S ome of the most vulnerable sections of Ghana’s population such as, women, children, and persons with disabilities, have lagged behind others in terms of several development indicators. There are numerous factors underlying this deep-rooted problem in the country like the unequal social structures, discrimination, and patriarchy, among others; however, gaps in public policies and poor implementation of some of the government interventions are also considered an important factor in this regard.
In this context, there is a need to recognise the concern that different sections of the country’s population have not benefited equally from public policies and public spending over the last six decades.
S ince the 1970s, the Government of Ghana has acknowledged the need for making a distinction between ‘incidental’ benefits for a certain disadvantaged community and ‘direct’ policy-driven benefits for the community from public expenditure. This recognition had led to the adoption of policy strategies like, school feeding program, free senior high school program, plating for food and jobs etc.
These strategies aimed to make planning and government budgeting in the country more responsive to the needs of the vulnerable sections by addressing the additional challenges confronting them in various sectors. However, a number of concerns have been raised with regard to the design of these strategies as well as their implementation.
ACT Africa focuses on identifying both the gaps and the better practices in this domain, i.e. in the design of these fiscal policy strategies for vulnerable sections and the way these are being pursued by various government ministries/departments. Apart from analysing these issues with in depth scrutiny of budgets, we also try to enhance public understanding of these important policy strategies.