NANDOM MUNICIPAL PROFILE 2020
NANDOM MUNICIPAL PROFILE 2020
PROFILE/CURRENT SITUATION/BASELINE
1.2.1. Institutional capacity needs
Assessing the necessary capacity conditions in the district meant identifying not just the funds for the plan preparation and monitoring and evaluation but also the requisite human resource. It is through this process that the status, conditions, needs and capacity in the district were evaluated. It further determined the capacity to manage Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the plan preparation and monitoring
The main justification was to ensure that the appropriate incentives, material and human resources are in place for effective DMTDP implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This process involved all stakeholders.
The district does not have a full complement of all its departments. This insufficiency sometimes creates responsibility gaps in the administration of development of the district. Coordination of development data for planning and budgeting has been a challenge due to this gap. In addition to this, the capacity needs assessment brought to light issues such as lack of a vehicle for Monitoring Plan implementation, inadequate capacity of the DPCU in Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring and Evaluation. Efforts are therefore in place to establish the non-existent departments of the district assembly and provide the needed logistics to aid in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the DMTDP 2018-2021.
In addition to the efforts of Government to push forward the development of the district, are active development partners operating in the District. Though minimal in their numbers, these development partners complement and bridge the gap in Government’s development efforts. Their fields of operation range from water and sanitation, education, health, agriculture, Gender inclusiveness, Peace and Land Disputes among others. The District Assembly recognizing this key role played by these partners has put in place measures to create an enabling environment for these partners to operate and to complement the DA in implementing and monitoring the DMTDP 2018-2021.
Appendix 12 presents a summary of the output of the capacity needs assessment.
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1.2.2. Physical and Natural Environment
1.2.2.1. Location and size
The District lies in the north western corner of the Upper West Region of Ghana between Longitude 2°25 W and 2°45W and Latitude 10°20 N and 11°00 S. It is bounded to the East and South by the Lambussie and Lawra Districts respectively and to the North and West by the Republic of Burkina Faso. The total area of the District is put at 567.6 square km. This constitutes about 3.1% of the Region’s total land area. The District is constituted by 88 communities with 86% of the inhabitants living in rural areas. The population density is about 89 per square kilometer. It is the most densely populated District in the region. Below is a map showing location of the District in Ghana. Its closeness to Burkina Faso offers it a strategic location for international interactions and exchanges. It however poses a challenge related to the influx of Fulani herdsmen into the district from the Sahel. The Map as shown in Fig 1 shows the size of the district and the distribution of the 88 communities.
Figure1: A map of Nandom District showing communities
1.2.2.2. Relief and Drainage
The topography of the district could be described as gently undulating. Generally, the district is located about 180 meters above sea level with a few isolated hills. The relative plain topography is suitable for road construction, distribution of utility lines and general construction works.
The District is poorly endowed with water bodies. This is attributed to the low underground water table. The only natural water bodies are a few interconnected streams flow into the Black Volta which cuts through the district. The Black Volta River is considered by the district as a potential for aquaculture and irrigation farming.
There are a number of dams and dugouts which provide water for irrigation, domestic chores, construction, and animals on graze. The interconnected water bodies in the district facilitate storm water drainage, thus making the district less floodable, except in few low lying areas. Though the water bodies in the District have a potential for supporting agricultural activities in the dry season, they equally serve as constraints in road constructions and therefore access to communities during the rainy season.
A significant characteristic of most of these rivers and streams is the perennial nature of their flows. Many of these water bodies are reduced to intermittent pools in the dry season while others completely dry up. Many of these streams could be developed to support dry season farming.
Fig 2 showing the map of Drainage of the Nandom District.
Vegetation and Climate
The district falls within the Guinea Savannah vegetation belt. The vegetation consists of grasses with scattered fire resistant trees such as the Shea and Baobab trees. The heterogeneous collections of these trees meet domestic requirements for firewood and charcoal, construction of houses, cattle kraals and fencing of gardens.
Mango and cashew trees are also found in the district in significant numbers. Human activities particularly annual routine bush burning, indiscriminate tree felling for fuel wood, charcoal and other purposes and poor animal husbandry practices have continuously decreased the vegetation cover and increased soil erosion and depletion of soil fertility.
The Shea tree is one great economic assert of the District and head portage has been the most common means of transporting the fruits from the bush to the house. The picking, processing and marketing of the Shea nuts engage thousands of households in the District seasonally. It has therefore contributed in increasing household incomes and reducing poverty among the people in the District. This industry can be developed further to serve as a source of livelihood in the district.
The shorter shrubs and grasses in the vegetation provide fodder for livestock. This has resulted in periodic influx of Fulani herdsmen into the district. Their activities have to be appropriately controlled and managed if the environment is to be sustained and food security assured.
Inappropriate practices such as shifting cultivation, road construction, sand and gravel winning has increased land degradation. Farming and construction along, and in watercourses has also resulted in the silting of water bodies and destruction of vegetation protecting the water bodies in the District.
However, there is a growing awareness of the need to maintain and sustain the environment. A manifestation of this is the planting of tress which is being piloted by the District Assembly. Promoting the development of economic tree plantations such as Mangoes and Cashew has the potential of reviving the vegetation.
Despite this growing awareness on environmental conservation, a lot needs to be done in view of the settlement’s threat to desertification as a result of both human and natural factors.
Overall, the threat to the vegetation of the district calls for effective forest resources management to preserve and protect all forest resources in the District.
Climatically, the District is tropical continental as experienced in the northern regions of Ghana. Throughout the year, temperatures are high with a minimum of 230C at night and a maximum of 420C during the day. This favors plant growth. The mean monthly temperature ranges between 210C and 320C. The highest monthly maximum temperature rises up to 400C before the rainy season usually in May with lowest minimum temperature falling to about 120C in December when the Harmattan winds from the Sahara dry up the vegetation. As a result of the single maximum rainfall season prevailing in the district, crop production is mostly done during the rainy season (May to September/October).
The dry season is a potential for the preservation industry that could use the sunshine as a natural preservative. By implication, however, since farming is the major occupation of the people, it means that their major sources of livelihood and income are limited during the dry season apparently resulting in the migration of the youth to the south in search of greener pastures. There is thus, the need to have adequate irrigation facilities to promote and enhance agricultural activities in the dry season. In addition, it is imperative to identify and provide alternative sources of livelihood to the people to complement their occupations and improve their income generation capacities.
Geology and Soils
With a gently undulating topography, the district is bound with fresh granite. The main soil types in the District are sandstone, gravel, mudstone, alluviam, granite and shale that have weathered into different soil grades. Due to seasonal erosion, soil types emanating from this phenomenon are sand, clay and laterite ochroslols.
These soil types are better suited for the cultivation of cereals and root tuber crops including millet, maize, sorghum and yam. They respond well to the application of organic manure and commercial fertilizers to give high yield. With adequate rains and good farming practices, these soils have the potentials of improving agriculture production.
The availability of these soil types have contributed to housing development which have resorted to the use of local building materials such as sand, gravel and clay.
Environment
The Nandom District has a total of 1515.1 hectares of forest reserves, however, the natural environment of the District has witnessed all kinds of degradation over the years to the extent that the vegetative cover has dwindled and soils have become poor. Widespread bushfires are annual rituals in almost all the communities. Indiscriminate felling of trees for fuel wood (the major source of Energy), inappropriate farming practices, soil erosion, over grazing of livestock, sand, gravel and stone winning are other acts of environmental degradation in the District. Recent efforts by government to institutionalized tree planting in all dry areas of the country and the unique efforts by the District Assembly to complement this policy have come as a relief to help the District fight the increasing pace of desertification. Table 1 below shows the major environmental issues in the district
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Green Economy and Environment.
The environment is constantly changing. However, as the environment changes, so does the need to become increasingly aware of the problems that surround it. With a massive influx of natural disasters, warming and cooling periods, different types of weather patterns have existed. Climate change is a major environmental problem that has surfaced in last couple of decades in the Nandom District. It occurs due to rise in global warming leading to increase in temperature of atmosphere. Climate change has various harmful effects but not limited to melting of polar ice, change in seasons, occurrence of new diseases, frequent occurrence of floods and change in overall weather scenario. The effect of climate change on agriculture which is the mainstay of the people is enormous leading to high reduction of yields across major crops cultivated emanating from poor soil fertility.In disease to this are annual occurrence of diseases such as meningitis that cause the lives of several people in the district.
Forests are natural sinks of carbon dioxide and produce fresh oxygen as well as helps in regulating temperature and rainfall. However the vegetation resources in the district have been under intense pressure for both domestic and commercial use. Domestically over 60% of the populations rely on fuel wood and charcoal as the main source of energy for cooking. Also trees are cut for gardening and shelter. The farming practice of slash and burn as very common in the district where large tracts of vegetative cover is being depleted annually through bush burning.
There is therefore the need to carry out massive sensitization on the need to undertake afforestation programmes and also avoid bush burning. Stringent measures should be taken in collaboration with communities in the protection of the vegetation.
Table 1: Major Environmental Concerns
| No | Nature of concern | Causes | Environmental effects | Poverty interventions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Depletion of wood lots | Bush burning | Climate change | Afforestation programs |
| Tree felling | ||||
| 2 | Poor soil fertility | Bad farming practices. | Climate change | Introduction of new farming techniques. |
| Bush burning | Poor quality of underground water | Sensitisation programs | ||
| Over flooding of river banks | ||||
| 3 | Land degradation | Sand winning | Climate change | Afforestation |
1.2.3. Water security
1.2.3.1. Sources of Drinking and Domestic Uses
Currently, there is one (1) mechanized small town water system in Nandom, the district capital. There are also 452 boreholes in the District out of which 39 are for schools and clinics, 29 are private and used privately, 19 are low yielding and hardly produce water during the dry season and 24 of them are bad wells and cannot produce potable water. Thirty nine (39) of these are also in Nandom Township. The figure bellows shows the different sources of water to households in the district.
Fig 3 showing the sources of water in the Nandom District.
The District based on the available functioning water facilities has a water coverage of 87%.This coverage has been arrived with the standard of one borehole serving a maximum of 300 people in the district.
Though the water coverage looks remarkable, much is still expected since people still scramble for water in most communities especially during the dry season. Several other new settlements have no access to potable water. This emanates from the fact that, the settlement pattern is dispersed whiles other water facilities have become dysfunctional. Drying up of borehole especially during the dry season also accounts for the inadequacy of potable water.
Currently, plans are in place to construct two small town water system at Ko-Zimuopare and Guo-Tuopare and also expand the existing Nandom Town water system. This, together with the proposed drilling of new additional boreholes under the Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project and the District Assembly’s own initiatives, the water coverage in the District will be further improved.
Fig 4 shows the distribution of Boreholes in the Nandom District.
1.2.3.2. Irrigation Facilities
The Nandom District Assembly places a high priority on irrigation facilities to enhance dry season vegetable production.
The Nandom District has dams situated at Kokoligu and Guo. These dams are being used for dry season vegetable production and fishing, as well as a source of water for animals.
Through the Ghana Social Opportunity Programme, the Nandom District currently has 7 Dug outs distributed across the district. These Dug outs has aided in domestic works, dry season farming, animal rearing and construction works.
The use of boreholes as a source of water for dry season gardening has also been introduced to communities such as Goziir, Monyupele, Brutu and Ko. All this is to increase our capacities in the availability of water for dry season farming and for other uses.
There is however the need to increase the number of these facilities since most communities are idle during the dry season.
Sanitation
The Sanitation situation in the district is among the best in the region and it is the best in the Open Defecation Free (ODF) League Table in the region. Out of the 88 communities in the district, 80 have been certified and declared ODF and most households in these communities have their own latrines. Hand washing awareness is also on the rise in the communities and thus there is less faecal matter related diseases in the district.
