The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has launched its Ghana Cities Monitor (GCM) maiden report.
The GCM, which was launched by Dr Edem Selormey, Director of Research, CDD-Ghana, is aimed at strengthening evidence-informed decision-making in urban planning and encouraging accountability in the governance of Ghana’s major cities – Accra, Kumasi and Tamale.
It measures service delivery under six major components, namely Environmental Services, Economic Services, Social Services, Economic Infrastructure and Safety, Security and Disaster Management.
The CDD-Ghana with funding support from the Hewlett Foundation embarked on the GCM project to track experiences of citizens residing in some cities in Ghana regarding the ease of living.
The maiden edition of the GCM encompasses 23 cities in Ghana’s three largest metropolises (Accra, Kumasi and Tamale) and 20 municipalities and their contiguous municipalities in the Greater Accra, Ashanti and Northern Regions.
Dr Selormey said the GCM was an easy-to-use tool for evaluating the provision of essential services and infrastructure necessary for economic, social, and environmental well-being as well as the quality of life of Ghana’s city dwellers.
Dr Selormey noted that Ghana’s urban population had tripled in the last three decades, rising from less than six million to approximately 19 million between 1991 and 2021.
She said the 2021 National Population and Housing Census revealed that urbanization had rapidly transformed the landscape of Ghana, with close to 60 per cent of the population now residing in cities; adding that indeed, these numbers were projected to increase with time.
She said the unprecedented urban growth came with the opportunity and responsibility to improve the quality of life for citizens, especially for urban dwellers facing the daily realities of urbanization.
Dr Selormey said even though many opportunities exist to position Ghanaian cities as centres for economic and social transformation, challenges such as unemployment, pollution, poor infrastructure, and local governance challenges remain.
She said most of the available tools for assessing public service delivery, such as the District League Table (DLT) and the District Performance Assessment Tool (DPAT), use a single standard to evaluate local government authorities without distinguishing between urban and rural areas.
She said the Ghana Cites Monitor was conceived as a pioneering endeavour to fill this gap and provide comprehensive, reliable, and timely experiential data on various services and infrastructure affecting the lives of Ghanaians living in cities.
Mr. Daniel Armah-Attoh, Senior Research Manager, CDD-Ghana, said the Project sought to stimulate more significant public engagements on urban governance and quality of life in the cities and to provide timely citizens feedback on the delivery of public goods and services in the cities.
Mr. Gildfred Boateng Asiamah, Research Analyst, CDD-Ghana, said the project scores indicated a disproportionate performance between the cities in the south (Greater Accra Region) and those in the north (Northern region).
“We also see a similar situation when we compare the cities in the middle belt (Ashanti Region) and those in the north (Northern region).”
He said environmental services, economic infrastructure, safety, security and disaster management performed well across all cities.
Mr. Asiamah noted that contrary to this, social services, local governance and social protection and economic services performed poorly across all cities.
He said additionally, social service delivery was a critical challenge in the three metropolitan areas, and more predominant in Kumasi and Accra.
Professor Abdulai-Gafaru of the University of Ghana Business School, who chaired the function, who commended CDD-Ghana for carrying out the Project, noted that the issue of promoting sustainable cities was important because the performance of cities was critical not only for the welfare of urban areas but also for the welfare of wider economies.
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