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USAID Information:
External Links:
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Ghana
The Development Challenge: Ghana is making significant progress on the economic front. The nation is controlling expenditures and monetary growth, maintaining a stable exchange rate, lowering inflation and interest rates, developing a trade policy framework, actively promoting investment, addressing structural deficiencies in the energy and infrastructure sectors, and strengthening good governance and transparency. However, cumbersome government requirements are serious obstacles to business development. In early 2003 the high inflation rate of 30% was due to the Government of Ghana's (GOG's) lifting subsidies and increasing fuel and utility prices, but if the GOG maintains current fiscal policies, inflation should drop to the annual target of 22%. By controlling expenditures and exceeding revenue targets, the GOG expected to balance the budget in 2003. The GOG has also maintained a zero net domestic financing requirement and the IMF positively assessed Ghana's economic performance during a review of the Poverty Reduction Growth Facility. Real GDP growth is projected at 4.7% for 2003, up from 4.5% in 2002. Ghana's currency, the Cedi, is stable; foreign reserves surpass $1 billion. Ghana reached its Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) decision point in February 2002, realizing significant budgetary savings.
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From 2000 to 2003 the GOG increased nominal expenditures for health by more than 300% and almost as much for education. Under-five mortality, as measured by the 1993 and 1998 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), has declined from 119 deaths to 108 deaths per 1,000 live births. The population growth rate of 2.4% per annum is still a serious problem. HIV/AIDS prevalence appears to have stabilized at around 4%, but risks for explosive growth remain.
Public-private partnerships are growing and the potential for expansion is great. Partnerships are showing success in two key areas: sale of insecticide-treated-bed nets (for preventing malaria); and workplace-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs.
The Government's development agenda as outlined in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) gives priority to the health sector. This has been evidenced by active commitment to increasing the overall resources available for health and reducing inequalities in health. Nevertheless, the increasing resources have not readily led to improvements in the volume and quality of service, and the sector has also been unable to capture the full efficiency and equity gains of innovations such as community-based health planning and services (CHPS). Major challenges include maintaining a focus on the poor in the approach to health delivery and in resource allocation, implementation of the health insurance scheme that rationalizes exemptions and addresses access issues for the poor; scaling up implementation of priority health interventions (e.g., CHPS); and implementing innovative strategies for stemming the brain drain and re-distributing health staff to deprived areas.
The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (MOEYS) Education Strategic Plan was finalized in May 2003. Two of the key challenges facing the education sector are how to improve accountability within the system and maximize the use of scarce resources. The MOEYS also needs to demonstrate that it can deliver on the commitments made in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy to improve education services for the most disadvantaged.
Major challenges remain, and USAID/Ghana plays a key role in addressing them. Decentralization is still a work in progress and local governance capacity remains low. The ability of Parliament to perform its representative and legislative functions is limited. The quality and availability of health services need improving. School enrollment and retention are still too low, especially in the north. Most children are not able to read and numerate at grade level.
Ghana is the United States' third largest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa. It plays a key role in promoting political and economic stability in the region, as exemplified by the actions taken in stabilizing the situations in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire under the ECOWAS chairmanship of Ghana's President Kufuor. Ghana has a strong commitment to human rights, as evidenced by the continuing National Reconciliation Commission hearings.
The USAID Program: USAID/Ghana is simultaneously implementing the final year of the Country Strategic Plan FY 1997 - FY 2004 and initiating the new Country Strategic Plan FY 2004 - FY 2010. During this transition period, USAID is consolidating the current programs to focus on those elements that will be continued during the next strategic period. These include: enhancing good governance and decentralization; increasing private sector-led economic growth; improving the quality of and access to primary education; and improving the quality and coverage of family planning, maternal/child health, and control of HIV/AIDS. USAID/Ghana is examining ways to assist the government, civil society organizations, and communities in promoting and establishing decentralization across the targeted sectors. The economic growth portfolio will continue to stimulate the non-traditional export sector and will also examine ways to invigorate traditional exports (cocoa, wood) and cross-border trade. In the health sector, targets include reduction of the under-five mortality rate, reduction in the total fertility rate, and stabilizing the HIVAIDS prevalence rate. For primary education, USAID/Ghana will increase enrollment and retention, improve literacy and numeracy skills, and provide HIV/AIDS prevention information.
Other Program Elements: Ghana also receives assistance directly from USAID/Washington: the Democracy and Human Rights Fund finances activities in support of human rights and democratic institutions and the Self-Help program supports local non-government organization activities. These efforts are administered by the U.S. Embassy. P.L. 480 resources are channeled through U.S. Private Voluntary Organizations for activities such as agroforestry, on-farm production and storage, small/microenterprise and microcredit programs, school feeding, community health programs, potable water supply, and sanitation. P.L. 480 resources are expected to increase by 50%, with expanded food distribution for primary school children in the north, the severely disabled, and people living with HIV/AIDS. The U.S. Department of the Treasury provides support to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning through a technical advisor in debt management and periodic training in tax administration.
The USAID West Africa Regional Program Office (WARP) moved to Accra, Ghana, in October 2003. WARP strategic objectives support various regional organizations with programs of economic integration; population, health and nutrition; food security, the environment, energy, and natural resource management; and conflict prevention. The West Africa Water Initiative, with significant support from the Agency's Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade Bureau and the Global Development Alliance, is a major initiative for increasing access to potable water in Ghana.
Other USAID-backed programs operating in Ghana include several in agriculture (Farmer-to-Farmer programs and two Research Support Programs), one in economic research (Strategies and Analyses for Growth and Access Project), cocoa production (Sustainable Tree Crop Program), and a child survival program implemented by Project Concern International.
Other Donors: Donor coordination and collaboration in Ghana is excellent. Through the work of numerous sectoral committees, the year-old Multi-Donor Budgetary Support Group (where USAID collaborates but is not a signatory), and ad hoc groups focusing on a variety of specific concerns, donors share information and jointly finance programs. Donor assistance is extremely important to Ghana's development and government operations. The U.S. is the third largest bilateral donor, behind the United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands. Major donors include: World Bank (infrastructure, education and health); International Monetary Fund (structural adjustment); United Nations agencies; UK (budget support and public administration, health, education, infrastructure and agriculture); Japan (education, infrastructure, health and agriculture); European Union (budget support, transportation infrastructure); Canada (budget support, water and decentralization); Denmark (health, private sector, energy and water); the Netherlands (health, environment, budget support); Germany (agriculture, environment, democracy, market economy); Switzerland; France; Italy; and Spain.
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