Fig 5 Map showing the ODF coverage of the Nandom District
Description: F:\Projected Maps\ODF.jpg
There are 728 public KVIP/institutional latrines. Out of a total of 9886 households in the District, only 1408 households do not have household latrines representing 14.24%.This is very remarkable but the District Assembly is not relenting on its efforts to ensure that all households in the district have latrines. This will reduce the few incidence of open defeacation and earn the district, the status of an ODF district. Table 2 below shows the type of toilet facilities in the district.
Table 2: Toilet facility used by household
| Facility | Total | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 9886 | 100 |
| No facilities | 1408 | 14.24 |
| W.C. | 186 | 1.88 |
| Pit latrine | 7222 | 73.05 |
| KVIP | 728 | 7.36 |
| Bucket/Pan | 2 | 0.02 |
| Public toilet (WC, KVIP, Pit latrine etc) | 328 | 3.32 |
| Other | 10 | 0.13 |
Source: GSS-Nandom District (2017)
Maintenance of public toilets in the District which are mostly cited in the district capital is nothing to write home about. The toilets mostly get so filthy that, community members can no more access them resulting in majority of them resorting to open defecation. Mechanisms such as hiring of conservatory labourers to take care of the toilets has become cumbersome as people refuse to take up such jobs because of social ridicule from family members and the general public. The District Assembly at a point in time hired out the facilities to be run by private individuals who will clean the toilets and take care of them. The token that people are to pay drives them away, resulting in the usage of the bush. There is therefore the need to encourage community-led sanitation practices to sensitize people on the need to provide and use household latrines. The construction of household latrines will eliminate the difficulties in managing public latrines and indiscriminate disposal of human excreta in the District.
There is also the need for the district assembly to tackle issues such as the lack of byelaws, the collapse of existing household latrine and the inadequate capacity for effective monitoring in order for the district to trigger and certified the communities that are yet to attain ODF.
1.2.5. Demographic Characteristics
1.2.5.1. Population Size
The 2010 National Population and Housing census results put the District’s population at 46,040 with a growth rate of 1.9% which is below the national growth rate and an average household size of 4.1. By projection, the district currently has a population of about 52,589 which comprises of 25, 466 males and 27, 123 females.
Fig 6 showing the trend of Population Growth
Source: GSS, 2017
The age structure of the district’s population is largely youthful. The age cohort of 15 -64 years constitute 54.7 % of the population which indicate an age dependency of 82% or 1 active person is expected to take care of 0.83 inactive people.
Fig 7 showing the Age Structure of the Nandom District.
Source: GSS, 2017
Though the age dependency looks so remarkably depicting a dependent society, it should be noted that, the categorisation of the working class from the age of 15 is misleading as compared to the reality. Most members of this working class are school going children and as such the actual dependency rate in the district is higher than what is quoted based on the standard formula.
The planning and provision of social facilities and services in the District will also have to take into consideration the age distribution of the population. With a significant child population of 17203, there is the need for more pre-schools and basic schools. More income generating opportunities will have to be created to provide job opportunities for the teeming and high youthful populace.
1.2.5.2. Spatial Distribution of the Population
The distribution of the population into rural and urban is (86%) and (14%) respectively. The population is distributed among eighty eight (88) communities as indicated on the community Map of the district. Only ten localities in the District have population above one thousand (1000). The figure below shows that, out of the total population of 52,589, about 45227 lives within the rural settings of the district. This therefore implies that the district needs to improve its infrastructure development and service delivery in those settings.
Fig 8 showing the distribution of the district’s population
Source: GSS, 2017
2.5.3. Religion, Ethnicity and Culture
With respect to religious composition, Christians dominate with 85.7% of the total population. Muslims constitute 6.6% whiles Traditional African Religion constitutes 5.7%. These religions coexist peaceful and has been utilised as channels and platforms for development sensitisation and awareness creation The Catholic Church is the most dominant Christian denomination in the District. The Church missionaries have contributed enormously to the development of the District in the education and Health sector. The only Hospital in the district is owned by the Catholic Church and the most schools including the Nandom Senior High School and the St. John Vocational School was instituted by the Catholic Church. In addition to this, most of the religious bodies have instituted basic schools in the district.
However, there have been pockets of intra religion conflicts that are being managed. Continuous engagement and collaboration with these religious bodies has the potential of projecting the development of the district.
Figure 9: Religious Groups in Nandom District (2017)
Source: GSS, 2017
1.2.5.4. Ethnic Groupings
The most predominant tribe in the District is the Dagaaba. They are however with dialectical variations. There are other minor tribes such as the Hausa, Mossi and Sissala, .Though there are diverse religions at play in the District; the district experiences an absence of tribal disputes and conflicts. There exists a very peaceful co-existence among all groups. There is therefore social stability for investment consideration.
1.2.5.5. Migration
The District as previously indicated shares boundaries with Burkina Faso. This makes it one of the transit districts for migrants from Burkina Faso and the Sahelian countries. There is therefore a considerable population of people of Burkinabe, Nigerien and Malian backgrounds in the district.
Out-migration among the people is also a common phenomenon. Due to the low soil fertility in the district coupled with the long dry season, some of the people usually migrate to the south of the country for agricultural activities. Some of the youth also migrate to the south, especially Accra, Kumasi, Obuasi and Techiman in search of greener pastures. Another major cause of out-migration is the pursuance of higher education. Many of the natives who pursue education beyond the boundaries of the district end up settling outside the district. The Nandom District therefore has a significant population in the Diaspora
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The promotion of coping strategies to the soil degradation and the promotion of an enabling environment for the creation of small and micro enterprise can be harnessed to reduce out migration and its effect on the development of the district.
Land Use Management
In terms of physical development planning, Nandom District is still being monitored by the Town and Country Planning Department and its collaborating land sector agencies in her parent district, the Lawra District. The absence of designated and well-resourced land sector agencies is severely affecting development control in the district. Poor physical development planning and control in the district has resulted in chaotic physical development leading to incompatible land uses.
Public use areas are encroached upon, land litigation is not uncommon, and houses are constructed in some locations without regard for building regulations. The situation is even dire in the rural communities where development control seems to be completely lacking. Efforts are therefore required to guide physical growth and development in the district for safety, convenience, economy, aesthetics and accessibility.
Settlements in the District are basically the rural type with residents engaged mainly in agriculture. The few urban dwellers in the district are mainly into commerce and services. It is common among the people to leave large expanses of land around their houses for the cultivation of crops. This practices leads to disperse morphologies of most of the settlement in the district, a phenomenon that makes utility service provision difficulty.
Housing
Typical of most northern cultures, a male family-head usually heads each compound in the Nandom district which ranges from 5 to 17 people. Essentially, the head of the family controls the resources of the compound. A compound comprises of smaller units based on the number of closely related adult married men (father, sons and brothers). This pattern of household formation is gradually being washed away by modernization which encourages smaller and nuclear families. Nandom has an average of 4.1 people in a household.
There are four main types of dwelling units in the district. These are separate isolated houses (Self-Contained), semi-detached houses, separate room(s) within a compound usually with shared urinal and toilet facilities commonly called compound houses, and several huts or buildings within a common compound. The huts roofed with thatch are the commonly used residential houses in the rural communities in the District. The self-contained housing is associated with the professional or high income class. Majority of the people in the urban areas however living in compound houses where toilet, bath and kitchen structures are shared with a common court yard.
Table 3 presents the dwelling types in the district.
Table 3: Types of Occupied Dwellings in Nandom District
| Type of dwelling | % | Urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Separate house | 30.4 | 31.0 | 30.2 |
| Semi-detached house | 12.2 | 2.2 | 14.3 |
| Flat/Apartment | 0.4 | 1.0 | 0.3 |
| Compound house (rooms) | 49.5 | 59.7 | 47.4 |
| Huts/Buildings (same compound) | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.7 |
| Huts/Buildings (different compound) | 3.2 | 0.2 | 3.7 |
| Tent | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Improvised home (kiosk/container etc) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Living quarters attached to office/shop | 0.3 | 1.6 | 0.0 |
| Uncompleted building | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| Other | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
Source: GSS-Nandom District (2017)
Urban housing is a real concern in Nandom district. This is exacerbated by the increasing educational role of Nandom and the assumption of district status. Rent is exorbitant, considering the income levels of the people in the District. Room occupancies are high among low income urban households who are gradually being pushed away by the escalating housing market.
In the rural settlements, the vegetation provides many families building materials in the form of thatch and earth, which are considered better protectors of heat, especially for poor households. There is however a gradual improvement in the housing sector even in the rural areas. Most of the traditional house types with earth and thatch roofs are giving way to landcrete and blockhouses with zinc and aluminium roofing sheets. There has also been remarkable improvement in the quality and design of privately owned houses. The use of cement blocks in construction of houses has increased and provision of wide windows has improved ventilation in the houses. This has positive implications on the health of the people since it will minimize the spread of diseases including Tuberculosis and other air-borne diseases.
Governance
Mandate
In pursuance of the Local Government Act (Act 963) of 2016, the Nandom District Assembly is the highest political and administrative authority at the district level that has been charged with the responsibility of formulating and executing plans, programmes and strategies for effective mobilization of resources to ensure the overall development of the district as enshrined in its mission statement.
Composition of the Assembly
The Nandom District Assembly is made up of Thirty-Eight (38) Assembly persons, comprising Twenty-Five (25) elected members, Eleven (11) Government Appointees, the Honourable District Chief Executive and the Member of Parliament, who is an ex-officio member. Out of the Thirty-Eight Member Assembly, only five (5) of them are females and thirty three (33) males.
The meetings of the Assembly are chaired by the Presiding Member who is elected from among the members to serve not more than two (2) terms of two (2) years each.
Immediately below the Assembly is the Executive Committee, made up of 30% of the Assembly members. The Executive Committee is chaired by the District Chief Executive. The Committee operates through its various sub-committee which are co-ordinated by the District Co-ordinating Director. These sub-committees deliberate on relevant issues of the District and submit them as recommendations to the Executive Committee, which then submits it to the whole house for approval. Technically, the Executive Committee acts as the cabinet of the Assembly and therefore takes and approves all major decisions before they are forwarded to the General Assembly for rectification
Beside the Executive Committee of the Assembly is the Public Relations and Complaints Committee chaired by the Hon. Presiding Member. Its main responsibility is to received and address written complaints from the general public which boarder on the conduct both the Assembly staff and Hon. Assembly Members. This committee can also make recommendations on the conduct of such persons for consideration by the House.
The essence of the establishment of the Local Government structure and for that matter the Nandom District Assembly is to ensure the full participation of the people at the grassroots level in decision making processes and implementation of programmes and projects which invariably impacts positively or negatively on their lives. The Assembly members are therefore the link between the people and the Assembly. Therefore, in order that the aspirations of the communities can be realized it is expected that Assembly members would ensure that a positive hearing is accorded them.
However, the Nandom District Assembly has not been without teething problems, among these are
Some Assembly Members do not attend Assembly meetings regularly and on many occasions makes decision taking at meetings difficult.
Another difficulty is that many of the Assembly members do not organize meetings before or after the Ordinary meetings of the Assembly. They are therefore unable to neither present the true concerns of the communities nor explain to their constituents the developmental interventions undertaken by the Assembly or Central Government.
c) Some of the Assembly members who are key to sub-committee meetings stay outside the region.
Traditional Authorities
Alongside the decentralized governance system is a supportive traditional governance system which is in harmony with the District Assembly System thereby promoting development in the local area.
