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As the first output from the gender and governance in rural services project, this report presents descriptive findings and qualitative analysis of accountability mechanisms in agricultural extension and rural water supply in India, Ghana, and Ethiopia, paying specific attention to gender responsiveness. The gender and governance in rural services project seeks to generate policy-relevant knowledge on strategies to improve agricultural and rural service delivery, with a focus on providing more equitable access to these services, especially for women. The project focuses on agricultural extension, as an example of an agricultural service, and drinking water, as an example of rural service that is not directly related to agriculture but is of high relevance for rural women. A main goal of this project was to generate empirical micro level evidence about the ways various accountability mechanisms for agricultural and rural service provision work in practice and to identify factors that influence the suitability of different governance reform strategies that aim to make service provision more gender responsive. Three out of four poor people in the developing world live in rural areas, and most of them depend directly or indirectly on agriculture for their livelihoods. Providing economic services, such as agricultural extension, is essential to using agriculture for development. At the same time, the rural poor need a range of basic services, such as drinking water, education, and health services. Such services are difficult to provide in rural areas because they are subject to the \"triple challenge\" of market, state, and community failure. As a result of market failure, the private sector does not provide these services to the rural poor to the extent that is desirable from society's point of view. The state is not very effective in providing these services either, because these services have to be provided every day throughout the country, even in remote areas, and because they require discretion and cannot easily be standardized, especially if they are demand driven. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and communities themselves are interesting alternative providers of these services, but they too can fail, because of capacity constraints and local elite capture. This triple challenge of market, state, and community failure results in the poor provision of agricultural and rural services, a major obstacle to agricultural and rural development.

The Community-Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) was initially seen as a panacea for enhancing the well-being of rural communities. However, a dearth of research and the absence of adequate monitoring of the return on investment for CBRDP have prompted the need for this investigation. This study adopted a single case study design and gathered data from 36 participants, including district assembly officials and program beneficiaries, using interviews and observation. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. The findings showed that the provision of agricultural infrastructure empowered the beneficiaries, leading to tangible livelihood improvements. Furthermore, rural enterprise development played a pivotal role in enhancing productivity and, consequently, livelihoods. Nonetheless, several challenges, such as funding constraints, inadequate capacity, unmet needs, and political interference, hindered the program's implementation. Overall, while the CBRDP positively contributed to livelihood improvement, it failed to sustain these gains after the program's conclusion. To address this, it is recommended that a bottom-up approach be employed to determine needs, the depoliticization of contract allocation, ensure timely disbursement of funds, and enhanced capacity among implementers. These measures are crucial for ensuring the sustainability of the program's positive outcomes.

As informal commerce has grown to become the lifeblood of African cities, street trade—among the largest sub-groups in the informal economy—has become a visible but contested domain. Yet the increase in street traders has not been accompanied by a corresponding improvement in their status as citizens or in their political influence.The paper first discusses the implications of theoretical debates on 'citizenship' and 'Voice' for street traders and then explores characteristics of traders' associations and influence in four case study countries: Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania and Lesotho. Drawing together the authors' findings from research between 2001 and 2008, the paper identifies a fluidity of both formal and informal traders' organisations which fail to achieve lasting impact. Finally, the paper discusses urban policy implications, arguing for a more flexible definition of urban citizenship based on rights and responsibilities, and an understanding of the complexity of grassroots associations of the marginalised poor.

