International Development Grant
District-Wide Assistance Transition Project
Project Number: CA-3-A034335001
Status: Closed
Country/Region:
Maximum Contribution: $19,861,436.00
Start Date: April 15, 2008
End Date: March 31, 2014
Duration: 6.0 years
Project Description
The project aims to support the Government of Ghana in its effort to reduce poverty in the 38 northern and poorest districts of Ghana. The project is providing funds in addition to what the Government of Ghana can provide to the poorest districts in Ghana so that they can address priority areas of development such as additional classrooms teachers housing market sites. It also supports the implementation of the National Decentralization Action Plan through improved implementation of District Development Plans by District Assemblies in Northern Ghana. The results expected from this initiative include: completed infrastructure projects identified by individual districts as key to their development (such as health clinics schools teachers' quarters latrines markets etc.) and progress in the transparency and rigour of public financial management at the national regional and local levels. The project also seeks to increase direct investment in District Development Plans generate new and reliable information on policy environment and current capacities at the district and regional levels (which can be used to improve local government performance); and enhance regional and district capacities for the planning implementation monitoring and evaluation of District Development Plans. The intermediate outcomes for this project include: increased diverse agricultural productivity of food crops for small holder farming families particularly women in the Upper West and Northern regions of Ghana; increased marketing of agricultural products by small holder farmers particularly women in the Upper West and Northern regions of Ghana; improved nutrition practices for small holder farming families (women men girls and boys) in the Upper West and Northern regions of Ghana.
Progress & Results Achieved
Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2014) include: the organization by the DWAP Secretariat of the annual orientation and training of District Actors focused on management improvement; training sessions for the Ministry of Local Governance and Rural Development Staff in monitoring and evaluation including reporting and gender impact assessment. All the activities for this year were conducted by implementing partners and were intended to allow the districts to complete properly their projects and enhance the quality of the last reporting before the closure of DWAP. Also the activities performed by the Regional Planning and Coordinating Units (RPCUs) were centered around monitoring operations and reporting on project implementation. The RPCUs’ reports informed on the status of Districts’ projects completion. Finally the Ghana audit service submitted audit reports including findings and recommendations on procurement and financial management. The DWAP Secretariat in collaboration with the Institute of Local Government Studies designed and implemented a training program on “Managing Information Data and Gender” for selected key staff of Municipal Metropolitan District Assemblies to assist them adjust their Medium Term Development Plans and Annual Action Plans to become more gender responsive. These have contributed to increased rate of implementation of district initiatives to meet priority needs of District Development Plans; increased accountability transparency and female and male participation in the planning and implementation of District Development Plans and achieving more enabling gender-sensitive policy and administrative environment for decentralized development programming and implementation.
Key Information
Executing Agency:
Government of Ghana
Reporting Organization:
Global Affairs Canada
Program:
WGM Africa
Last Modified:
September 19, 2025
Development Classifications
DAC Sector:
Aid Type: Sector budget support
Collaboration: Bilateral
Finance Type: Aid grant excluding debt reorganisation
Selection Mechanism:
Pre-APP