In November 2007, the Government of Ghana announced a policy to engage stakeholders in the preparation of a Special Initiative for Sustainable Development in Northern Ghana , with a commitment of seed money of 25 million cedis for the establishment of a Northern Ghana Development Fund. Over 60 participants representing Government, civil society, private sector agencies and leading development partners discussed the framework for sustained development in Northern Ghana and affirmed that a long-term development strategy for Northern Ghana must be based on clearly agreed principles of: · Ownership of the development process by political, civic and leaders in Ghana , and especially those from Nort hern Ghana whose expertise is valuabl e .

· Prevalence of peace and a commitment to building an enduring peace in the three regions of Northern Ghana · Emphasis on an inclusive-growth in incomes and assets, emphasizing the needs of women and children and others who have been marginalized by previous development models. · Decentralization of power, authority and participation in the decision-making processes accompanied by decentralized budgets and district disaggregated budgeting in a manner that addresses needs expressed by communities themselves. · Achievement of a set of defined targets and developmental results, incorporating the needs of the most vulnerable, women and children. The roundtable reflected upon four critical dimensions of a framework for development that is inclusive, strategic and long-term. These were: 1. Immediate post-flood Rehabilitation 2. Growth and Transformation in Nor thern Ghana 3. The Nature and scope of the Northern Ghana Development Fund 4. Policy Actions to accelerate the mobilization of resources and investments in Northern Ghana

Post-flood Rehabilitation As the roundtable was triggered by a need to provide long-term solutions to recent floods that affected development and livelihoods in the three regions, the roundtable commends the leadership provided by government and its development partners, including NGOs and civil society organizations and recommends that the relief program should be transformed into a Rehabilitation Programme to provide clear and measurable results for a precise period of time (2-3 years). Such a programme should have the following elements:

· A clearly-identified set of priorities for rehabilitation of destroyed educational, social, and infrastructural facilities based on a real assessment of the gaps. These should be incorporated into a Comprehensive Rehabilitation Program.

· Dedicated funding from proceeds of earlier fund-raising efforts by UN agencies

· Earmarked funds culled from existing on-going projects, such as those proposed by the World Bank, African Development Bank and IFAD. The se should be aligned with what the GoG and the people themselves have identified as priorities in relation to the effect of the floods.

· An agreed matrix of results for each of the components of the rehabilitation plan

· An identifiable group of development actors – Government, non-governmental and development partners who have agreed to participate and commit funds and human resources

· A mechanism through which the partners in Rehabilitation can be held accountable for the results expected from the Rehabilitation Program.

· Disaster preparedness through the use of Army Corps of Engineers, who might also be deployed to stimulate rapid responses in rehabilitating crucial infrastructure destroyed by the flood. The stakeholders further recommended a medium to long-term prevention and mitigation strategy, including an early-warning system that is decentralized, mainstreaming disaster preparedness into national development planning, and restructuring of the NADMO to make more disaster-ready.

Growth and Transformation

The roundtable further agreed that rehabilitation efforts must be linked with a specific growth strategy that is inclusive, enables people to sustain livelihoods year-round, leads to increased incomes and guarantees the needs and the rights of the vulnerable, especially women, children and persons marginalized due to disability. Specifically, it is recommended that such a strategy must focus on:

· Developing and implementing a Northern sector-wide infrastructure master plan that is oriented towards rapid economic development.

· Modernizing agriculture in a manner that emphasizes the availability of water for year-round production, the transformation of perennial and annual crops in which Northern Ghana has comparative advantages, and emphasizes small ruminants which almost every citizen of northern Ghana owns and rears. · Promoting growth-points, especially around strategic locations w here agro-processing capacity can be linked into the agricultural value-chain. · Providing investment and capacity-building opportunities for small-holders to systematically build their assets through medium to long-term acquisition of capital.

· Establishing a transition food and nutrition security arrangement that will assure the most vulnerable people with needed food and nutrition assistance, while promoting the use of locally-grown food for food and nutrition assistance initiatives.

· Giving priority, possibly a quota for interventions that support economic interventions of women , including capital to enable women to play an active role in the value-chain for selected agricultural and agro-processing commodities.