The District has one paramouncy, that is, the Nandom Paramouncy headed by the Nandom Naa. He is supported by Seventeen Divisional Chiefs and several Sub-Division Chiefs. A remarkable feature of the traditional governance system in Nandom is that there are no chieftaincy conflicts like in other parts of the country.
The two governance systems seek the development of their area and as such they are able to complement each other as a team towards achieving the common goal of development. This may be traced to the absence of power dynamics and competition for control of resources between the two systems. Interactions between District Assembly and traditional authorities in the District go beyond the ceremonial role of chiefs during major functions. More often than not, Land disputes and occasional conflicts are settled by the Assembly and the Traditional Council.
Town and Area Councils
Administratively, the Nandom District is made up of 0ne (1) Town Council and Three (3) Area Councils.
Staff of the Town Area Councils is composed of the Convenor, Administrative Secretary, the Treasurer, Typist and a Cleaner.
The Assembly has procured motor bikes for them to assist them in their activities particularly in revenue mobilization. This notwithstanding, the Town and Area Councils still have some challenges such as;
Absenteeism and non-commitment to duty on the part of Town and Area Council staff. This attitude of the staff could be blamed on the non-availability of any meaningful form of remuneration. Area Council staffs are supposed to be paid from the 30 percent of revenue they generate locally which is so insignificant because of the virtual absence of economic activities in these communities.
The Hon. Assembly members who form part of the Town/Area Councils membership have not exerted the desired influence to ensure that the Town/Area Councils work effectively.
Many of the staff engaged in fraudulent practices and there is also evidence of misappropriation of funds.
Most of the Administrative Secretaries are retired public workers or teachers and so revenue generation is almost impossible.
Efforts are however being put in place to build the capacity of these staff and appropriate sanctions are also being developed to ensure discipline at work.
District Decentralized Departments
In addition to the District Assembly, there are also departments of district assembly which are involved in the administration and execution of development functions. However, the district does not have a full complement of all these departments, as show in the Table below. This insufficiency sometimes creates responsibility gaps in the administration of development of the district. Coordination of development data for planning and budgeting has been a challenge due to this gap. Efforts are therefore in place to establish the non-existent departments of the district assembly.
Table 4: Decentralised Institutions in Nandom District
| No | Department | Constituent | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Central Administration | Chief Executive | Available |
| Coordinating Directorate | Available | ||
| Finance | Available | ||
| Planning | Available | ||
| Works | Available | ||
| Budget | Available | ||
| Information Service Dept. | Available | ||
| Environmental Health | Not Available | ||
| Audit | Available | ||
| Procurement | Not Available | ||
| Statistical Service | Not Available | ||
| 2 | Education, Youth and Sports | Education | Available |
| Ghana Library Board. | Not Available | ||
| 3 | Social Welfare and Community Development | Social Welfare | Available |
| Community Development | Not Available | ||
| 4 | Births and Deaths Registry | Not Available | |
| 5 | Physical Planning | Department of Town planning | Available |
| Department of Parks and Gardens | Not Available | ||
| 6 | Works | Public Works Department | Not Available |
| Department of Feeder Roads | Not Available | ||
| 7 | Trade and industry | Trade | Not Available |
| Cottage Industry | Not Available | ||
| Rural Enterprises Project | Available | ||
| 8 | Natural resource conservation | Forestry | Not Available |
| Games and Wildlife | Not Available | ||
| 9 | Health | Health Directorate | Available |
| Health Insurance Authority | Not Available | ||
| 10 | MOFA/DADU | Not Available | |
| 11 | Disaster Prevention | Fire Service Department | Available |
| NADMO | Available |
Development Partners
In addition to the efforts of Government to push forward the development of the district, are active development partners operating in the District. Though minimal in their numbers, these development partners complement and bridge the gap in Government’s development efforts. Their fields of operation range from water and sanitation, education, health, agriculture, Gender inclusiveness, Peace and Land Disputes among others. The District Assembly recognizing this key role played by these partners has put in place measures to create an enabling environment for these partners to operate.
Below is a table of development partners and their fields of operation:-
Table 5: Development Partners
| No | Organisation | Area of Operation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | PRONET | WATER AND SANITATION |
| 2 | NANDOM AGRIC PROJECT | AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES |
| 3 | CARE | GENDER, WATER AND SANITATION |
| 4 | CIKOD | ENVIRONMENT |
| 5 | SNV | WATER AND SANITATION |
| 6 | PLAN | EDUCATION |
| 7 | UNICEF | SANITATION |
| 8 | JICA | HEALTH |
| 9 | GIZ | AGRICULTURE AND DECENTRALISATION |
| 10 | SAVE GHANA | HEALTH |
| 11 | PRUDA | WOMEN, LIVELIHOODS AND SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY |
| 12 | CDD | SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY |
| 13 | ACTION AID | WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE |
| 14 | CARE | AGRICULTURE GOVERNANCE |
| 15 | WANEP | CONFLICT AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION |
| 16 | SEND GHANA | PLANNING AND BUDGETING |
| 17 |
Economic Governance
In order to ensure that resources are managed effectively and cost is reduced, the assembly has instituted some measures to be able to achieve this. Among these measures are;
- Expenditure of the District is matched with the flow of revenue.
- Only expenditure provided for in the estimated budget is incurred.
- Attempt is made not to exceed any expenditure item in the estimates
- Movement of vehicles is controlled in order to reduce running cost.
- It is ensured that stationery is not wasted. This help to cut down stationery cost.
- Claims presented by staff are scrutinized to ensure that they are genuine before payment is effected.
- All store items are taken in charge by the Storekeeper and kept in the store. Tally cards are prepared for each item indicating the quantity procured.
- Any Officer requesting a store item will make a registration to the District coordinating Director for approval.
- On the payments of contractors, when certificates are submitted by the consultants, the District Assembly’s monitoring team will inspect the project to ensure that the work is of good quality. The team will issue their report before payment is effected.
- The District Chief Executive authorizes all payments.
- In the case of other departments: their expenditure authorization is issued by the controller and accountant.
Like any other District in the country, the Nandom District Assembly obtains its revenue/income from two main sources; the Internally Generated Revenue and Grants. The Internally Generated Revenue includes Rates, Fee and Fines, Investment etc whilst the Grants are however made up of funds from Central Government, donor Agencies and NGOs.
The main Funds from Central Government are: District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), and District Development Facility, departmental allocations and Personal Emoluments of all government employees in the district.
The erratic and incomplete inflows of funds from central government are the main challenges with the revenue pattern of the district coupled with low IGF potentials in the district. It is not uncommon for the district to receive less than half of her allocation from central government within a given year.
1.2.9. Economy of the District
1.2.9.1. Background
The private sector is the largest employer in the district accounting for 94.6 percent. Out of this the private informal constitutes 93.2 percent while the private formal make up 1.4 percent. The proportions of employed females working in the private informal sector are 94.6 percent while that of males are 91.9 percent. This makes the private informal sector the dominant employer of the workforce and employing more women.
This increase in the employment of more women than men in the informal sector is because such jobs do not require high level of formal education. The public sector, consisting of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, employed 4.9 percent of the total employed population. Here, there are more males compared to females. The proportion of males and females employed in the public sector are 6.2 percent and 3.6 percent respectively.
However, those who are employed by NGOs make a relatively small proportion (0.4%) indicating the small number of NGOs in the district with no International Organization in the district. This may retard development in the district taking the contributions of NGOs and International Organizations to socio-economic development.
1.2.9.2. Agriculture
This Section first of all presents a map depicting the relevant agricultural facilities in the District. It further describes the key characteristics of agriculture in the District, identifies key challenges to agriculture and outlines opportunities for agricultural development focusing on potentials within the District and enabling policies and programs prevailing at the time of developing this plan.
Fig 10: Map of All Relevant Agriculture Facilities in The District.
1.2.9.2.1. General overview
Agriculture is the major activity that engages about 85% of Nandom District’s 46,040 populations. Out of the 7,417 total households in the District, 85.3 percent are agricultural households while 14.7 percent are non-agricultural households. Agricultural production is centred mainly on crops and livestock production largely at a smallholder (2-3 acre holdings) subsistence level with low outputs (Average 0.2-0.3mt/acre for maize). A higher proportion of households (98.0%) is engaged in crop farming, followed by livestock rearing (55.7%); with significantly low proportions engaged in tree planting (0.3%) and fish farming (0.1%). The crops mainly grown by the farmers are rice, sorghum, millet, maize, soybean, cowpea, groundnut, bambara groundnut, yam and sweet potato. Over the last five to ten years, however, local investors e.g. Fallu Farms, are establishing large banana plantations under irrigation using water from the Black Volta River.
With the availability of water (dams, dug-outs and perennial streams and rivers, dry season farming; mainly vegetable production; tomato, pepper, onions, and leafy vegetables can be observed within the district.
Livestock production mostly under semi-intensive management system involves the rearing of large (cattle) and small ruminants (heap and goats), pigs, local poultry and guinea fowls.
The District’s agricultural sector barely grows at 2.1% p. a. compared to 3.7% as national average growth rate for 2012-2015 periods against a target of 6%
. 1.2.9.2.2. Seasonality of Agricultural Practices
The district lies in the guinea savanna zone and has one main rainy season for agricultural production thus from May to September. The rest of the year is dry and can only be used for dry season gardening. However the low development of the irrigable agriculture has limited productivity in the dry seasons where farmers become dormant and have no major farming activities to undertake.
1.2.9.2.3. Land Tenure
The majority of the farmers, 97% depend on family land for agricultural purposes. This has led to fragmentation of the land under cultivation, thus limiting large-scale agricultural activities. Average farm size is as low as 2-3 acres per farmer compared with the national average of 10-15 acres. The small farm sizes that characterize the district’s agricultural practices have negatively affected crop production, food security and consequently income that characterise the district’s economy.
1.2.9.2.4. Methods of Farming
About 75% of farmers rely on traditional methods of farming using simple tools such as cutlass and hoe and are highly dependent on rainfall for crop production. Only about 25% of the farmers rely on intermediate technology using tractor services, animal drawn implements and irrigation. These methods of farming do not only lead to the depletion of the soils, but also, result in low yield which is responsible for the low income and hence low standard of living, as well as food insecurity in the district. Promoting the use of improved methods of farming and the adoption of improved crop varieties should not be over looked in any attempt to improving agricultural productivity the district.
1.2.9.2.5. Farming Systems
The main farming system in the district is mixed (crop farming and livestock rearing) farming based on bush fallowing and compound farming. Majority (97%) of the farmers practice mixed cropping, 25% practiced mono cropping and 30% plant with fertilizer and improved seeds. Due to limited availability of arable land, bush fallowing is practiced on a small scale as a method of replenishing soil fertility. Livestock production in the district is under the semi-intensive management system. In the dry season, both small and large ruminants as well as pigs are on free range often with little attention to ensure housing them overnight. In the rainy season however, due to crop farming, cattle are herded while small ruminants are tethered with poor overnight housing facilities provided. Poultry production is equally under semi-intensive management system throughout the year with few numbers kept for subsistence.
With the increasing demand for land for farming, the large tracts of land required for such a practice cannot be obtained in the foreseeable future. This implies that the need to promote agro-forestry, crop rotation, the use of manure and other appropriate systems of farming for quick replenishment of soil fertility is essential. The use of mucuna, green maturing and zero tillage could also be introduced to farmers to improve and sustain soil fertility.
1.2.9.2.6. Crop Production
The major food crops grown in the district are millet, sorghum (guinea corn), maize, cowpea, and yam mostly under subsistent level. Cash crops cultivated include groundnuts, cotton, cowpea, soybeans, cassava, and pepper. The cultivation of cash crops has not received much attention as a result of market uncertainties.
