IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v25y2023i1d10.1007_s10668-021-02057-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

NGOs and sustainable rural development: experience from Upper West Region of Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • David Forkuor

    (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology)

  • Andrews Korah

    (University of Oklahoma)

Abstract

Rural communities in Ghana are deprived of basic social amenities, infrastructure and livelihood skills. The absence of these amenities and skills has widened inequality between rural and urban spaces in the country. The situation is worse in the northern part compared to the southern part of Ghana. The government and its development partners have made efforts to bridge this inequality and to make the development of rural communities sustainable. In this study, we explored the activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in sustaining rural livelihoods in Upper West Region (UWR) of Ghana. Three basic questions that motivated the study are: what are the various interventions of NGOs in rural communities in the UWR?; how is sustainability built in the overall intervention programmes of the NGOs?; and what challenges do rural NGOs face in their operations? We purposively selected five NGOs operating in the region for the study. Simple random and purposive sampling techniques were used to select 194 respondents made up of beneficiaries and officials of the NGOs. The results from the study have shown that intervention programmes have contributed positively in improving economic, health, sanitation, social and political lives of beneficiaries in the studied communities. The study, however, found that there were no systems in place to sustain some interventions once programmes implementation periods are over. The low sustainability of the NGO intervention programmes was attributed to the many challenges they face. Prominent among them were cultural believes and practices, inadequate funding and logistical constraints. Recommendations are made to help NGOs and various stakeholders in rural development to sustain projects in order to achieve desired poverty reduction in rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • David Forkuor & Andrews Korah, 2023. "NGOs and sustainable rural development: experience from Upper West Region of Ghana," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 351-374, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:25:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10668-021-02057-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-021-02057-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-021-02057-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-021-02057-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hezron Mogaka Osano & Hilario Languitone, 2016. "Factors influencing access to finance by SMEs in Mozambique: case of SMEs in Maputo central business district," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Felix Marco Conteh, 2014. "Chiefs, NGOs and alternative conflict resolution mechanisms in post-conflict Sierra Leone," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(142), pages 516-529, October.
    3. Kotey, Bernice & Rolfe, John, 2014. "Demographic and economic impact of mining on remote communities in Australia," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 65-72.
    4. Akolgo-Azupogo, Helen & Bardy, Roland & Rubens, Arthur, 2021. "Land governance in Northern Ghana: Creating communities of practice between tribal leaders and the government," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    5. Asad, Asad L. & Kay, Tamara, 2014. "Theorizing the relationship between NGOs and the state in medical humanitarian development projects," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 325-333.
    6. Anjani Kumar & Nijara Deka & Seema Bathla & Sunil Saroj & S. K. Srivastava, 2020. "Rural Non-farm Employment in Eastern India: Implications for Economic Well-being," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 63(3), pages 657-676, September.
    7. Sam Erevbenagie Usadolo & Marc Caldwel, 2016. "A Stakeholder Approach to Community Participation in a Rural Development Project," SAGE Open, , vol. 6(1), pages 21582440166, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:aly:journl:202183 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Huihui Liu & Pim Martens, 2023. "Stakeholder Participation for Nature-Based Solutions: Inspiration for Rural Area’s Sustainability in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Nathan Mwenda Mutwiri, 2021. "Covid-19 financial distancing for MSMEs in Kenya," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(3), pages 357-362, April.
    4. Bedamatta, Rajshree, 2021. "Employment of the Rural Labour Force in India – The Current Trends and Future Prospects," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), March.
    5. George Adu & Franklin Amuakwa-Mensah & George Marbuah & Justice Tei Mensah, 2016. "Effect of gold mining on income distribution in Ghana," Working Papers 2016.23, FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
    6. Betgilu Oshora & Goshu Desalegn & Eva Gorgenyi-Hegyes & Maria Fekete-Farkas & Zoltan Zeman, 2021. "Determinants of Financial Inclusion in Small and Medium Enterprises: Evidence from Ethiopia," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-19, June.
    7. David A. Fleming & Thomas G. Measham & Dusan Paredes, 2015. "Understanding the resource curse (or blessing) across national and regional scales: Theory, empirical challenges and an application," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 59(4), pages 624-639, October.
    8. Benites-Lazaro, L.L. & Mello-Théry, N.A., 2019. "Empowering communities? Local stakeholders’ participation in the Clean Development Mechanism in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 254-266.
    9. Heydari, Mehrnoosh & Osanloo, Morteza & Başçetin, Ataç, 2023. "Developing a new social impact assessment model for deep open-pit mines," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    10. Grace Mwikali Musyoki & Dr. Ambrose Jagongo & Dr. Hannah Bula, 2022. "Microfinance Services and Financial Performance of Top 100 Mid-Sized Firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 15(1), pages 102-112.
    11. Hanvedes Daovisan & H. L. Shen, 2020. "Does Working Capital Affect Family Firms’ Decision-Making in Laos? Evidence from a Two-Wave Cross-Lagged Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-16, March.
    12. Ryan D. Bergstrom & Afton Clarke-Sather, 2020. "Balancing Socio-Ecological Risks, Politics, and Identity: Sustainability in Minnesota’s Copper-Nickel-Precious Metal Mining Debate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-23, December.
    13. Salman, Faris & Mori, Akihisa, 2023. "When, where, and how can land governance overcome path dependency? A trajectory of land governance change," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    14. Sam Erevbenagie Usadolo, 2020. "The Influence of Participative Leadership on Agricultural Extension Officers’ Engagement," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(3), pages 21582440209, August.
    15. Edward Kiringa & Fredrick W.S. Ndede & Argan Wekesa, 2021. "Relationship lending and access to financial services by SMEs in Kenya," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(5), pages 235-244, July.
    16. Trang Hoai Phan & Rainer Stachuletz & Hai Thi Hong Nguyen, 2022. "Export Decision and Credit Constraints under Institution Obstacles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-27, May.
    17. Donald O. E. Amadasun & Ashley T. Mutezo, 2022. "Influence of access to finance on the competitive growth of SMEs in Lesotho," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, December.
    18. Hussain, Shahid & Xuetong, Wang & Maqbool, Rashid & Hussain, Mustansar & Shahnawaz, Muhammad, 2022. "The influence of government support, organizational innovativeness and community participation in renewable energy project success: A case of Pakistan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PC).
    19. Ahmed Abouaiana & Alessandra Battisti, 2022. "Multifunction Land Use to Promote Energy Communities in Mediterranean Region: Cases of Egypt and Italy," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-24, April.
    20. Galina Williams & Ruth Nikijuluw, 2020. "The economic and social benefit of coal mining: the case study of regional Queensland," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 64(4), pages 1113-1132, October.
    21. Golam Rabbani & S N Rajesh Raj, 2024. "The role of financial constraints in firm transition—Evidence from Indian manufacturing," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(4), pages 2193-2228, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:25:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s10668-021-02057-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.