, within the framework ofnational policy. The main features of the policyinclude:

redefined roles, functions and stru c tures of insti-tutions at various levels of government;

the transfer of responsibility for 86 sta tu t o ryduties to local government bodies;

e m p owering District Assemblies as the primea d m i n i s t r a t i ve, planning, development, budgeting,l e g i s l a t i ve and rating authorities in their areas ofjurisdiction;

modifying the criteria for district and sub-districtelections by removing literacy as a qualification forthose seeking to stand for election;

r e s t ru c turing the allocation and transfer of deve l -opment resources so that these are managed andcontrolled by the District Assemblies, in the fo r mof discretionary funds placed at the disposal of thedistricts.

Salient features of Ghana's localgovernment system

The local government system introduced by the1988 legislative reforms is a four-tiered structure(see Figure 2), with a Regional CoordinatingCouncil (RCC) at the top, fo l l owed byMetropolitan, Municipal and District Assembliesand the Urban/Town/Area Councils. The UnitCommittees are at the base.


There are ten regions, each headed by a Re g i o n a lMinister who is appointed by the President. A l lregions have a Regional Coordinating Council( RCC), which consists of representa t i ves of DistrictAssemblies (DA) and Traditional Au t h o r i ty (TA).

E a ch district (currently 138) has a DistrictAssembly consisting of elected and appointedmembers. Seventy per cent of the members areelected by the population, and the remaining 30per cent are appointed by the President. Of theseats reserved for appointees, 50% are intendedfor women. In spite of this, women account foronly a small proportion of District As s e m b l ymembers - less than 10 per cent.

District Assemblies are headed by a District ChiefExecutive (DCE), who is nominated by thePresident. The DCE acts as the District head and thecentral government representa t i ve at district leve l .

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Regional Coordinating Council

Source: Republic of Ghana (1988).

2.2. Purpose of and demand

for the tool

The pove r ty- p r o f i l i n g, mapping and pro-poorprogramming tool was developed to meet thedemand for a technical means of improving thetargeting of pove r ty reduction programmesd r a fted under the Ghana Pove r ty Re d u c t i o nStrategy (GPRS I). Finding ways to reduce povertyand inequity is a daunting challenge for local andnational authorities in Ghana. One importa n taspect of this challenge is the spatial heterogeneityof poverty. District Assemblies and NGOs/CBOsin Ghana are asking for more and more geo-referenced information on the location of the poorand the magnitude of poverty so that they can setpriorities, target interventions, empower localcommunities and improve their understanding ofthe causes and effects of poverty.


This tool was designed to strengthen thecapacity of district-level actors to design theirown poverty reduction programmes by taking abottom-up approach. The tool also provides ano b j e c t i ve basis to improve the targeting ofpoverty reduction programmes, and generateslocal data that can provide a baseline fo rmonitoring and evaluation.

The principles underpinning the tool are basedon evidence that poor people tend to work veryhard, using their own coping mechanisms tosurvive and improve their lot. They remain poorbecause their efforts do not earn them enoughincome or enable them to gain better access tothose goods and services they require in order toescape from pove r ty. Th e r e fore, if pove r tyreduction measures are to be effective, they mustfirst recognise and understand the barriers poorpeople need to overcome in order for their effortsin producing, distributing and consuming goodsand services to bring them more direct benefits.

Identifying spatial patterns of pove r ty usingmaps provides new insights into the causes ofpoverty. For example, do physical isolation andpoor agro-ecological resources prevent peoplefrom escaping from pove r ty? This in turn can affe c tthe type of interventions under consideration.

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Pove r ty maps can be used to improve theallocation of resources. Th ey can help theauthorities to decide where and how to targetanti-poverty programmes. Geographic targeting,as opposed to across-the-board interventions, hasbeen shown to be a useful means of maximisingcoverage, while minimising leakage to the non-poor. Geographic targeting at community levelcan help to make anti-poverty programmes moreeffective, for example by promoting subsidies inpoor communities and cost recovery in less poorareas.

