A two-year partnership aimed at strengthening community agency, improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), enhancing livelihoods and deepening government accountability has been launched in the West Mamprusi Municipality of the North East Region.

Known locally as Ting Labginsim, the Advancing Community Agency and Government Accountability for WASH and Livelihood Improvement Project is a partnership between Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA), Spark MicroGrants, Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) and the West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly.

The initiative, being implemented in 100 communities across the municipality, gives residents the opportunity to identify their development priorities, mobilise local resources and work collectively to address challenges affecting their communities.

Speaking at the launch in Walewale, ACA Director of Community-Driven Development, Nana Ama Nketia-Quaidoo, said the project was built on the belief that communities had the knowledge and capacity to address many of their development challenges when provided with the right information, facilitation and resources.

“We do not come to communities saying: ‘We know what you need.’ Instead, we ask: ‘What is important to you? What do you want to change? What can you do together, and how can we support you to achieve it?’”

She said the project would use ACA’s Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP), a community-driven approach that enables residents to determine their priorities and develop collective solutions.

The process will be implemented in three phases: community building and visioning; implementation and advocacy; and post-implementation.

Nana Ama said the approach had already delivered projects in 107 communities in Fanteakwa South, Nkoranza South, Abuakwa South and Atiwa West.

These included clinics, schools, laboratories, markets, boreholes, poultry and palm-oil processing centres, milling and soap-making facilities, teachers’ and nurses’ bungalows, and community centres.

Under Ting Labginsim, each of the 100 participating communities will receive a US$8,000 microgrant, bringing the total grant component to US$800,000.

The West Mamprusi Municipal Assembly will also contribute US$400 per community, amounting to US$40,000 in counterpart funding.

The Assembly’s contribution is expected to strengthen local ownership and integrate community priorities into the municipality’s broader development plans.

Nana Ama stressed that the partnership goes beyond financial support, noting that communities would contribute their ideas, time, labour and local resources.

The Municipal Assembly, she said, would provide technical support, monitoring, coordination and links between community priorities and municipal development planning.

“ACA will facilitate, the Assembly will support, our partners will contribute, but the communities must lead. This is how we move from dependency to ownership.”

The Assembly is also expected to work with relevant departments to provide weekly supervision, encouragement and technical direction to participating communities.

A steering committee, chaired by the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) and comprising representatives of the relevant partners, has been established to oversee the initiative.

The committee will meet quarterly to review progress, address challenges and consider innovations to improve implementation.

West Mamprusi MCE, Mohammed Rabiu Jabaah, underscored the importance of community ownership, stressing that the projects should belong to the communities rather than the Assembly or its development partners.

He described the intervention as a significant relief to the Assembly and assured stakeholders that the municipality would “religiously” fulfil its part of the partnership.

Spark MicroGrants Ghana Country Director, Ann Squire, said the initiative reflected the organisation’s belief that people closest to a problem were often closest to its solution.

She said Ting Labginsim would strengthen WASH services, build livelihoods and deepen accountability between citizens and government.

According to her, the three objectives were interconnected, as access to clean water and good hygiene, decent livelihoods and responsive governance all contributed to the dignity and wellbeing of families.

WSUP will provide technical expertise, particularly in areas where community priorities intersect with WASH needs.

Women, young people, persons with special abilities and other groups whose voices may sometimes be excluded from development discussions are expected to participate actively in planning and implementation.

ACA said the success of Ting Labginsim would ultimately be measured not only by the number of projects completed, but also by whether communities continued to meet, plan together, mobilise local resources and address their development challenges after external support ends.

With implementation already underway across the 100 communities, the initiative is expected to strengthen collaboration between citizens and local government while supporting community-led development in the West Mamprusi Municipality.