However in recent times, a few local investors continue to establish and expand banana plantations under irrigation along the Black Volta River. At the same time, these local investors serve as nucleus farmers supporting a number of out-growers to produce some crops (e.g. maize and soybean) on large scale. They in turn retrieve produce from the out-growers to serve their established markets. Economic traditional trees like the shea, dawadawa, and baobab, which constitute a major source of income for women, are still wild and prone to destruction by annual bushfires.
There have been inconsistencies in trends of the agricultural production and output for the major crops in the district principally due to availability and affordability of agricultural inputs like fertilizers inputs. It has been indicated elsewhere that farming is sedentary with high incidence of land degradation; thus the use of organic and inorganic fertilizers is relied on to increase agricultural production.
Generally, the cultivated land acreages as well as productivity levels have not seen significant improvement. While average farm size per household ranges between 2-3 acres, average productivity of cereals, e.g. maize barely exceeds 0.3mt/acre (3bags/acre). Lower figures are recorded for legumes. Over 90% of farming is at the subsistence level in the district. Consequently nearly every household experiences one or two months of hunger gap in a year. During this period families resort to sale of livestock, harvesting of fuel wood for sale and gathering of wild fruits as coping strategies.
1.2.9.2.7. Livestock production
In Nandom District, animals including poultry (chicken and guinea fowl), small ruminants (goats and sheep), pigs, and large ruminants (cattle) are important investments for rural households as well as a potential source of food. The average household in the District practices mixed farming; crop farming alongside livestock rearing both under subsistent level of operations.
The livestock serves as an alternative household income source as well as insurance against crop failure. They also go to meet other social commitments, e.g. payment for dowry or bride price, and for traditional sacrifices and festive occasions. Livestock species kept include ruminants (large – cattle; and small (goat, rabbit, sheep), local poultry (chicken, doves, ducks, guinea fowls, ostrich, turkey) and pigs. Average livestock sizes kept are 4 animals of the ruminants, 11for the poultry and 8 for pigs. All livestock and poultry are reared under semi-intensive management system characterised by makeshift housing with little or no supplementary feeding. Ruminants are either tethered or open-shepherded during the rainy season, while released for free range during the dry season. Poor animal management practices and the inadequate veterinary and extension services constrain the productivity of animal rearing.
Fig 11: Animal Population Fig 12: Vaccinated Animals
1.2.9.2.6. Fish farming
Fish farming is not a common activity among agricultural households in the Nandom District. According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census report, only 0.1 percent of the agricultural households engage in fish farming – largely capture fisheries. Fish farming is not developed in Nandom District despite the fact that some communities in the district lie directly on the shores of the Black Volta and other water bodies. This resource needs to be harnessed to diversify the agricultural activity in the district.
1.2.9.2.6. Fish farming
Fish farming is not a common activity among agricultural households in the Nandom District. According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census report, only 0.1 percent of the agricultural households engage in fish farming – largely capture fisheries. Fish farming is not developed in Nandom District despite the fact that some communities in the district lie directly on the shores of the Black Volta and other water bodies. This resource needs to be harnessed to diversify the agricultural activity in the district.
Challenges to Agriculture in the District
Land availability, degradation and tenure:
Land Availability
With a total land area of about 404.6km and a population density 120.2/km, Nandom District is described as the most densely populated District in the region. Farming practices in the district are predominantly sedentary due to limited availability of arable land; thus bush fallow system as a means of natural replenishment of soil fertility is very limited. Consequently, there has been increased fragmentation of family land over the years to accommodate growing population.
Land degradation
The sedentary nature of farming practices compounded by soil mining (harvesting of crop residue for domestic fuel and livestock feeding), indiscriminate felling of trees and shrubs for fuel wood, charcoal and other purposes contribute to low soil fertility for crop production. The increasing land degradation is further compounded by the annual bush burning with poor or uncontrolled animal husbandry practices that continuously decrease vegetation cover. When the early torrential rains come, soil erosion is increased thereby further depleting soil fertility.
Indiscriminate soil and gravel winning as carried out by road contractors and infrastructure developers also strip the soil of vegetative cover and top soil. This leaves the soil barren with loss of fertility thereby reducing agriculturally productive land area and resulting in increased pressure on farm lands and possible reduction in fallow periods for effective land management.
Land degradation is also worsened by inappropriate farming methods as observed in the district characterized by continuous cropping that does not incorporate appropriate crop rotation systems and does not allow build up of soil nutrients, over-use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste all of which disrupt the soil ecosystem. There is also inappropriate use of machinery contributing to land degradation. Most soils in the district are indeed very shallow and fragile; unfortunately the urge to use tractors for land preparation overlooks this fact with farmers scrambling for tractor services for land preparation for planting at the beginning of the rainy season. To a very large extent, total land surface in the district is affected by human-induced processes of soil degradation.
Land tenure
Land tenure has been identified as one of the major constraints to agricultural production in Ghana due to its implications for large scale farming. The main methods of land acquisition prevailing in Nandom district are freehold and leasehold. The majority of the farmers, 97% depend on family land for agricultural purposes. This has led to the fragmentation of the land under cultivation, thus limiting large-scale agricultural activities. The indiscriminate lease and or sale of land for infrastructural development by traditional leaders and family heads also contribute to limited land available for agriculture. The small farm sizes (2-3 acres/household) have negatively affected crop production, food security and consequently income that characterise the district’s economy.
The effects of limited land availability, tenure challenges and land degradation to agriculture is manifested in low crop productivity (e.g. 0.2-0.3mt/acre for maize), limited access to land (2-3 acres/household) for crop production and out-migration of natives to neighbouring districts like Lambussie-Karni District, and to southern sectors of the country either for farming purposes or in search for “non-existent” jobs.
Labour
Inadequate human capacity
Ghana Statistical Service report on the 2010 Population and Housing Census indicates that Nandom District’s population generally has a youthful structure, consisting of greater proportion of children and an apex of a small number of aged persons. The youthful population has variations within the various age groups: with more males than females in the age groups from 0 to 19 years and more females than males for the age groups 20-59 years; the most productive age bracket. This probably may be due to more males moving to the southern sector for farming activities than females.
This indicates that agriculture in the district remains in hands of more ageing household and family heads than the productive youth. The aged or aging household heads have the tendency to maintain outdated farming skills with low capacities to adopt and utilize new agricultural technologies. There is also evidence of the youth demonstrating little interest in agriculture with the urge to migrate to the southern parts of the country for unavailable jobs.
Gender dimension
Women are the backbone of communities and families; however their roles in agricultural production have largely been downplayed. In developing countries, research suggests that up to 80% of labour in the agricultural sector is provided by women. Nevertheless women in Nandom District face a number of challenges to increasing their food security and resilience. Women tend to have smaller farms; compared to their male counterparts; and experience great difficulties in accessing other production resources. Women’s agriculture and other economic activities are constrained by limited access to resources, appropriate extension services, labour and credit among others. Women are further constrained by socio-cultural norms and gendered divisions of labour that determine what crops and animals are suitable for women and greater workloads that restrict their mobility.
At the household level, it is common to observe gender inequality in agricultural practices and decision-making. There is male dominance at all levels of agricultural activities, from title to land holdings through to decisions on farming and allocation of household productive resources. Land is generally owned by the male head of the family and women are mostly just passive participants in production activities. Male chauvinism at the household level is common place in Nandom District; even where there is a female-headed household (e.g. due to loss of spouse), the closest male relative is considered as more important for consultation and decision-making in all aspects including agricultural activities. Indeed it is he to whom title rights of the family lands are bequeathed. Notwithstanding the foregoing, distinct pattern of gender division of labour for farming purposes at the household level has men taking up most of the initial clearing of fields, turning of the soil whilst women do most of the planting, weeding, harvesting and transportation of the produce from fields to homesteads.
The youth and under-used labour
It is also common to observe idle individuals within the productive age bracket (15-59) during the six-month long dry season of November to April. At best available water in dams and dug-outs allows engagement in dry season vegetable production, while a few engage in poultry rearing.
In another vein, agriculture as it has been practiced in the district is largely at the subsistence level; thus economic returns from it do not incentivize the youth enough to get them committed to agriculture.
Secondly, agricultural production is predominantly at the primary level and therefore with lower returns. There is that yawning gap for value addition to primary agricultural products to attract much higher returns thereby enticing the youth to get engaged in farming.
Under the circumstance there is out-migration of the youth to southern Ghana in search of non-existing jobs; with few returning at the onset of the rains (to engage in full-time farming) while the rest idle away in search of jobs or farm-labour opportunities.
Agricultural infrastructure
Irrigation facilities
Except a few dams and dug outs that are perennial in nature and the Black Volta River which serves as the western border of the district with Burkina Faso, the district is poorly endowed with water bodies (reservoirs and dugouts) to support irrigation farming, domestic use, and animal watering and capture fisheries. Until the last five (5) to ten (10) years when a few investors like Fallu Farms established banana plantations under irrigation (using motorised pumps) along the Black Volta, irrigation infrastructure in the district is poorly developed. At the few perennial dams and dug-outs including those at Guo,Kokoligu, Tuopare, Zimuopare, Brutu and Ko, dry season farmers contend themselves with surface irrigation using watering cans to convey water to the fields. Water conveyance systems at these sites are poorly developed.
As a result of a well- developed fracture pattern in the rocks, the potential for obtaining ground water in the District is very high. If tapped, all year farming can be possible. Unfortunately this has never been tapped; with most farming practices yet limited to only the rainy season.
Rural roads & network
Road network or infrastructure in the district leaves much to be desired. There is poor access to productive lands and communities on the one hand and poor access to markets with farm produce on the other. Marketing of farm produce is one of the major problems facing farmers in the district. Farmers in most rural areas are compelled to sell their produce at farm-gate prices because of the lack of access to market centres and /or inaccessible farm tracks. The construction and rehabilitation of feeder roads in the district should therefore be given a paramount concern in order to expose the farming communities to market incentives.
Storage structures and warehouses
One major problem facing the farmers in the district is that of storage. Currently the post-harvest losses of farm produce stand at 30%. For this reason, farmers are forced to dispose of all that they produce in return for low prices especially during periods of bumper harvest. The traditional method of grain storage ; use of mud-silos, remains dominant. In recent times, most households have resorted to using jute sacs for storage with accompanying high losses.
There is absence of public-sponsored agricultural warehouses as observed in other districts for communal storage. For example, Ghana Grains Council (GGC) a private sector-led initiative leads in the grain business with the aim of intervening in the grains value chain to achieve improvement in productivity, quality and greater commercialisation of the industry is conspicuously missing in Nandom District. Consequently there is high post-harvest loss with farmers disposing of larger portions of produce in return for low prices especially during periods of bumper harvest.
Agricultural markets
Farmers in the District are hindered by a weak market orientation, lack of information about market opportunities, and poor access to support services including affordable credit. Physical access to markets is a significant constraint. However, informal cross border agricultural trade is vibrant in communities (especially Hamile market) near the Nandom-Burkina border. Smallholder farmers often lack the bargaining power to negotiate fair prices for their products. A cursory visit to larger markets in the District reveals poor infrastructure to hold produce prior to marketing; and during marketing, non-uniformity of standards of measure (e.g. no scale) for the sale of farm produce especially grain. Traders use what they describe as “bowl” the size of which is dictated by the buyer not the seller. The resultant effect of this is high losses and farmers not adequately compensated for their effort.
In a similar vein, livestock marketing leaves much to be desired; no holding pens, no standard of measure or weight. The buyer uses his eye to value the bird or goat and offers a price often resulting in bargaining, in which the farmer may or may not get the true value for his “good”.