Detailed information on the spatial distributionof the poor can also assist policy- m a ke r s ,executive agencies and development partners indesigning socially and geographically targetedpro-poor policies and programmes. With moreand more attention being given to pove r tytargeting below the district level, detailed povertymaps should provide development planners witha powerful tool.

Poverty mapping should also help the DistrictAssemblies and the sub-district structures to takeaccount of the national and regional priorities setin the GPRS II with regard to programme design,development financing and the monitoring ofpoverty reduction indicators.

Stakeholders Needs and demands

National policy-makersGood governance and general policy framework.A yardstick for setting standards.Information on main areas of deprivation.

NGOs Assistance with targeting of interventions.

District administratorsAdvice on resource allocation.A means of justifying the allocation of interventions for poverty reduction.A source of baseline data on the poverty situation in the district.

Development partners Assistance with targeting of interventions.

Consultants A source of baseline data on districts.

CommunitiesAssistance with monitoring the implementation of projects.Assistance with questioning the allocation of resources.

Source: MLGRD, GTZ, Nkum Associates (2004) .


2.3.The moderators and

participants

District-based pove r ty profiling, mapping andpro-poor planning was designed and implementedby the following actors.

The consultants engaged as facilitators to coachthe district teams were experts in developmentplanning and poverty reduction in Ghana. Theydrafted a training manual and performed a pilotprofiling and mapping exercise in two districts.They were then engaged to train trainers andprofessionals from four institutions, viz. KwameNkrumah University of Science and Technology(KNUST), the University of Development Studies

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(UDS), the Institute of Local Government Studies(ILGS), and Ghana Institute of Management andPublic Administration (GIMPA). These trainerswere then tasked to lead the teams in the 16districts that were to prepare poverty profiles andmaps. The consultants were subsequently re-engaged to facilitate the up-scaling exercise in theremaining 94 districts.

The knowledge and skills of the participantsvaried from one district to another, depending onthe composition of the respective teams. Thiswas also reflected by the varied quality of theoutputs. Whereas high-quality work wa sproduced in some districts, sub-standard reportswere received from other districts.

2.4. Key elements of the tool

Figure 3 summarises the key steps in the pove r ty profiling mapping and pro-poor programmingp r o c e s s .


Step 1:Preparation towards

District povertyprofiling

Step 2:District poverty

profiling

Step 3:Preparing district

poverty maps

Step 4:Design and

implementation ofPoverty Reduction

Programmes

Step 5:Designing a system

for monitoring &evaluation

The first of the five steps involves setting upand preparing a technical team to undertake theexercise. The district technical team consists ofstaff of the district administration and sectordepartments (i.e. the expanded DPCU), major

NGOs/CSOs operating in the district, traditionalcouncil members and major priva t e - s e c t o roperators. The team is introduced to the principlesand concepts underlying participatory pove r typrofiling and mapping. Th ey are then assisted in


procuring the necessary updated base maps andassembling data on the local poverty situation.This district-level data may include the results ofthe Core We l fare Indicator Questionnaires(CWIQ), relevant data from the latest census ands tatistics from the Ghana Living Sta n d a r dSurveys. The sector departments may use datafrom their district database and strategic plans.This is where the quantitative data and researchfindings from other poverty reduction or povertymapping initiatives in the district come in useful.

The second step in the process is preparing apoverty profile for the district. Since each districthas certain socio-economic and cultu r a lcharacteristics that distinguish it from otherdistricts, the district profile seeks to capture thesepeculiarities along with other standard measuresof pove r ty. Some of the standard variables relateto access to health care, education, water ands a n i tation, credit, extension services and marke t s .Over and above these variables, other variablesused specifically by local people in describingtheir poverty status, as well as the perceptions ofservice-providers regarding the dimensions andmanifestations of poverty in the district, are thenidentified and recorded in the form of a simplematrix. This results in a poverty profile for thedistrict, showing the various target groups andgender-specific dimensions. The tool also allowseach of the target groups to indicate and specifythe variables which they use to describe theirpoverty, specify the causes of their poverty andshow the efficacy or otherwise of their respective

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coping mechanisms. The district poverty profilew h i ch emanates from this step is a vividdescription (in quantitative and qualitative terms)of the extent, dimensions and causes of poverty,as well as the potential of and the copingmechanisms used by various groups of poorpeople.