The illegal artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activities in Ghana are persistently booming even after governments’ several attempts to halt the menace and streamline their modus operandi towards formalisation. This is because the formalisation attempts by the governments of Ghana have been associated with several challenges. Hence, this paper examines the challenges hampering the formalisation of illegal ASM in Ghana and the ways to overcome these challenges. The cross-sectional survey research design and the mixed methods approach were adopted to understand miners’ experiences and challenges with formalisation in Ghana. The study uses three mining districts (Wassa Amenfi East Municipality, Amansie West, and Talensi Districts), where there is the proliferation of illegal ASM activities, as case study areas. The findings reveal that the formalisation initiatives by governments fail to capture: (1) the cause-effect relationships that drive illegal ASM, and (2) the interest and objectives of the illegal ASM operators. The cause-effects include observed complex, cumbersome, and expensive license acquisition procedure, red-tapesim, corruption, and disregard for customary laws. This paper, therefore, concludes that to ensure effective formalisation, there must be a free and fair regular public and stakeholder engagement, an established feedback mechanism among stakeholders, and ASM operator-centred approaches to formalisation. The paper further proposes the decoupling of ASM from the Minerals Commission and the Ghana Chamber of Mines and a consequent establishment of a Commission for ASM and Chamber of ASM.

The district health system in Ghana today is characterized by high resource-uncertainty and narrow decision-space. This article builds a theory-driven historical case study to describe the influence of path-dependent administrative, fiscal and political decentralization processes on development of the district health system and district manager decision-space. Methods included a non-exhaustive literature review of democratic governance in Ghana, and key informant interviews with high-level health system officials integral to the development of the district health system. Through our analysis we identified four periods of district health system progression: (1) development of the district health system (1970–85); (2) Strengthening District Health Systems Initiative (1986–93); (3) health sector reform planning and creation of the Ghana Health Service (1994–96) and (4) health sector reform implementation (1997–2007). It was observed that district manager decision-space steadily widened during periods (1) and (2), due to increases in managerial profile, and concerted efforts at managerial capacity strengthening. Periods (3) and (4) saw initial augmentation of district health system financing, further widening managerial decision-space. However, the latter half of period 4 witnessed district manager decision-space contraction. Formalization of Ghana Health Service structures influenced by self-reinforcing tendencies towards centralized decision-making, national and donor shifts in health sector financing, and changes in key policy actors all worked to the detriment of the district health system, reversing early gains from bottom-up development of the district health system. Policy feedback mechanisms have been influenced by historical and contemporary sequencing of local government and health sector decentralization. An initial act of administrative decentralization, followed by incomplete political and fiscal decentralization has ensured that the balance of power has remained at national level, with strong vertical accountabilities and dependence of the district on national level. This study demonstrates that the rhetoric of decentralization does not always mirror actual implementation, nor always result in empowered local actors. Le système du district de santé au Ghana se caractérise aujourd’hui par une forte incertitude quant à la disponibilité des ressources et l’éxiguïté de l’espace décisionnel. Le présent article se fonde sur une étude de cas historique axée sur la théorie pour décrire l’influence des procédures administratives, fiscales et de la politique de décentralisation sur le développement du système du district de santé et de l’espace décisionnel du chef de district. Les méthodes utilisées comprenaient un examen non-exhaustif des publications relatives à la gouvernance démocratique au Ghana, et des entretiens avec des témoins privilégiés de la haute administration sanitaire, personnages essentiels au développement du système du district de santé. Cette analyse nous a permis d’identifier quatre étapes dans l’évolution du système du district de santé: (1) développement du système du district de santé (1970-85); (2) initiative de renforcement du système des districts de santé (1986-1993); (3) planification de la réforme du secteur de la santé et création du service sanitaire du Ghana (1994-96) et (4) mise en œuvre de la réforme du secteur de la santé (1997-2007). On a constaté que l’espace décisionnel du chef de district s’est élargi