Agricultural machinery and accessories
The onset of the rains reveals the inadequate agricultural machinery for land preparation as farmers scramble for the few tractors within the district. The use of mechanized services for land preparation especially tractors is on the ascendancy in replacement of the hoe and cutlass and even animal traction which was introduced in the 1970s. The agricultural soils in the district are most appropriate for animal traction but for reasons unknown; probably quick land preparation, most farmers rely on tractors for land preparation.
With this increase in demand for mechanized services, the absence of well-equipped Agricultural Mechanisation Service Centres (AMSECs) in the district is too glaring to be overlooked. Beyond the few available tractors all other machinery and accessories; harvesters or reapers for rice, soybean etc to reduce farm drudgery are non-existent in the district.
The operations of the few tractors for land preparation leave much to be desired. The technical competence of the operators will require improvement to reduce damage caused to the soils. Ploughing does not often take into consideration the slope of the land or the depth of the soil; thus often accelerating erosion or producing the subsoil which often is of low fertility.
Farm credit and inputs
Majority of the farmers do not have access to improved farm inputs. They depend heavily on traditional inputs like cutlass, hoes and others. Many farmers continue to use low crop yielding varieties and livestock and poultry of low genetic potential. Only 15% of the farmers have access to credit and improved inputs like fertilizers and tractor services. But for annual government subsidy programs on fertilizer, cost of agricultural inputs and veterinary drugs, equipment and support services are not accessible and affordable to farmers.
In view of this, farmers have been encouraged to form groups some of whom are currently receiving assistance from MOFA through Planting for Food and Jobs program and other NGOs. There is however the need to encourage the formation of more of such groups through which credit could be channelled for use by the farmers
Agricultural Service Institutions
Agricultural Service Units such as the Agriculture Extension Service and the Veterinary Services Units play a major role in improving agricultural production. To ensure their effective operation, the district has been delineated into 22 operational areas. However, access to extension services is unsatisfactory with 10 extension officers taking care of the 22 operational areas covering the whole district. Farm visits are irregular and for those who have access, the average number of visits is thrice a week. This indicates that the district has a serious problem as far as the number of extension officers is concerned. Agriculture at the district level heavily relies on irregular Government of Ghana and development partners’ source of funding, with the latter though irregular but being the most reliable source.
The problem is further aggravated by the inadequacy of logistics for the extension officers to perform efficiently. A survey of the Extension Service Unit reveals that like many other departments in the District, MOFA relies on structures of NANDRIDEP for office accommodation; with no clinic for veterinary service operations. The unit faces a number of problems that have inhibited its ability to reach farmers effectively.
Climate Change and its effect
The earth is getting warmer and this alters patterns of air circulation around the globe. This, in turn, may lead to changes in rainfall and other aspects of the earth’s climate which have implications for agriculture and ecosystems. Smallholder farmers in Nandom District who depend on rain-fed agriculture are at the forefront of vulnerability due to climate change. Within the district, signs of climate change include rapid loss of vegetative cover, low agricultural productivity, seasonal hunger, malnutrition and poverty.
Increased variability in rainfall combined with depleted soil fertility and weak local economic systems have left farmers in an often unsustainable cycle of reduced production. As described earlier, the climate of the district is the key factor influencing agriculture and farming in the district. The variability of rainfall with respect to its onset and intra-season distribution make household planning for the farming season very difficult. The ever changing climatic conditions do result in unexpected floods, droughts and high incidence of crop and animal pests and diseases. At the time of developing this plan, the district had just experienced the devastating effect of Fall Armyworm (FAW) on crops. Farmers in the district are among those at risk from climate change as they rely on mostly land and lack the economic resources to cope with erratic weather events and extended droughts.
The negative effects of climate change appear to outstrip mitigation measures. As the impacts of climate change increasingly threaten household food security, initiatives aiming to scale out the adoption of climate-adapted agricultural practices should begin in earnest in the district. The need for designing and implementing climate smart agricultural practices is urgent if the district has to ensure household food security and resilience with the agricultural sector still propelling the economic growth and development of the district.
Food Security
Food insecurity is one of the major challenges facing the district. Even though majority of the people are into food production, due to low productivity and low income levels, many households live without sufficient food, especially during the lean season. During harvest many of the farmers sell their subsistent produce to supplement family income leaving them with less for family upkeep. It is therefore not uncommon in the lean season to see farming households buying food stuff imported from either Burkina Faso, Techiman or neighbouring districts.
As coping mechanisms, some households skip particular meals of the day, particularly lunch. Others reduce the quantity of food consumed, while some other households provide meals for only children in the afternoon. This situation has the tendency of high malnutrition, especially among children.
A very effective way of reversing this situation is to engage the farmer throughout the year by embarking on a massive dry season farming and intensive livestock, poultry and aquaculture. These will increase annual output levels, increase household incomes and ensure secured access to food in the district.
Small and Micro Scale Enterprises Sector
Agriculture is the chief activity in the Nandom District and as such the private sector of the economy would assert itself with the existence of an industry that is closely linked to the agricultural potentials of the District. The growth of these industries is therefore intimately linked to the development of the agricultural sector of the District. As a result, more often than not, a lot of these industries in the private economy of the District are agro-based and small in size. The size of these industries can only be explained by the lack of enough human and financial capital in the District to increase the production. Common industries in the district include flour milling, pito brewing, commercial food preparation, Shea-butter extraction, groundnut oil extraction, soap and detergent making, beads making, baking and confection, rice processing, tailoring, welding, carpentry, carving, charcoal burning, xylophone making, basket weaving, block laying, pottery, sand wining, and stone quarrying. The rest are weaving, dying and blacksmithing.
These small scaled industries serve as outlets of raw materials from the agricultural sector. In addition to this, it absorb some of the surplus labour in the District, help farm-based households to spread risks, offer more remunerative activities to supplement or replace agricultural income, offer income potential during the agricultural off-season and also provide a means to cope or survive when farming fails.
Due to this significant role played by this sector, the Nandom District boasts of some institutions that offer support and training to ensure effective output from this sector. The Nandom Vocational Institute and the St. Ann’s Vocational institute are skills training institutions in the District. These institutions have over the years supplied the man power base of the District and the region. To add to this, the Nandom Town area has an industrial village which provides quality services to the people of the town and District.
With support from the District Assembly and other development partners, the Business Advisory Centre has facilitated the training and transfer of skills in this sector. These conclude agro processing, financial management and other tailored made skills. These trainings have contributed in improving the activities and the income levels of the sector.
Markets
The District has three main markets located in Kuturu (Baseble), Ko and Nandom the District Capital. Two of the markets (Baseble and Ko)) are in poor conditions. Efforts are therefore required to upgrade their infrastructure.
The existence of only few markets in the district results in the low generation of revenue to traders and to the District Assembly.
Apart from the few markets, commercial activities in the district are mainly located along major arterial roads in small towns. Other commercial activities take place in corner shops and in homes. Commerce in the district largely involves the sale of provisions, fuel, electricals, electronics, clothing, construction materials, vehicle parts, agrochemicals, cosmetics, medicals, utensils, food ingredients and stationary.
Financial Services
The financial sector has been boosted by the establishment of the GN bank at Nandom. Currently, the financial institutions now stand at two (2) namely; Nandom Rural Bank and GN Bank in Nandom.
These are also several groups within the communities who have adopted the Village Savings and Loans Schemes that support them in most of their economic activities.
The presence of these financial facilities provides the opportunity to credible business men and farmers to enhance their saving culture and have access to credit to expand productivity.
However, access to credit has still been difficult especially due to lack of collateral by many entrepreneurs. The banks mostly engage in legal battles to retrieve credit facilities extended to the public. This inadequacy in trust in the private sector is greatly affecting its competitiveness.
Tourism
The most significant tourism potential in the Nandom District is the Kakube Festival .The rich cultural heritage of the people exhibited during this festival has the potential to bring in a lot of foreigners and investors. This can however be achieved if the festival is highly projected and celebrated with support from all stakeholders.
The proposed restoration of the Slave Centre located at Gengenkpe and Zimuopare has been selected for construction in the subsequent plan. This when completed will also boost both local and international tourism investments into the District.
The Assembly in collaboration with the church is also looking forward to maintaining the Church Stone which can also attract both local and foreign tourist into the District. The Church which prides itself as the largest stone building in West Africa and among the three Minor Basilicas in West Africa has the potential of attracting tourists including spiritual pilgrims.
Effort is also needed to upgrade and bring to standard the hospitality industry in the District to support the growth of tourism. Currently, the private led hospitality industry is doing remarkably well. Notably among the existing ones are; Yeletule Guest House and Restaurant, Emmanuel Guest House, Mama Mia Hotel, NVS Restaurant and the Forestry Bar and Restaurant. In boasting this, the District Assembly has plans to construct a Guest house and a canteen to add up and expand the Hospitality industry.
All in all, the growth of the tourism industry in the district will to a great extent, influence the revenue prospective of the district and open up the district to foreign investors which in furtherance, will unwrap many other sectors of the district economy.
Road
Over three quarters of the road length of feeder roads in the Districts have now been reshaped or worked upon.
The District has two (2) major trunk roads, namely; Lawra-Nandom-Hamile road, Nandom-Ko and Lambussie-Nandom road. Lawra-Nandom-Hamile road continues to receive attention, than the Nandom-Ko and Lambussie-Nandom road which makes it become increasingly unmotorable due to the many pot holes and heavy corrugations on the road.
The District in recent times has seen a remarkably improvement in the development of the Road sector. The Lawra- Nandom-Hamile Road has seen a remarkably improvement and work is currently in progress. The Road is currently tarred up to the Nandom Senior High School. 20km of the districts road has been tarred. There have been a lot of works in creating access roads to most communities and suburbs of the Nandom Township. This has boasted economic activities in the township as a lot of commercial stores and buildings are being erected along these access roads.
It is therefore hoped that the speedy investment on the road linking the District and beyond in the area of tarring could go a long way to increase the potentials of the District. The Map below gives a vivid situation of the roads in the district.
Energy
Energy supply in the district is a real concern in the district. The district has 72% coverage for its connectivity to the National Grid. Majority of households (41%) still use kerosene as their source of energy for lighting whiles firewood and charcoal still serve as the main sources of energy for cook, a situation that continues to deplete the vegetation. There is therefore the need to extend electricity to un-served communities and ensure access to LPG in the district.Table 6 below shows the different sources of Energy for lighting in the district.
Table 6: Source of energy for lighting
| Source | Total | % | Urban | Rural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 8,551 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Electricity (mains) | 2,309 | 27.0 | 75.9 | 17.1 |
| Electricity (private generator) | 43 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Kerosene lamp | 3,540 | 41.4 | 19.7 | 45.9 |
| Gas lamp | 26 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Solar energy | 80 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.8 |
| Candle | 9 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Flashlight/Torch | 2,309 | 27.0 | 2.7 | 31.9 |
| Firewood | 205 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 2.8 |
| Crop residue | 51 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Other | 9 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
Source: GSS-Nandom (2017)
Postal Services
The District currently has one (1) post office building which is very inactive. More often than not, most people travel to the adjourning district to have postal services. There is therefore the need to revamp its services and put in place the requisite staff and logistics to make it vibrant to serve the people. It is the expectation of the District that such postal agencies could be established in the KO, Puffien and Baseble areas in order to improve upon the postal services in the District.
Telecommunication
There has been a massive improvement on the telecommunication front. Almost all villages and communities have access to one or either mobile network. The District currently has the following telecommunication facilities.; Vodafone, MTN, Tigo and Airtel.
The mobile usage has been widely accepted by the citizens of the District. It has equally created a lot of employment for the youth, especially in the area retailing of recharge units, transfer of units and Money Transfers.
