Abstract:
The global recognition of community participation as essential to development is an issue on which there is greater consensus in literature. More importantly, involving people in planning through consultative problem identification and designing of initiatives cannot be overemphasised. Wrongly identifying and designing such initiatives without proper community consultations, renders plans and initiatives unresponsive to community needs.
The acceptance of decentralization in general and its participatory planning approach in particular indicates that nations including Ghana have opted to move on the path which ensures that development is sustainable, by developing responsive plans guided by several regulations. Regardless of the existence of these regulations, community problems have persisted in most local government areas in Ghana, with limited enquiry on how communities are actually involved in the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) preparation process which forms the basis of initiatives implemented to solve these problems.
In this light, this study focused on assessing community involvement in medium-term development planning processes in the Awutu Senya East Municipality. A mixed method approach was employed to assess community awareness of the MTDP and its preparation process, awareness of the role of community members, strategies employed by the Municipal Assembly to involve community members and the responsiveness of the 2014-2014 MTDP to community needs. The results showed that community members within the municipality are largely ignorant of the MTDP and its preparation process and thus, participation in the process is the preserve of a few. The depth of this was evident by the general public ignorance on their roles in the MTDP processes. That notwithstanding, strategies employed by the Awutu Senya East Municipal Assembly to involve the few community members appear satisfactory but still requires attention, especially on approach used during and after the planning meetings. Consequently, the 2014-2017 MTDP generally suits the needs of the municipality but has some significant prioritization disparities as pertain to specific areas within the municipality. Based on these findings the study recommended workable alternatives for properly involving community members in the MTDP preparation processes within the municipality.