The third step involves preparing district mapsand identifying pockets of poverty and areas thatare better endowed. The pove r ty data ,perceptions, dimensions and manifestations ofpoverty are translated into maps showing thespatial distribution of the various dimensions ofpoverty in the district in question. This is done inthe form of thematic maps showing:

a) the spatial distribution of settlements by popula-tion;

b) the location of infrastructure, services and facili-ties;

c) the hierarchy of settlements in terms of servicecentres;

d) access to services and facilities;

e) volumes and centres of major production;

f) commodity flows and market outlets;

g) volumes of area/town council contributions todistrict assembly revenue.

These thematic maps are then converted intocomposite maps showing areas of deprivation(i.e. poverty pockets) and areas that are betterendowed. Figure 4 below is an example of acomposite poverty map.


Th e fourth step involves designing pro-poordevelopment programmes. Strictly speaking, itmeans mapping out, in terms of sectoral andgeographical space, a number of potential pro-poor programmes that could address theproblems that the poor need to resolve. Due tothe multi-dimensional nature of poverty, a holisticapproach embracing all sectors needs to be takento the design of pro-poor or poverty reductionprogrammes. Yet this inter-sectoral, multi-departmental approach must be strategic in itsfocus and content. For this reason, the fourth stepin the poverty profiling and mapping processidentifies key areas of sectoral intervention atidentified nodal points that could address boththe immediate and the long-term causes ofp ove r ty in terms of prioritised sectors andgeographical space. The existing capacity (interms of infrastru c ture, human capital andfinancial resources) for performing pro-poorinterventions is also identified at this stage. This

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leads to the delineation of possible strategicsupport measures for reducing poverty in thep ove r ty pockets, nodal points and definedsectors. The potential for economic growth andincome redistribution benefiting specific groupsof poor people is also brought together at thispoint.

The final step of the process involves clarifyingand benchmarking the indicators that could beused to measure the improvement in people'sliving standards. These indicators (along withnational and regionally consistent or standardpoverty variables) are then built into a simplef r a m ework that enables the poor and theirservice-providers to track the level of changewhich is acceptable evidence of an improvementin their socio-economic we l l - b e i n g. A simplemonitoring and evaluation model can then bedesigned to track:


the extent to which pove r ty has been reducedamong the various target groups and across gen-ders;

the reasons for success or failure;the reactions of beneficiaries to programme

implementation and outcomes; andthe lessons for future planning and policy-

making.

2.5. Sustainability and

ownership

Ownership and a capacity for susta i n a b l em a n agement and repetition were created atvarious levels. At a local level, the exercise wa sp e r formed by district teams consisting of tech n i c a lpersonnel and representa t i ves of civil society andthe traditional authorities, with technical coach i n gfrom external fa c i l i tators. The training programmewas designed to invo l ve the District CoordinatingDirectors, Planning Officers and Town and CountryPlanning Officers. The main purpose was to equiplocal authorities with the capacity they need inorder to prepare and implement local pove r tyreduction programmes. Essentially, the pove r typrofiling and mapping project built capacity at adistrict level for analysing and understanding them a n i fe s tation of pove r ty, the coping strategies andm e chanisms used by the poor and the appropriatetargeting of pove r ty reduction interventions. Th eoutputs, as a result, were their own efforts and areowned by them.