Coverage of mobile phone services is limited to some areas of the District and signals from major mobile services providers like Vodafone, MTN and Tigo can be obtained in different parts of the District, but not total coverage.
The communications network in Nandom District is generally improving. Radio FREED and Radio Von are currently operating as the two radio stations in the district and has very wide coverage beyond the District. This makes information dissemination in the District very effective and helps in easy education and response from the grassroots in participatory development agendas.
However, the effectiveness of these networks is greatly reduced due to very frequent and constant breakdown of the air waves.
1.2.10. Social Services
1.2.10.1. Education
1.2.10.2. Number of Schools; Public/Private.
The Nandom district has a total of One Hundred and Twenty Six public and private schools spanning from Kindergarten to Tertiary. Table 7 below shows the number of schools and the appropriate categorization in the District. The current number of schools specifically at the basic level indicates an improvement when compared to the total number at the beginning of the previous DMTDP in 2013 when the total number of schools in the District was 107. The map below shows the distribution of these schools.
Table 7: Number of schools
| LEVEL | NUMBER OF SCHOOLS | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Public | Private | |
| KG | 46 | 44 | 2 |
| PRIMARY | 43 | 40 | 3 |
| JSH | 30 | 29 | 1 |
| SHS | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| TVET | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| MIDWIFEREY TRAIN. COLLEGE | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 126 | 118 | 8 |
Source: Nandom DEO, 2016-17 School Census Data
1.2.10.3. Enrolment in Schools
Enrolment of school going age children to school is very high in the District. Tables 1.1 and Chart 1.0 give information on the enrolment in schools in the district. Whilst Table 1.1 gives a holistic picture of children enrolled in all basic and second cycle schools across the District, the data presented on Fig 18 is limited to only children in schools within the public sector.
Table 8: Enrolment in all schools
| LEVEL | ENROLMENT | |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten Schools | Total | 3,991 |
| Public schools | 3860 | |
| Private schools | 131 | |
| Primary Schools | Total | 8478 |
| Public schools | 8190 | |
| Private schools | 288 | |
| Junior High Schools | Total | 3503 |
| Public Schools | 3,385 | |
| Private Schools | 71 | |
| Senior High Schools | Public schools | 1,967 |
| TVET | Total | 897 |
| Public schools | 528 | |
| Private schools | 369 | |
| GRAND TOTAL | 18,836 | |
Source: Nandom DEO, 2016-17 School Census Data
From the two data sets, the public sector caters for 95.40% of children in school whilst the rest attend private schools. Government interventions such as capitation grant and school feeding programme to public schools accounts for the high number of children being enrolled in public schools. This means the government and other stakeholders must invest more to improve and expand the capacity of the public schools to cater for the many children. The data also suggests that there is a lot of room for private sector to be involved in setting up schools since there are some school-going age children who are not in school.
1.2.10.4. Staffing in Schools
Table 9: Staffing in public schools.
| LEVEL | TOTAL TRS | TRAINED | UNTRAINED | PTTR | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | F | T | M | F | T | M | F | T | *PTTR (Pupil Trained Teacher Ratio) | ||
| KG | 2 | 25 | 27 | 2 | 18 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 193 | |
| PRIMARY | 124 | 105 | 229 | 94 | 84 | 178 | 30 | 21 | 51 | 46 | |
| JHS | 132 | 37 | 169 | 114 | 31 | 145 | 18 | 6 | 24 | 23 | |
| SHS | 81 | 10 | 91 | 71 | 9 | 80 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 25 | |
| TVET | 47 | 6 | 53 | 42 | 3 | 45 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 13 | |
| TOTAL | 386 | 183 | 569 | 323 | 145 | 468 | 63 | 38 | 101 | 38 |
Source: Nandom DEO, 2016-17 School Census Data
From the table, more teachers are needed at the lower levels compared to the higher levels. With a Pupil Trained Teacher Ratio of 193 at the kindergarten, trained teachers at this level are heavily burdened with a lot of children. A figure of 193 children per teacher is far above the national norm of 25 children to each teacher at the kindergarten level. More efforts should therefore be made to sponsor teachers who are interested in pursuing Early Childhood courses at the Colleges of Education or the Universities. A similar situation is observed at the primary level though the situation there is better. Efforts should be made by the Nandom District Assembly to put in measures such as incentive packages, staff accommodation just to mention a few to motivate the current staff to stay in the District and also attract more to the District.
1.2.10.5. Textbooks in Basic Schools
Textbooks are very important teaching and learning materials for use by pupils and teachers. Table 10 shows the number of textbooks per subject and the number needed for each subject across the levels.
Table 10: Textbooks in Basic Schools
| SUBJECT | KINDERGARTEN | PRIMARY | JHS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AVAIL. | NEEDED | AVAIL. | NEEDED | AVAIL. | NEEDED | |
| Kindergarten Schools | 1327 | 2058 | ||||
| CREATIVE ACTIVITIES /ART | 37 | 3413 | 4184 | 4006 | 3385 | |
| ENGLISH LANGUAGE | 3202 | 4988 | 1346 | 2039 | ||
| ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES/ CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION | 60 | 3390 | 945 | 7245 | 3385 | |
| FRENCH | 876 | 2509 | ||||
| GHANAIAN LANGUAGE | 4765 | 3425 | 1709 | 1676 | ||
| INFO. COMMUNICATION TECH. | 5097 | 3093 | 1223 | 2162 | ||
| LANGUAGE AND LITERACY | 75 | 3375 | ||||
| MATHEMATICS/NUMERACY | 122 | 3328 | 3607 | 4583 | 1366 | 2019 |
| MUSIC AND DANCE | 2 | 3448 | 183 | 8007 | ||
| NATURAL/INTEGRATED SCIENCE | 3778 | 4412 | 1409 | 1976 | ||
| PHYSICAL EDUCATION/DEV’T | 0 | 3450 | 0 | 8190 | 235 | 3150 |
| RELIGIOUS AND MORAL EDU. | 422 | 7768 | 334 | 3051 | ||
| SOCIAL STUDIES | 811 | 2574 | ||||
Source: Nandom DEO, 2016-17 School Census Data
From table 1.3, the textbooks are inadequate for a lot of subjects a lot efforts need to be put in place to fill the gaps in the supply of textbooks to schools. At the foundation stage (Kindergarten), available textbooks on all six subject areas cannot cover up to 10.0% of the enrolment at the Kindergarten level.
1.2.10.6. Other Logistics at the Basic Level
Significant improvement is observed in the way of available logistics from 2013 till date. There has been increase in the number of classrooms and furniture supplied to school children. Nonetheless there is still the need for more. Table 1.4 gives details of available logistics and the number needed.
Table 11: Infrastructure and Other Logistics – BASIC LEVEL
| SUBJECT | KINDERGARTEN | PRIMARY | JNR. HIGH SCH. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AREA | AVAIL. | NEEDED | AVAIL. | NEEDED | AVAIL. | NEEDED |
| TEACHERS’ BUNGALOW | 0 | 40 | 14 | 100 | 1 | 60 |
| CLASSROOMS | 50 | 38 | 249 | 30 | 92 | 21 |
| TEACHERS TABLES/CHAIRS | 42 | 53 | 179 | 69 | 156 | 20 |
| CUPBOARDS | 16 | 77 | 53 | 30 | 165 | 59 |
| STUDENTS FURNITURE | 1,623 | 2000 | 7,004 | 1200 | 2,923 | 470 |
| TOILETS (seats) | 24 | 100 | 174 | 160 | 63 | 80 |
| URINALS | 19 | 25 | 56 | 30 | 22 | 15 |
| BOREHOLE | 24 | 21 | 24 | 20 | 13 | 16 |
| LIBRARY | 0 | 45 | 1 | 40 | 1 | 28 |
| ICT LABORATORY | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 27 |
Source: Nandom DEO, 2016-17 School Census Data
From table 1.4, it is observed that at least 38 more classrooms are needed for the kindergarten level. At the primary level, 5 no. 6-unit blocks are needed to make up for the gap and the Junior High School level 7 no. 3-unit classroom blocks. The provision of more classrooms will create a sound environment for teaching and learning which will impact positively on the performance of students in their exams. Teachers’ bungalows, boreholes and toilets/ urinals are also areas of concern. Library facilities are inadequate in the District. Currently, there is no District library, only two schools in the District have schools libraries. A third library which is open to the public is owned and operated by the Catholic Mission in Nandom.
1.2.10.7. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Being a largely rural and one of the deprived districts in Ghana, ICT infrastructure is limited in Nandom District. The district can boast of two ICT centres at Danko and Baseble. The ICT centre at Danko is furnished and operational; offering ICT training, internet and secretarial services to the general public. Apart from the second cycle Schools (Ko SHS Nandom SHS and St. John’s Voc. /Tech. Inst.), only two Basic Schools have computer laboratories where children can learn ICT since it is an integral part of the Basic School curriculum now. There are no commercial internet cafes, a lot of people therefore make use of modem provided by telecommunication networks (MTN, Vodafone, Airtel and Tigo), mobile phones and internet devices to access information and transact business on the internet.
However, with the existence of telecommunication networks, many people access the internet using their phones. The major challenge still has to do with the application of ICT in manufacturing and service provision. Efforts are therefore required to deepen ICT knowledge in the district, especially in hardware, and software development and its application.
1.2.10.8. Status of some indicators
The following charts; 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 contain data on the current status of some indicators in the sector in two thematic areas i.e. access and quality. Chart 1.1 gives information on the status of access to education in Nandom District at the basic and senior high school level. Three main indicators are captured here; Gross Enrolment Rates (GER), Net Enrolment Rates (NER) and Gender Parity Index (GPI).
Source: Nandom DEO, 2016-17 School Census Data
From Fig 19, GER at the KG, Primary and JHS are well above 100% which is good sign that majority of the children of school going age are enrolled in school. There is still room for improvement because some children are still out of school. Efforts should be made to either expand capacities of existing schools to take in more children or open new schools in the hinterlands and rural communities to absorb the out of school children. At the Senior High School level however, GER stands at 60.0%, enrolment at the SHS is not directly controlled at the district level since students are placed in the schools from a centralized point nationwide. A possible intervention activity should focus on encouraging more JHS candidates to select the schools within the District. On the part of the NER which focuses on enrollment of children at the appropriate age for each level, the District is lagging behind. For instance at the KG level, out of the number of pupils enrolled, only 87.6% of them are between the ages of 4-5 years which is the appropriate age for the level. The ratio of females to males enrolled in our schools is good. The GPI at the basic level indicates an average of 1.0 for the basic level. At the SHS level however, the parity is very low; below 0.5.
Fig 20: Completion Rates
Source: Nandom DEO, 2016-17 School Census Data
Completion rates are calculated based on the number enrolled at the beginning of a level and the number enrolled at the time of exiting the level. At the basic level, Completion rate at primary six stands at 91.10% meaning on the average, 91.0% of the pupils admitted into primary one successfully go through and reach primary six. Transition rate from primary 6 to JHS 1 calculates the percentage of pupils who successfully enrolled into JHS after completing primary 6. In the District the indicator currently stands at 92.5% meaning that about 7.5% of the children that reach primary 6 fail to enroll into the JHS level thus a dropout rate of 7.5% is observed between primary and JHS. At the JHS level, completion rate stands at 93.5%, the other 6.5% that are not able to reach JHS 3 are either repeaters or have dropped out of school. Interventions such as incentive packages (uniforms, books etc) can be used to sustain enrollment at the various levels.