· Promoting economic diversification through local value-addition in shea-butter processing, tourism, including eco-tourism and related services.

· Inviting the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and other leading private sector associations to become active partners in the mobilization of domestic capital and expertise to support start-up businesses in Northern Ghana .

The Northern Ghana Development Fund Stakeholders in the roundtable commend the Government of Ghana for taking a bold step in establishing a fund dedicated to addressing the development challenge in Northern Ghana , as a special effort to redress historic and contemporary development gaps. The fund should be:

· A statutory fund to finance the closing of the developmental gap between Northern Ghana and the rest of the country. The fund should be catalytic, providing synergy with existing investments in the private sector. Caution should be exercised to avoid spending the funds on public sector expenditures and security operations which have already been earmarked by public sector institutions, MDAs and MMDAs.

· Government’s commitment to the Fund needs to be supported and backed by Parliament through the passage of legislati on making t he Fund a standing and sustainable facility. Such legislation should specify how the fund is to be built-up, annually, how it is managed and accounted for, and where the mandate for accountability resides.

· Ghana’s development partners should be invited to contribute to a build-up of the fund in a manner consistent with the modalities for the Multi-Donor Budget Support (MDBS) framework and using lessons from existing targeted funds to Northern Ghana Districts.

· A representative Council or Board, involving key stakeholders, including civil society with a strong gender balance must be appointed to govern the Fund.

· The Fund should be invested in activities that have a unique character of bridging the developmental gap, not on routine activities for which regular budgets have already been earmarked through Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

· Implementing the fund should consider re-tooling the Regional Economic Planning Units of the three regions or establishing a small secretariat for coordinating the implementation of activities of the fund in a decentralized manner.

Policy Actions to accelerate resource mobilization for investment and accountability The stakeholders recognize that, overall, the investment budget available in Ghana is not large, it is therefore important to present the North as an opportunity to invest in, as a means of reaping a return. In order to increase resource mobilization and investment, the stakeholders recommended that: · MPs, civic and political leaders should support the efforts to leverage additio nal resources from existing public and private sector funds in a manner that reflects the greater needs for accelerated development in the North. · Sub-national bodies should be assisted to mobilize resources and revenues from other sources, empowering Districts with the capacity to collect additional revenues in order to leverage other forms of private capital that can make lasting impact on development · In order to boost private sector investments, government should create incentives, including tax incentives for the private sector to invest in the north · A system of targeting budgets to specific results in specific locations should be specified in policy, such that the developmental targets for poverty reduction in the north are reported against in the Annual Progress Review of Development by the NDPC · A system of accountability for funds must be put in place to ensure that citizens demand for accountability are met by those who manage public resources.

What the North offers Ghana Overall, the stakeholders confirmed the important contribution that the North can make in building a prosperous and united Ghana . The participants urge Leaders and stakeholders in Northern Ghana to create and maintain Peace in order for the prosperity of Northern Ghanaians to contribute towards the process of change and transformation in Ghana . Follow-up Actions Participants in the roundtable urged Government and its development partners to define the follow-up actions to develop a plan based on the agreed framework. The Institute for Policy Alternatives (IPA), Tamale and the Center for Policy Analysis (CEPA), Accra , were nominated to develop an action plan and budget for the preparation of the comprehensive plan. The two principals – Dr. Sulley Gariba of IPA and Dr. Charles Jebuni (CEPA), confirmed their availability to lead the process, and to complete the assignment by the end of March 2008. Participants further agreed that the Comprehensive Plan for Northern Ghana ’s development should be linked to, and be an integral part of the evolving Ten-year Development Plan being prepared by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC). Modalities for this linkage should be worked out with the NDPC.

Message of Appreciation

The participants in the roundtable commend H.E. the President for the leadership in proposing the Special Initiative for Sustainable Development of Northern Ghana and a Northern Ghana Development Fund. We also commend the citizens of Ghana for generously donating to the relief and rehabilitation fund for the North, and raising awareness about the development disparity between North and South that motivated a decisive government response. Development partners who have long supported the developmental needs of Northern Ghana are especially congratulated for their long-term commitment and continuous partnership.

Credit: World Bank Ghana.