At a national level, the role played by thecollaborating institutions was also vital to thes u s ta i n a b i l i ty of the exercise. Po l i c y- l eve li n s t i tutions, which are responsible fo rdecentralisation and local governance, we r eactive partners in the process. Their involvementcommenced during the planning and designstages, through implementation to monitoringand evaluation. Institutions such as the Ministryof Local Government and Rural Development andthe National Development Planning Commissiontook part in the upscaling and implementation ofthe exercise nationwide. The NDPC integrated thep ove r ty profiling model into the NationalDevelopment Planning Guidelines for the 2006-2009 period. By this measure, sustainability hasbeen created as the process will feature in the

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medium-term development plans of all 13 8District Assemblies. While national policy-makingi n s t i tutions provided technical support,d evelopment partners such as the CanadianInternational Development Agency (CIDA) and theDanish International Development Ag e n c y(DANIDA) provided financial support.

C o n s u l tants played a vital role during theplanning stage, acted as fa c i l i tators for thetraining-the-trainers and orientation workshops fo rDistrict Administrators, and coached the districtteams during the upscaling to the 94 districts.

2.6. Challenges and lessons

learned

Two major challenges were encountered. Thefirst was a matter of competing activities.Because of the numerous and uncoordinatedcapacity-building interventions taking place at alocal level, many District Planning CoordinationUnits and other departments were overloadedduring the period when the project was running.This resulted in competing demands on their timeand resources, resulting in interruptions in thework plan.

The second challenge related to local technicalcapacity which, in some cases, was not up to thetask. Although teams were formed in all districts,some members were transfe rred and othersresigned during the course of the project.Additionally, some districts lacked key personnelsuch as Town and Country Planning Officers whowere needed to perform the vital task ofpreparing accurate district maps.

Despite these problems, the project succeededin strengthening the capacity of the districttechnical teams, including representatives of localgovernment (District Assemblies), the traditionalauthority and civil society. The broad compositionof the technical teams also helped indocumenting local knowledge. A laudableoutcome is that the poverty profiles and mapswere used to design and implement targetedprogrammes for dealing with areas of deprivationin the districts in question.


3- The National Development Planning Commission is an institution mandated by Articles 86 and 87 of Ghana's 1992Constitution to guide the formulation of development plans and monitor and evaluate the country's developmentefforts.

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Type of stakeholder Name of institution Focus of operations Use made of output

NATIONAL

POLICY-MAKER

National DevelopmentPlanning Commission3

1. Designing policies to guidethe country's developmente.g. GPRS I & II, NationalPlanning Guidelines etc.

2. As a participatorymonitoring and evaluationtool.

Tool incorporated intoPlanning Guidelines.

Tool incorporated intoDistrict M&E Guidelines.

NGOs

'KITE'

Promotion of cost-eff e c t iv eenergy services for agro-processing. Interventions focuson communities withoute l e c t r i c i t y.

Baseline information toassist in selectingcommunities for directintervention.

Assemblies of GodDevelopment AndRelief Services

Capacity-building programmefor selected groups; membersof the Ghana Association ofSocial Workers to be trained intargeting of poverty reductioninterventions at district level.

Information in reports willbe used to create awarenessamong members of theAssociation of methods fortargeting poverty reductionprogrammes.

DEVELOPMENT

PARTNERS

USAID: Trade andInvestment Programmefor a CompetitiveExport Economy

Nationwide programmewhich seeks to make Ghana'sprivate sector morecompetitive by creating anenabling environment andstrengthening the capacity ofthe private sector.

Baseline data for identifyingvulnerable areas, so thatinterventions can betargeted directly athouseholds in these areas.

World FoodProgramme

Supplementary FeedingHealth and NutritionEducation is one aspect ofthe WFP's programme inGhana. The idea is thatchildren and expectant andnursing mothers should beable to meet their nutritionalneeds under the GPRS. Thearea of operation consists ofthe regions in the north ofGhana.

Data used as baselineinformation in preparing thenext Country Strategy forthe WFP NutritionProgramme.