Fig 21: Pass Rates (June, 2016- BECE, May, 2016 WASSCE)
Source: Nandom DEO
The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for JHS and the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for the SHS are the standard ways of measuring the performance of the students at each level. The current (June 2016) BECE pass rate for the District is 21.1% whilst the WASSCE pass rate is 64.68%. The BECE pass rate is far below the national pass rate of 51.49%. Many factors can account for low performance at the BECE whilst others may explain that nationwide performance have not been good over the years, one can point to the inadequacy of teaching and learning materials in schools and the poor preparation of candidates towards the examination.
The Supervision and Examinations unit of the Directorate need to put more effort at ensuring teachers are well monitored to ensure that candidates are well prepared and ‘coached’ before the final examinations.
The directorate with the support of the District Assembly and other stakeholders put in measures such as providing all necessary learning materials, organising SPAMs, Mock examinations and extra classes for candidates. These will go a long way to improving the situation.
1.2.10.9. Issues at the District Education Directorate
Current situation of key areas, challenges and suggested solution
Office Accommodation
The Education Directorate does not have a permanent office accommodation. The directorate is operating from a borrowed 3-room Old Home Science block premises belonging to St. Maria Goretti JHS. The building was rehabilitated by the Nandom District Assembly. The three-room space is not adequate even for the small number of management staff. Officers are compelled to squeeze and use tables and chairs in a paired form. There is little privacy in dealing with sensitive issues. Officers such as Guidance and Counselling coordinator, Frontline Directors, Girl-Child Education Officer etc who are compelled to hold discussions with clients under trees.
To improve the situation the directorate would wish to appeal to the government and other stakeholders, to come to the aid of the Directorate by providing a permanent facility to augment the situation.
Storage Facility/Office Store
This is another area that needs immediate attention by stakeholders. There is no appropriate structure in place for the directorate to store educational materials for distribution to schools. As a temporary measure, a classroom has been converted at the same school (St. Maria Goretti JHS) for use as a store. The classroom is not designed for storage of items, so windows and doors are not protected by burglar proof and therefore the safety of materials stored in there cannot be guaranteed.
The Directorate would suggest that as temporary measure, metal containers could be provided for use as storage facilities in anticipation for a permanent store is constructed or attached to the office building as discussed in the previous section.
Staff Residential Accommodation
Accommodation for management staff is non-existent and therefore officers have to commute from far distances to the office. This sometimes accounts for lateness and absenteeism. A large number of officers who are not natives are spending huge sums of money to rent accommodation in town which brings economic hardships to the worker.
To solve the problem of accommodation for GES workers in the district, the directorate suggests that quarters and bungalows be built for allocation to the various officers and teachers to improve education delivery in the District. The District Director is housed in a temporal sub-standard quarters, a permanent and more appropriate place should be provided as a duty post accommodation for the District Director.
Furniture
At the district office, the directorate is badly in need of cabinets to store files and other important documents. Due to the non-availability of cabinets officers resort to keeping files on their desks which is not well secured or storing them in paper boxes. This situation is affecting the ability of officers to store and retrieve documents in good time.
Cabinets for the directorate are highly needed. Also, officers at the directorate will need tables because a lot of management staff are compelled to pair tables and have to take turns to use them, this is affecting the speed at which work is done. .
Staffing Situation
The Directorate is seriously in need of staff to augment the existing number. Currently there are 38 management staff made up of 22 teaching and 16 non-teaching. With this number an extra 33 officers are required to meet the minimum number of officers for an education directorate to function at optimum. Currently the few officers available work on other schedules apart from their primary assigned roles or duties. The situation could even worsen with a number of officers due for retirement within the next two years.
Recruitment is needed for some non-teaching staff. Presently the District is in dire need of an Auditor more labourers, watchmen and cleaners. The directorate will also work with the regional directorate and other stakeholders to get more personnel to perform the tasks.
Management issues
Day-to-day running of the office
With the folding up of the GPEG, the directorate has no direct source of funds to carry out its planned programmes and activities. It therefore makes the work of management very difficult. Utility bills (Electricity), Stationery and other office supplies, fuel for office vehicles, and funds to support officers attend capacity building workshops are some of the many things left undone due to unavailability of funds to run the Directorate. Some management staff require capacity building in their work schedules to enable them deliver effectively. The secretarial and administrative staff in particular requires urgent training to make them more in their job area.
The Directorate would continue to appeal to stakeholders to come to support the office whether in kind or cash to carry out its mandate.
Supervision of teaching and learning
This is one of the critical areas that lead to the fulfilment of the mandate of the District Education Directorate if regularly and properly carried out. However the supervision unit is saddled with numerous challenges since the Directorate started operating. Paramount among these challenges is inadequate means of transportation for officers of the unit and other officers who need to supervise or monitor one activity or another. An old Mitsubishi pickup inherited from the mother district and five motorbikes provided by GPEG are the only vehicles available for use. Circuit supervisors and other officers are using their salaries to fuel motorbikes in order to monitor educational delivery programmes in the district. Though the Nandom District Assembly and other stakeholders have supported the directorate with fuel, this is inadequate. The Mitsubishi pick is in need of overhauling as it constantly breaks down.
The Directorate, will continue to appeal to stakeholders to support the supervision unit and the whole Directorate with fuel. Officers are even willing to use their private means of transport to carry out the work. A new or strong pickup is needed to replace the old vehicle. This will enhance the work of the Directorate. The only strong pickup procured with funds from GPEG is used by the Director for administration and official journeys.
1.2.11. Health
1.2.11.1. Health Infrastructure
The District Health Administration serves at the highest implementing agency and the headship of the Ghana Health Services in the District. The District is zoned into 5 Sub-Districts which offers comprehensive Public Health Services.
All of the 5 sub-Districts are being served by 4 Health Centres and one polyclinic. The St. Theresa’s hospital is a CHAG institution which serves as the District hospital. With the inauguration of the CHPs concept to enhance access to health care services, the District has thirteen (13) CHPS compounds in operation.
There are 110 TBAs, 73 community based surveillance volunteers and 166 CBAs. There are also 8 chemical sellers in the District predominantly located at the urban points and a private maternity home located in Nandom. Health service is made accessible to the population through 19 static health facilities and 65 outreach points.
1.2.11.2. Health Staff Situation
It is an undisputable fact that human resource is the single most valuable resource in the health sector which also accounts for the greatest engagement of health sector funds. The health human resource situation in the district has seen a much improvement over the years with the posting of critical staff notably an Orthopedic Specialist, Medical Officers and Midwives. There has also been an improvement in the posting of the lower cadre of staff especially Community Health Nurses and Enrolled Nurses. This notwithstanding, there is the critical need for Staff Nurses and Physician Assistants who play a very critical role in bridging the gap between the higher cadre and lower cadre of staff. The expansion of CHPS in the district has led to a fairly equitable distribution of the lower cadre of staff within the district thereby ensuring that everybody in the district is given access to basic health care services.
The DA, in collaboration with health sector management has put in efforts to attract and retain health professionals including the offer of sponsorship. Lobbying is an alternative that is currently being explored with relevant stakeholders. One other factor is the suitable environment such as staff accommodation, availability of essential logistics and a good working environment.
The table below gives an indication of the current staff of staffing within the district health sector;
Table 12: Staff Norm for Nandom Hospital/DHA/Health Centres/CHPS (2017)
| CATEGORY | Nandom Hospital | Ko Polyclinic | Sub District | DHA | District Total 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DDHS | - | - | - | 1 | 1 |
| Specialist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Medical Officers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Optometrist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Physician Assistants | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| DDNS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Pharmacist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dispensing Tech | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dispensing Assist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Radiologist | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Health Service Administrator | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Public Health Nurse | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Midwives | 15 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 22 |
| Professional Nurses | 28 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 32 |
| Enrolled Nurses | 35 | 9 | 32 | 0 | 76 |
| Community Health Nurses | 3 | 0 | 35 | 2 | 40 |
| Technical Officers (Nut) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Nutrition Officer | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Technical Officers (DC) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Technical Officers (Lab) | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Biostatistics Officers / HI | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Field Technicians | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| Accountants | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Other Accounts Officers | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Executive Officers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Blood Organizer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Physiotherapy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| All Other Staff | 77 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 97 |
| Total | 195 | 33 | 85 | 13 | 326 |
Source: 2017 District Health Performance Report
1.2.11.3. Antenatal Care Services
First trimester registration for all facilities within the District increased for 2017 with a decrease in the second and third trimesters compared to the previous years. It can be noted that even though these gains will go a long way to improve their conditions considering their nutritional and maternal complication, there are still concerns in the numbers that are still been identified in the third trimester
As indicated in the graph above, 74% of the preganant mothers were registered in their 1st trimester which is an achievment as compared to 57% in 2016. However,the coverage is not encouraging becaues a good number of the mothers may not be able to complete their IPT schedules before delivery.
Anaemia among pregnant mothers at registration has been reduced by 3.4% as compared to the previuos year for the District but Baseble Nandom and Puffien sub districts saw slight increase when compared to last year. This could further be reduced if intensive nutrition counselling is
1.2.11.4. Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI)
The goal of immunization is to protect the individual and the public from vaccine preventable diseases. This goal was set by the UN General Assembly’s Special Session on children in May 2002. It is supported by a large number of international partners and donors through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) is also aimed at protecting children from childhood killer diseases. Strategies used in reaching the target group involved, outreach services and home visits (routine immunization). Children aged 0 – 11 months and pregnant women were vaccinated with the routine vaccines (BCG, Pentavalent Vaccine, OPV, Measles Rubella, Yellow Fever, Rota, pneumonia and Tetanus Diphtheria). The various tables below gives the coverage of the various vaccinations in the district.
1.2.11.4. Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI)
The goal of immunization is to protect the individual and the public from vaccine preventable diseases. This goal was set by the UN General Assembly’s Special Session on children in May 2002. It is supported by a large number of international partners and donors through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) is also aimed at protecting children from childhood killer diseases. Strategies used in reaching the target group involved, outreach services and home visits (routine immunization). Children aged 0 – 11 months and pregnant women were vaccinated with the routine vaccines (BCG, Pentavalent Vaccine, OPV, Measles Rubella, Yellow Fever, Rota, pneumonia and Tetanus Diphtheria). The various tables below gives the coverage of the various vaccinations in the district.
1.2.11.5. Disease Burden of Nandom District
The disease burden of the District is summarily displayed in the table below. The table encapsulates Out- Patient attendance for a three year period. It is worth of note that the table captures institutional attendance. All other medications and ailments not reported to health facilities in the district are not captured.
Total out-patient morbidity increased from 61,117 in 2015 to 71,468 in 2016 representing percentage increase of about 16.9. Malaria cases which remained the lead in the top ten OPD diagnosis decreased by 22.8% in 2016.This means that most of the preventive measures put in place to curb malaria are yielding the expected results.
Skin diseases, Acute Eye Infection, Upper Respiratory Tract Infections and Diarrhoea have maintained their positions over the period, hence, continue to be regular conditions among the top 10 causes of OPD attendances.
1.2.11.5.Other Diseases of Public Health Importance
The focus of this sub-section is to examine the HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis situation in the District. The choice is compelled by the public health importance attached to these ailments. They have very debilitating effects on the populace.
Table 13: District HIV/AIDS Situation
| Indicator | 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Total | |
| No. given pretest counseling | 382 | 456 | 838 |
| No. tested | 382 | 455 | 837 |
| No. rec +ve results | 30 | 34 | 64 |
| No. Rec. Post-test Counselling | 356 | 396 | 752 |
2016 District Health Performance Report
The HIV/AIDS situation in the district cannot be definitive based on the figures indicated in the table although it gives an idea of the cases in the district. The information above is derived from pregnant women, sick people and blood donors. It therefore implies that the total number of positive cases could be more than what is recorded if there was a general testing for all the people in the district. Efforts are continuously being put in place to provide the needed health education and support to prevent the occurrence of new cases as well as provision of the needed medical care for those who test positive.
