USAID launches report on districts in the north
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has launched the first-ever Ghana District Profile Series report in Accra.
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This report is part of the agency’s support for evidence-based decision making to bridge the data and information gap at the sub-national level as the country implements the local government decentralisation policy.
The Ghana District Profile Series is a comprehensive report designed to help stakeholders better understand the development and progress being made in the districts where USAID works, as well as the challenges.
The Deputy Director of USAID Ghana Economic Growth Office, Mr Brian Conklin, launched the 486-page report at this year’s Feed the Future Implementing Partners Meeting in Accra.
The report covers all 59 districts in the three northern regions and part of Brong Ahafo bordering the Northern Region.
It details each district’s demographic information, agricultural activities, women’s empowerment, education and nutrition, water, sanitation and health issues.
Annual meeting
The annual meeting brings together USAID projects and partners working in the agricultural and nutrition sectors to report and discuss collective progress on realising the goals of Feed the Future, the US government’s global hunger and food security initiative.
“We always try to look for creative ways to take the information that we have available and present it in a practical form that makes sense to people who use the data,” Mr Conklin said.
“The district profile is just an attempt to really zero in on what is happening in each district, particularly on agriculture,” he added.
He explained that the report would enable USAID and its partners to increase food security, incomes and nutrition more effectively.
“Some districts have high levels of poverty and others have low levels and so this district profile will allow people to know what is really happening within a particular district and begin to ask some questions,” he said.
“There is always a reason some districts are doing better than others. But what we want to achieve with the District Profile Series is to zero in on those factors,” Mr Conklin added.
Feed the Future
Through Feed the Future, USAID works with the government and development partners to improve the competitiveness of the maize, rice and soybean value chains.
Ghana is one of Feed the Future’s priority countries where the initiative focuses on the three northern regions by introducing farmers to new technologies and techniques that boost productivity, strengthening agricultural research, linking farmers and agribusinesses to markets and stimulating private sector investment.