progressivement au cours des périodes (1) et (2), en raison de plus grandes exigences au niveau du profil du gestionnaire, et des efforts concertés en vue du renforcement des capacités managériales. Les périodes (3) et (4) ont vu une augmentation initiale des financements du système des districts de santé, ce qui a contribué à l’élargissement de l’espace de prise de décisions managériales. Cependant, au cours de la seconde moitié de la période 4, on a assisté au rétrécissement de l’espace décisionnel du gestionnaire de district. La formalisation des structures des services de santé du Ghana, influencée par les tendances d’auto-renforcement de processus décisionnels fortement centralisés, les modifications survenues dans le financement du secteur de la santé tant au niveau national que des donateurs, et le changement des principaux acteurs politiques, ont tous été préjudiciables au système du district de santé, inversant ainsi les premiers gains d’un développement du système du district de santé à partir de la base. Les mécanismes de rétroaction des stratégies politiques ont été influencés par l’enchaînement historique et contemporain de la corrélation entre l’administration locale et la décentralisation du secteur de la santé. L’acte initial de décentralisation administrative, suivi d’une décentralisation politique et fiscale incomplète a contribué à maintenir l’équilibre du pouvoir au niveau national, avec d’importantes responsabilités verticales et le district qui est resté très dépendant du niveau national. La présente étude illustre le fait que la rhétorique de la décentralisation ne reflète pas toujours ce qui se passe effectivement sur le terrain, et ne donne pas toujours lieu à l’émergence d’acteurs locaux plus autonomes. El sistema de salud de distrito en Ghana hoy en día se caracteriza por una alta incertidumbre de recursos y un espacio de toma de decisiones estrecho. Este artículo construye un caso de estudio histórico basado en la teoría para describir la influencia de la dependencia de la trayectoria de los procesos administrativos, fiscales y de la descentralización política sobre el desarrollo del sistema de salud del distrito y el espacio de toma de decisiones del administrador del distrito. Los métodos incluyeron una revisión no exhaustiva de la literatura de la gobernanza democrática en Ghana, y entrevistas de informantes claves con oficiales de alto nivel del sistema de salud integrales al desarrollo del sistema de salud del distrito. A través de nuestro análisis hemos identificado cuatro períodos del progreso del sistema de salud del distrito: (1) desarrollo del sistema de salud del distrito (1970-1985); (2) la Iniciativa de Fortalecimiento de Sistemas de Salud del Distrito (1986- 1993); (3) planificación de la reforma del sector de salud y la creación del Servicio de Salud de Ghana (1994-96) y (4) implementación de la reforma del sector de salud (1997- 2007). Se observó que el espacio de toma de decisiones del administrador del distrito se amplió de manera constante durante los períodos (1) y (2), debido al aumento en el perfil, y los esfuerzos concertados para fortalecer la capacidad gerencial. Los periodos (3) y (4) vieron un aumento inicial en la financiación del sistema de salud del distrito, lo cual amplió aún más el espacio de decisión gerencial. Sin embargo, la segunda mitad del período (4) presenció la contracción del espacio de toma de decisiones gerencial. La formalización de las estructuras del Servicio de Salud de Ghana influenciada por las tendencias de auto-reforzamiento que conducen a la toma de decisiones centralizada, cambios nacionales y de donantes en la financiación del sector de la salud, y cambios en los actores claves de la política, trabajaron en detrimento del sistema de salud del distrito, revirtiendo las ganancias anteriores hacia el desarrollo de abajo hacia arriba del sistema de salud del distrito. Los mecanismos de retroalimentación de políticas han sido influenciados por la secuencia histórica y contemporánea del gobierno local y la descentralización del sector de salud. Un acto inicial de la descentralización administrativa, seguido de una incompleta descentralización política y fiscal ha asegurado que el balance de poder se mantenga a nivel nacional, con una rendición de cuentas fuertemente vertical y con una dependencia del distrito en el nivel nacional. Este estudio demuestra que la retórica de la descentralización no siempre refleja la ejecución real, ni siempre resulta en actores locales empoderados. 如今加纳地区医疗系统的特点是资源的很不确定性和狭窄的 决策空间。本文建立了一个理论驱动的历史性案例研究来描 述有路径依赖的行政、财政和政治分权过程对于地区医疗系 统发展和地区管理者决策空间的影响。研究方法包括对加纳 民主管理的不完全回顾, 以及对地区医疗系统发展中高级别的 医疗系统官员的关键信息人访谈。通过分析, 我们找出了地区 医疗系统发展的四个时期:(1) 地区医疗系统开始发展 (1970- 85); (2) 加强地区医疗系统机制 (1986-93); (3) 加纳医疗服务 的医疗领域改革计划和创新 (1994-96); (4) 医疗领域改革的 实施 (1997-2007) 。在 (1) 和 (2) 时期, 因为管理人员的增加 和管理能力的加强, 地区管理者的决策空间稳步变大。(3) 和 (4) 时期地区医疗系统融资增加, 进一步扩宽了决策空间。然 而, 第四个时期的后半段决策空间开始收缩。受自我强化的集 中决策趋势影响的加纳医疗服务形式, 国家和捐赠人在融资中 的角色变化, 以及关键政策角色的变化都损害了地区医疗系 统, 破坏了早期自下往上的发展取得的成果。政策回馈机制 受地方政府历史和当代先后顺序和医疗领域分权的影响。最 初的行政分权加上不完整的政治和财政分权保证权力在国家 层面的平衡以及强有力的垂直职责和地方对国家的依赖。本 研究证明修辞上的分权并不经常反应实际的实施情况, 也不代 表地方得到授权。

