Sustaining Development Projects within the Local Government System in Ghana: Exploring the Views of Local Authorities and Other Stakeholders in Shama District

Abstract

Development helps to empower people and promote important changes in their lives. However, for development to occur there is the need for an educated population, physical and financial resources. Within this framework, governments and development partners, all over the world initiate several approaches aimed at improving the wellbeing of their citizens. Despite the efforts made to improve the lives of people, there is a wide recognition that development projects provided at the local level sometimes fail to meet desired expectations for several reasons. This study sought to explore the views of local authorities and other key stakeholders of Shama District on the sustainability of development projects provided at the local level in order to suggest measures for improvement in a concurrent-dependence mixed method approach. The design of this study was descriptive and exploratory and a total of 79 respondents were selected for the study using purposive, convenience and census data collection techniques. Research instruments used are interview schedule and interview guide. Frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation were used for the quantitative analysis whilst thematic analysis was done for the qualitative data. The study found that even though there was a structure in place for the management of development projects in the District participation of key members was very low. It was also found that several factors such as political, economic, ethical, cultural and environmental affected the management of projects in the District. number of factors were identified as affecting the sustainability of the projects including local participation in the project planning, local ownership of the projects, local initiatives and knowledge are included in the planning of the projects, transparency in the implementation of the project, accountability in the implementation of the project, empowerment of the local people, and commitment among the local people. It is recommended that the District Assembly should provide more platforms to ensure active participation of all stakeholders in local decision making in relation to development projects.