In a major step toward grassroots empowerment and self-determination, Plan International Ghana, under it’s PROTECT project, (Promoting Resilience, Opportunity, and Equity for Children and Adolescents Through Transformation), has successfully supported the Wa East District Assembly to facilitate 20 rural communities in designing their own Community Development Plans (CDPs).
The intensive exercise, which commenced in February, culminated in a stakeholders’ forum where community leaders formally presented their development blueprints to local authorities and development partners working within the district.
The initiative aims to shift the development paradigm by ensuring that projects implemented in these rural areas are directly aligned with the self-identified, urgent needs of the local people.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony, the Program Coordinator for Plan International Ghana (Tamale Office), Mr. Kamaldeen Iddrisu, emphasized that sustainable development can only be achieved when local communities are active participants in identifying their own challenges and solutions.
“Our goal through the PROTECT project is to transition from top-down development to a truly participatory, bottom-up approach,” Mr. Iddrisu stated. “By facilitating these 20 communities to draft their own development plans, we are handing the keys of progress back to the people. We are incredibly proud of the dedication shown by community members since February, and we urge all development partners to respect and utilize these documents as blueprints for future interventions.”
The initiative received strong backing from the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). Mr. Bannar Samson, an investigator at the CHRAJ office in Wa East, highly commended Plan International Ghana for funding and guiding the process.
He pledged that as part of their mandate, CHRAJ would work closely with the communities to ensure accountability and the proper execution of the plans.
“A community development plan is more than just a list of wants; it is a declaration of the community’s socio-economic rights,” Mr. Samson remarked. “We at CHRAJ applaud Plan International Ghana for this stellar initiative. We are fully committing ourselves to working alongside these communities. We will monitor the implementation process to ensure that whatever has been proposed is executed transparently and to the direct benefit of the grassroots.”
Addressing the developmental gaps highlighted in the plans, particularly regarding education, Mr. Nbenaba Timothy, who represented the Wa East District Director of Education, reminded parents and local leaders that the government cannot do it alone.
“Education is a shared responsibility,” Mr. Timothy urged. “While the state provides the curriculum and teachers, the community must provide the foundational support. We must actively support the Ghana Education Service (GES) by ensuring our children attend school regularly, protecting school infrastructure, and fostering a conducive environment for learning at home. These development plans are a great step toward securing a better future for our children.”
The presentation of the plans also brought urgent community needs to the fore. Highlighting the stark realities on the ground, the Assembly Member for the Buffiama Electoral Area, Hon. Kankpan Moses, revealed that the lack of adequate healthcare infrastructure remains a critical emergency for his electoral area.
“For us in the Buffiama Electoral Area, our absolute priority in this development plan is healthcare,” Hon. Moses lamented. “Our population has far outgrown the capacity of our local Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds. These facilities are completely overwhelmed. We are desperately in need of a fully equipped health center to handle emergencies and maternal healthcare, and we hope our partners will hear our cry.”
Receiving the community development plans on behalf of the District Chief Executive (DCE) and the District Coordinating Director, The district budget analyst Mr. Maurice Angzenaa expressed profound gratitude to Plan International Ghana for easing the assembly’s planning burden.
Mr. Angzenaa assured the communities and partners that the plans would not sit on shelves gathering dust, but would be actively integrated into the district’s official planning frameworks.
“We thank Plan International Ghana for this tremendous effort to support our communities in realizing their own development pathways,” Mr. Maurice Angzenaa stated.
“The Wa East District Assembly is fully committed to these plans. To demonstrate our commitment, we will systematically select key issues from these community documents and integrate them into our Medium-Term Development Plan, our Annual Action Plans, and the district’s composite budget. This will ensure that these community-led priorities receive the public funding and execution they rightly deserve.”
The event concluded with a strong call from all stakeholders for coordinated efforts to transform the newly presented Community Development Plans from paper into life-changing realities for the people of Wa East.