PurposePopulation growth and urbanization pose several threats to terrestrial ecosystems, especially in forest ecological zones worldwide. This study examines the drivers of average willingness to pay (WTP) to restore urban forests in a developing country.Design/methodology/approachIt utilizes survey data of households and employs a robust Heckman two-step estimator with bootstrapping to address the research objective.FindingsThe study underscores the role of income, gender, education and perception of the health benefits of forests as the underlying determinants of restoration bids by respondents. These drivers have a positive and statistically significant effect on forest restoration. Education and gender appear to be the most effective by magnitude, followed by the perception of health benefits, then income. Attention is therefore drawn to relevant economic, sociocultural and psychological factors towards the goal of forestry to improve well-being in urban centres.Originality/valueThis paper seeks to add methodological insights to the literature on reforestation and land use changes in the Accra metropolitan area and the local population’s WTP for reforestation in this area. In principle, this is a case study informing about the values people hold for forests in Ghana and Africa, where a knowledge gap exists with respect to their socio-economic valuation.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2022-0618

Broad-based growth is critical for accelerating poverty reduction. But income inequality also affects the pace at which growth translates into gains for the poor. Despite the attention researchers have given to the relative roles of growth and inqequality in reducing poverty, little is known about how the microunderpinnings of growth strategies affect poor households' ability to participate in and profit from growth. Delivering on the Promise of Pro-Poor Growth contributes to the debate on how to accelerate poverty reduction by providing insights from eight countries that have been relatively successful in delivering pro-poor growth: Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Tunisia, Uganda, and Vietnam. It integrates growth analytics with the microanalysis of household data to determine how country policies and conditions interact to reduce poverty and to spread the benefits of growth across different income groups. This title is a useful resource for policy makers, donor agencies, academics, think tanks, and government officials seeking a practical framework to improve country level diagnostics of growth-poverty linkages.

This article aims to assess whether or not property rates in Ghana are a good potential source of local revenue. Through detailed analysis of six local government case studies, we find that present prospects for most rural local areas to raise substantial rate revenue are circumscribed, but in urban councils they are more promising. Nevertheless, no council is able to collect rates fully and from all rateable properties. This is attributed to several factors: the politicisation of taxation; ethnic homogeneity; intergovernmental transfers; partisan local government elections; resistance caused by elite design; and the denial of public information. Although these factors have been identified in previous literature, the study includes new findings which challenge received academic thinking on how they affect local tax collection in developing countries.

Increasing urbanisation, wealth and ill health in cities necessitate careful study, especially in African cities whose development is widely regarded as rapid and chaotic. Using Ghanaian cities as a case study, this article analyses some of the important sources of ill health, identifies why they persist, and assesses how they impinge on economic growth, redistribution, and poverty reduction. It argues that, although there is considerable evidence that policy change is urgently needed, the tensions and contradictions between economic and social efficiency, intermeshed with vested political interests, are likely to impede significant changes to the status quo.