2.7. Present use of the tool

and the way forward

As already mentioned, the tool is intended toi m p r ove the targeting of pove r ty reductionprogrammes at a district level. It is currently beingused mainly for the purpose for which it wa sdesigned. Numerous district-based NGOs,d evelopment partners and District As s e m b l y

administrators are using the output to target theiri n t e rventions as shown in Table 2. Howeve r, themodel has great potential as a monitoring andevaluation tool thanks to the vast amount ofdistrict-specific data it generates. We recommendthat a pove r ty mapping and profiling exercise beconducted in each district after five years. Th ec u rrent data and maps will then provide a basis fo ra n a l ysing any changes in the pove r ty situ a t i o nduring this period.


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Type of stakeholder Name of institution Focus of operations Use made of output

DEVELOPMENT

PARTNERS

Japanese InternationalCooperation Agency(JICA)

A consultant was engaged fora rural electrification projectin the Northern, Upper Eastand Upper West regions.

Reports used as a source ofbaseline data for conductinga socio-economic study inpreparation for a ruralelectrification project.

German Bank forReconstruction (KFW)Feeder Roads Project

Study for the construction offeeder roads in the Volta,Ashanti and Brong Ahaforegions.

The maps were of part i c u l a rinterest, as a source ofinformation on existingfeeder roads. The report swere used as a source ofdata for a socio-economicstudy paving the way for thep r o j e c t .

European Union

A consultant was contractedfor a capacity- b u i l d i n gprogramme for districteducation offices, with the aimof improving theirr e s p o n s iv e n e s s .

Review of district-specificdata from an educationalperspective.

CONSULTANTS

Kesse, Tagoe andAssociates

Contracted to prepare a landuse plan for selected areas inthe Greater Accra Region(GAR).

Baseline data on saltdeposits in the Dangmeareas of the GAR.

Consultants forAgricultural and RuralDevelopment Services(CARDS)

Contracted by EU Micro-Projects Programme.

Baseline information for thenext stage of the EU'sMicro-Projects Programme.

TRADITIONAL

AUTHORITIES

Asanteman Council ofAshanti Region

GoG/World Bank Projectsupported the AsantemanCouncil in a project aimed atpromoting the participation oftraditional authorities.

Baseline information forpreparing developmentplans for all local authoritiesin the Ashanti region.

Source: Impact Monitoring Report, GTZ/LG-PRSP (2005).

3. CONCLUSIONS

There is inevitably a spatial dimension to welfareand poverty. Although the spatial distribution ofpoverty remains one of the oldest puzzles, it isalso a highly contemporary issue. The incidenceof poverty in a specific area may be attributed toa variety of lifestyle-related and environmentalfactors. The characteristics of the location,including socio-demographic and environmentaldata, are a valuable source of information inmoving down the road to poverty reduction.

The results of pove r ty profiling and mappingsuggest that there is considerable heterogeneityin pove r ty levels between and within districts inthe same communities. The exercise hasidentified areas in which the poor are heav i l yconcentrated. The results also help to explain whyc e r tain areas are poorer than others. If this type ofd e tailed information is linked with other socio-economic and geographical data, it becomes eve nmore useful in assisting efforts to target the poor.


In conclusion, the poverty profiling and mappingtool helps to make the targeting of pro-poordevelopment interventions more effective, andprovides baseline information for monitoring and

15

evaluation. The maps are important tools fore ffe c t i vely implementing pove r ty reductionprogrammes under the District Medium-Te r mDevelopment Plans for 2006-2009.

