Community Partipation in a Decentralization System: the Case of Afadzato South District in the Volta Region of Ghana

Abstract

The decentralization system in Ghana seeks to transfer political, administrative and financial authority from the center to local communities through the establishment of Metropolitan/Municipal/District Assemblies. The system is aimed at giving rural communities and their citizens the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the development of their societies. The Afadzato South District is one of the newly district created in June 2012 and before its creation, most communities within the Afadzato South District suffered some kind of stereotype from the Hohoe South District from which it has been separated as they lack certain basic social amenities such as schools, Health Posts, Toilets, market sheds, recreational grounds as well as good road networks. This has been attributed to the inability of community members to effectively participation in the governance of their own communities; participate in the development of infrastructure as well as sanitation and public health issues. The findings of the study show that the level of community participation in the Afadzato South District is significant to the infrastructural development, public health and sanitation. Also, the study revealed that high level of community participation indicates that the decentralization process is less centralized in the District; hence the higher the level of community participation in infrastructural development, sanitation and public health education, the less centralized the decentralization process.