1.2.11.6.Nutrition
Growth Monitoring and Promotion
Growth monitoring and promotion is one of the nutrition interventions aimed at improving child health. This intervention is carried out monthly in all the communities within the district to assess the growth of children 0-59 months. During this growth monitoring and promotion sessions health education on infant and young child feeding practices are provided to caretakers including screening for children who have severe acute malnutrition in order to be put into the CMAM (community management of acute malnutrition) program.
Below is a table showing the growth monitoring sessions conducted within the various sub districts for children 0-23 months for 2017.
Table 14: Number of Children 0-23 months Weighed at Child Welfare Clinics
| Sub-district | 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Actual | % | |
| Baseble | 346 | 216 | 62.4 |
| Gengenkpe | 286 | 174 | 61 |
| Ko | 1145 | 486 | 42 |
| Nandom | 1635 | 318 | 19 |
| Puffien | 857 | 335 | 39.1 |
| District | 4270 | 1529 | 35 |
Table 19: Number of Children 24-59 months weighed at Child Welfare Clinics
| Sub-district | 2017 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Actual | % Cov. | |
| Baseble | 484 | 125 | 26 |
| Gengenkpe | 400 | 184 | 46 |
| Ko | 1601 | 250 | 16 |
| Nandom | 2287 | 259 | 11 |
| Puffien | 1199 | 228 | 19 |
| District | 5971 | 1046 | 18 |
1.2.11.7.Vitamin A Supplementation
In order to reduce the effects of Vitamin A deficiency in children all over the country, there is a national policy which ensures that all children 6-59 months are given vitamin A doses twice a year while children 0-5 months are protected through the post-partum vitamin A which is given to mothers soon after delivery. This strategy has been proven effective and is also implemented in the district.
All sub districts showed increased in the coverage of vitamin A supplementation except KO and Nandom sub districts that saw a decline from 67% in 2016 to 62% in 2017 and 55% in 2016 to 50% in 2017 respectively. There was an improvement in the coverage of the routine vitamin A supplementation for children 6-11 months in the district from 61% in 2015 to 63% in 2016 and 2017. Baseball was the only sub-district to have shown a decline in the number of children dosed for 2016 but improved significantly to 103.4% in 2017.
The district again recorded an improvement in the number of children dosed with Vitamin A within this age group with all sub-districts recording improvements in their coverages in 2017. The increase in coverage is due to the vitamin A supplementation done for kindergarten children in the district from September to October 2017. In all, a total of 1025 children were dosed covering 26 KGs in the district. Efforts will therefore be made to reach these children every 6 months in their schools to dose and if possible weigh them.
1.2.11.8.Food/ Nutrient supplementation
Food rations from the World Food Programme are normally given for 6 months in a year to 180 clients living with HIV/AIDS and their family members during the lean season of the year. In 2016 food rations for a total of 4 months made up of beans, vegetable oil and salt was distributed within June. The food rations received was not up to the full basket since maize and corn soy blend were not part of the rations. For 2017 the table indicates 0 for all food items because the program ended in 2016 so no consignment was received for the year under review. Below is a table indicating the types of food and their quantities provided within 2017
Table 15: Food Commodities Distributed to PLHIV
| SN. | Food Item | 2017 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | White Maize | 0 |
| 2 | Maize Meal | 0 |
| 3 | White Beans | 0 |
| 4 | CSB | 0 |
| 5 | Salt | 0 |
| 6 | Vegetable Oil | 0 |
1.2.11.9.Key Health Sector Problems
- Inadequate motorbikes and vehicles for service delivery
- Accommodation for both office and staff
- Basic office furniture and equipment
- Late reimbursement of NHIS claims leads to challenges in the smooth running of the health system in the district
- Lack of funds from the central government to support programs
- Inadequate numbers of some key staff notably Physician Assistants and Staff Nurses
- High number of stillbirths
- Increasing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases
-
1.2.12. The Vulnerable and Excluded
Vulnerability in the district is informed by various factors. People in the district are vulnerable because of poverty, sex, disability and age.
There is a significant size of vulnerable population in the district. Their protection is therefore a core responsibility of the Assembly. They include the poorest of poor, persons with disabilities, women and children.
1.2.12.1. Persons with Disabilities
The District has a significant number of persons with Disabilities, below is a table showing the numbers of various disability types in the district.
Table 16: Disability Types in the District
| Disability Type | Number |
|---|---|
| Sight | 400 |
| Hearing | 257 |
| Speech | 46 |
| Physical | 586 |
| Intellect | 184 |
| Multiple | 175 |
| Others | 113 |
Source: Department Of Social Welfare, Nandom
From the above table, it is evident that, the blind forms a greater part of PWDs in the District; this can be attributed to the fact that, there is prevalence of tsetse flies along the Kamba River, a tributary of the Black Volta, which causes onchocerciasis.
The district is making efforts to build a Resource Centre for persons with disabilities. The district also has supported a number of persons with disabilities in the area of education. Persons with disabilities have also been enrolled on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Programme (LEAP) and other complimentary services implemented by the Department of Social Welfare.
Despite the above interventions, the disabled is still constraint, most of them do not have any visible source of income and as such, the poverty level among them is severe.
1.2.12.2. Women
Women form about 52.4% of the District’s population. However, most women in the District are marginalized and disadvantaged. The constraints in facilitating the inclusion of women into mainstream development are due to factors that impede on their fundamental human rights. Factors such as domestic violence act as a bane to women’s development in the District. According to the department of Social Welfare, between 2014and 2017, seventy-five (75) cases of abuse against women were recorded by the outfit. Most of these cases were domestic violence related. They include non-maintenance of children, paternity-neglect and physical violence.
There are a number of efforts being made to empower women in the district. Some of these include support for the construction of widows centre in Kokoligu, sensitization programmes on domestic violence, support to women groups and financing the activities of the Gender Desk Office.
1.2.12.3. Children
Children constitute 37% of the district’s population. They are considered the most vulnerable group in the district. Several factors account for this. Children’s nutritional status is a reflection of their overall health. Child malnutrition in the District is close to15%. This is for children under age 5. Nearly one out of every five children in the District is stunted or too short for their age and 4% are considered severely stunted. This makes children vulnerable in terms of health, survival and development. (Source; GHS – Nandom, 2017)
There are over 2,550 orphans and vulnerable children. This phenomenon exposes children to increased risk of being neglected or exploited if the parents are not alive to assist them.
One other factor that makes children in the District vulnerable is child migration. Child migration is high in the District. Most of these children aged 9 to 16 years often travel to the South of the country, especially during school holidays. They are therefore exposed to child labour, sexual exploitation and at times trafficked.
Nonetheless, efforts are being made to help promote and protect children. Some of which include community sensitization on child rights protection and promotion, formation of Anti-child Trafficking/migration Network. There also exist District Child Protections Teams which monitor issues concerning children in the District.
1.2.13. Gender Profiling/Analysis
The setting of the district depicts a clear distinction between men and women in their day to day activities. Relations between men and women are devoid of mutuality. There is a display of a clear superiority in the relationship between man and women.
1.2.13.1.Existing Relations between Men and Women in the Various Sectors
Women in the District are relegated to subordinate positions in terms of decision making, education, leadership roles, resource ownership and control. Below is a spelt out of this relation in the various sectors.
Culturally
Culturally, ownership of Capital Assets are owned by men. Women are supposed to enjoy in the utilisation of those assets but cannot owe them. Female children do not share in the inheritance of their parents. Ownership of land is the reserve of men. A woman’s access to land directly depends on the willingness of a male relation to lease it to her for use.
Culturally, leadership is supposed to be exercise by men and women are supposed to be followers. Chiefs and their subjects are mostly men with a representative from the women group.
However, with Gender Sensitization Programmes in the region, there is now a Queen Mother in the Chieftaincy system. This notwithstanding, the queen mother only exercises her powers over only women.
Politically and Administratively
In the area of politics, very few women in the district are involved in the local government. Currently, statistics shows that out of the 38 Assembly members, 32 are men and only 6 are women. Out of these six (6) women, four (4) are appointed by the government and only two (2) elected.
None of these women chair any of the statutory sub-committee in the District Assembly. The District Assembly however has a sub-committee for women and children. This is the assembly own initiative to ensure women and children issues are properly managed. However, it can be boasted that, the Presiding Member of the General Assembly is a woman.
With respect to administrative positions, there are very few women occupying low ranking positions as cleaners, receptionist, typist and a few occupying senior staff positions in the District Assembly.
At the Area/Town Council and Unit Committee Levels, the situation is not different. All the four (4) Administrative secretaries recruited for the four (4) Town/ Area Councils are men.
Relations between men and women in this sector is characterised by these observations;
- Their insignificant number in the assembly making them handicap.
- They do not contribute effectively during assembly meetings for various reasons;
- They are not confident
- Low awareness of certain provisions and facts as well as their rights.
- They are intimidated by their male counterparts.
- Economically
Economically, poverty is very pronounced in the District but women are the most affected. They are the poorest of the poor. This is as a result of their inability to own property that can be used to make economic gains. The labour market in the district is not also favourable for women. More often than not, women are given the less earn jobs and even if they do equal work with men, they earn less due to the cultural setting. Thus there still exist a superior-inferior relation between men and women in the economic setting in the district.
1.2.13.2.Reasons for the Difference in Gender Relations
Socially, leadership is the preserve of men and this has been the norm of the society. This has been accepted by both men and women and that’s the difference is a normal occurrence. Politics is mostly competition for power.
One enters a competition with the possibility of losing or winning. Resources are invested into a competition though its results cannot be predicted. This therefore makes politics a risky venture. Women in nature and in their orientation are not risk takers and as such shy away from politics. Men are known and accepted to be risk takers and as such are mostly in the front lines of politics.
It is a societal accepted norm that women should be in the kitchen and handle domestic issues. Men are accepted to do the white collar jobs and jobs that has higher economic returns. This has therefore created the clear difference in gender in the District.
Culturally, women are to be seen and not heard. They should be servants to their male counterparts. Women do not own land, houses and other large properties which could serve as collateral to support them in their ventures. Men have ownership of these properties and even perceive women as part of their property.
Historically, the concept has been that men are the decision makers and women should be in the background. There are very few educated women in the District due to the negative attitude towards Girls education.
These reasons have all contributed to the clear difference that exists in gender in the district.
1.2.13.3.Effects of this Difference in Gender on Women
Under listed are the effects that has been observed as a result of the clear difference in gender
- High illiteracy among Women
- Few women in leadership positions High poverty among women
- Under representation of women in key decision making bodies such as the assembly and to represent in parliament
- Enormous workload on women
- Violence against women
- Inadequate self-esteem for women (inferiority complex)
- Early marriages
- High HIV/AIDS infection among Women
- High School Drop-out among girls
- Rural-Urban migration of the girl child Streetism
1.2.13.4.Gender Priorities and Concerns
The above mentioned situation has called for the need to prioritise issues affecting women and how best they can be solved to speedily harness their development. Among these programmes which are reflective in the District Assembly Actions Plans are;
- Organising sensitization/business management workshops for women group
- Organising leadership training programmes for women groups/women traditional leaders
- Financial support to women groups
- Sensitisation on Girl-Child Education
- Awareness creation on the need to be Gender Sensitive in all District Wide activities.
In addition to all these, there are social protection programs that are being facilitated by the district to ensure that vulnerable households are supported to have a decent life. It must however be emphasised that these support programs do not cover all the vulnerable group of people in the district. Efforts are therefore needed to expand the coverage of these programs.