Marian Kpakpa, Chief Director, Ministry of Planning (left) with Anne-Claire Dufay, UNICEF Representative with the documents
Results from the 2018/2019 District League Table (DLT) II have shown wide
disparities within districts of the various regions in relation to social
development and service delivery outcomes.
The DLT released in Accra today ranked Asante Akim
North Municipal, in the Ashanti Region the overall best district, while Asokore
Mampong Municipal, in the same Ashanti Region ranked the lowest performing
district.
Again, the
results ranked the Greater Accra Region as the best in the regional ranking,
whereas Eastern Region was the worst, well below the positions of traditionally
“poor” Regions like Upper East and Upper West.
Since the introduction of the first DLT in
2014, it has been used as a social accountability tool that ranks all of
Ghana’s Districts by their level of social development and service delivery,
providing evidence for enhanced decision-making.
Based on consultations with the key
Ministries and Agencies concerned, the DLT II used indicators from seven key
sectors including health, education, sanitation, water, child protection,
governance and security, to compile a single score for each District.
Sector Analysis
Using the Basic
Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results, Western Region topped the
education sector with an impressive 88 percent while the Upper West recorded
the poorest performance with 48 per cent.
Under the
health sector indicator of skilled birth attendance, Upper East Region ranked
the highest with 65 per cent while the Volta Region ranked the lowest with 45
per cent.
Central Region
topped the chart with the highest number of birth registration recording 90 per
cent coverage as compared to the Eastern Region which recorded just 58 per cent.
The Greater
Accra Region topped the chart in water coverage under the sanitation sector
with 77 per cent as Eastern Region had the lowest water coverage of 54 per
cent.
Again under
sanitation, the Upper West Region recorded 28 per cent of its communities
certified as Open Defecation Free (ODF) while Ashanti and Western had none of
its communities certified as ODF.
Anne-Claire
Dufay, UNICEF Representative in Ghana, speaking at the launch said as Ghana
seeks to achieve the sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs) it was useful to
note the disparities between Districts and regions in social sectors to enable
better prioritization, planning, resource allocation and implementation.
Dr. Yoshimi
Nishino, Chief of Policy and Evidence Studies, UNICEF said a new way of calculating the total
scores for the Districts and for the overall index was used to enhance the
analysis of the data.
She cautioned the public to be careful in
comparing this year’s results with previous years’.
Dr. Nishino added that the rural and urban
water coverage rates were combined into one water indicator as well.
Each year, the
results of the Ghana’s District League Table trigger constructive national
debate and call for action towards improving social services for people in
Ghana.
Prof. H Kwasi
Prempeh, Executive Director of CDD-Ghana called for a national dialogue based
on the results of the DLT.
The DLT is a result of a partnership between UNICEF, the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the Centre for Social Policy Studies (University of Ghana – Legon), the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, as well as the Office of Head of Local Government Service.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri & Sarah Platz
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