Assessing the Role of Donor Funded Projects in Enhancing Community Development from the Ghanaian Perspective

Abstract

Donor funded project (DFP) debacles in many developing economies is extremely high as compared to its developed counterparts. In their pursuit for sustainable community development, developing economies like Ghana partake in projects like the construction of infrastructural facilities among others. Such projects, normally financed by donor agencies do face myriads of shortcomings like abandonment, cost deviation, schedule deviation, scope deviation, and stakeholders’ dissatisfaction among others. The academic work set out to appraise the role of donor funded projects in enhancing community development from the Ghanaian perspective, with a specific focus on Ghana Highway Authority, Pokuase and Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange Projects (GPOLIPs) as cases. In consonance with the research objectives, the study identified the potential role of donor funded projects that enhances community development, examined the key factors influencing successful donor funded project implementation, as well as investigated the critical barriers to the effective functioning and implementation of donor funded projects from the Ghanaian perspective. In conducting study, the researcher employed quantitative research approach and simple random sampling technique to choose GPOLIPs respondents for their predilections relating to the study. A questionnaire was considered as the main survey instrument whiles Relative Importance Index (RII), Microsoft Excel and Descriptive Statistics (mean scores, etc.) were relied upon as far as the analysis of data is concerned. Main findings of the study as suggested by GPOLIP respondents, in relation to the potential role of donor funded projects that enhance community development from the Ghanaian perspective were as follows: poverty reduction, employment creation and increased income levels, improvement of community welfare and rights’ awareness, enhanced accessibility and improvement in education, including improved food security. In allusion to the key factors influencing successful donor funded project implementation from the Ghanaian perspective, 6 notable constructs were identified, namely: level of funding, effective risk management systems, efficient monitoring and evaluation management systems, in addition to strict adherence to stakeholder involvement just to mention a few. Additionally, in conjunction with critical barriers to the effective functioning and implementation of donor funded projects from the Ghanaian perspective, 6 notable determinants were realized, specifically: inadequate project planning regimes, rampant scope changes, abysmal stakeholder relationship, irregular flow of funding and high transaction costs, ineffective communication systems, as well as the non-existence of sufficient resources among others. Having realized the critical barriers to the effective functioning and implementation of donor funded projects from the Ghanaian perspective, it is recommended that the government of Ghana and donor agencies would spring up with accountability and transparency policies to fraud-proof and misappropriation of resources. Besides, officers charged with project implementation should be made to sign performance contracts to effectuate themselves to enhance the accountability of the budgeted project funds to name but a few.