CARDS Consultants for Agricultural and Rural Development ServicesCBO Community-Based OrganisationCIDA Canadian International Development Agency CSO Civil Society OrganisationCWIQ Core Welfare Indicator QuestionnairesDA District Assembly DANIDA Danish International Development AgencyDBO District Budget OfficerDCD District Coordinating DirectorDCE District Chief ExecutiveDPCU District Planning and Coordinating UnitDMTDP District Medium Term Development PlanDP Development partnerDPO District Planning OfficerGAR Greater Accra RegionGPRS I Ghana Poverty Reduction StrategyGPRS II Growth and Poverty Reduction StrategyGTZ German Technical Cooperation AgencyHIPC Heavily Indebted Poor CountriesILGS Institute of Local Government StudiesJICA Japanese International Cooperation AgencyKFW German Bank for Reconstruction KNUST Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology M&E Monitoring and EvaluationMDAs Ministries, departments and agenciesMDGs Millennium Development Goals MLGRDE Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and the EnvironmentNDPC National Development Planning CommissionNGO Non-governmental organisationPM&E Participatory monitoring and evaluationPRS Poverty Reduction StrategyRCC Regional Coordinating Council RPCU Regional Planning and Coordinating UnitsSIF Social Investment Fund TA Traditional authorityUSAID United States Agency for International Development

ANNEX I: ACRONYMS


Alderman, H., et al. 2002. H ow Low Can Yo uGo? Combining Census and Survey Data fo rPove r ty Mapping in South Africa, The Wo r l dBank, Wa s h i n g t o n .

B a ke r, J. L., and M.E. Grosh. 1994. ' M e a s u r i n gthe Effects of Geographic Targeting onPove r ty Reduction.' Living Sta n d a r d sMeasurement Study Working Paper. 99. TheWorld Bank, Washington, D.C.

Bigman, D., and H. Fo f a ck. 2000. ' G e o g r a p h i c a lTargeting for Pove r ty A l l eviation: A n I n t r o d u c t i o nto the Special Issue.' The World Ba n kEconomic Rev i ew 14(1): 12 9 - 4 5 .

Deaton, A. 1997. The Analysis of HouseholdSurveys: A Microeconometric Approach toD evelopment Po l i c y. John Hopkins Unive r s i tyPress and the World Bank: Washington, D.C.

Deaton, A., and Z. Salman. 2002. 'Guidelinesfor Constructing Consumption Aggregatesfor Welfare Analysis.' LSMS Working Paper,135. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

Ghana Pov e rty Reduction Strategy (GPRS I).2 003. G overnment of Ghana, National Deve l o p m e n t

Planning Commission, Ac c r a .

Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy(GPRS II). 2005. G overnment of Ghana, National

D evelopment Planning Commission, Ac c r a .

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ANNEX II: BIBLIOGRAPHY

Henn i n g e r, N. and M. Snel. 2002. Where arethe Poor? Experiences with the Deve l o p m e n tand Use of Pove r ty Maps. World ResourcesI n s t i tute (WRI) and UNEP/GRID-Arendal.WRI, Washington DC. Available at: http://population.wri.org

Mapping in South Africa. Journal of A f r i c a nEconomies, Volume 11, Issue 3 (fort h c o m i n g ) .

Nkum Associates. 2005. Pove r ty Pr o f i l i n gM a p p i n g and Pro-Poor Programming ExerciseReport on Coaching and Ba ckstopping Exe r c i s ein 94 Districts. Accra.

Nkum Associates. 2004. H ow- To-Do-Guide onDistrict Pove r ty Profiling and Mapping. Accra.

Nkum Associates. 2003. Pove r ty Pr o f i l i n gMapping and Pro Poor Programming Exe r c i s eTraining Re p o r t .

Owusu, L. B., et al. 2005. Local Governanceand Poverty Alleviation in Africa. The Case ofGhana.

Republic of Ke nya 200 3 . 'Geographic Dimensionsof well being in Ke nya: Volume1 Where are thePoor: From Districts to Lo c a t i o n s ' .

VNG International. 2005. Logo South CountryProgramme Ghana 2005 - 2008. Fee basedS e rvice Pr ovision for Local Gove r n m e n tBodies. The Hague.


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Resource persons:

Bruno B. Dery (NDPC)Email: [email protected]

Audrey Dorway (GTZ)Email: [email protected]

ANNEX III: RESOURCE PERSONS AND USEFUL LINKS

Useful links:

http://population.wri.org/

http://www.ecdpm.org/

http://www.snvmali.org/

http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/evaluation/methods/pcm.htm

http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/strategies


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