External Local Economic Development Actors

Development interventions in Africa have largely been initiated and/or driven by ‘external actors’, particularly international development organisations (see Conyers and Mellors, 2005). Experts have often drawn a distinction between (international) institutions and organisations. According to Young (1986: 108) “institutions are practices composed of recognised roles coupled with sets of rules or conventions governing relations among the occupants of these roles.” Conversely, Young (1986: 108) defines organisations as “physical entities possessing offices, personnel, equipment, budgets and so forth.” In this thesis, I do not seek to draw a line of distinction between institutions and organisations. Rather, I seek to focus the analysis on the actions or activities of the actors as well as the institutional arrangements in which such activities are conducted. As such, the definition of international institutions by Duffield (2007: 2) as “relatively stable sets of related constitutive, regulative, and procedural norms and rules that pertain to the international system, the actors in the system, including state and non-state entities, and their activities” fits in the scheme of my analysis. In terms of external agencies, the focus is on three international development organisations that have been playing various key

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roles towards the implementation of contemporary local economic development initiatives in Ghana. They are the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). These agencies are actively engaged in the promotion of local economic development in Ghana.

The International Labour Organisation became the first organisation to officially introduce the contemporary local economic development approach in Ghana. It sought to promote employment creation and poverty reduction through the development of micro and small scale enterprises by using the LED approach. The ILO, as an agency of the United Nations has a mandate of promoting ‘decent work’ and international labour standards. The activities of the ILO are thus tailored towards employment creation, promotion of fair labour standards and poverty reduction. The ILO works with three set of actors across the world: governments, employers and workers. The UNDP is another United Nations agency that has been supporting the promotion of local economic development in Ghana at the moment. In Ghana, the UNDP is currently supporting the formulation of a national local economic development policy as part of efforts to up-scale LED initiatives and promote local ownership of development in the country. This is in line with its mandate of helping to build nations that can demonstrate resilience in times of crisis, and capable of promoting and sustaining growth that improves the quality of lives of its citizens.

The UNDP has over the years been providing policy advice and developing policy guidance for countries all over the world. As Chibba (2009: 94) notes “the UNDP is engaged in areas that are decidedly comprehensive and include economic, social, environmental and political aspects.” In recent times, the UNDP has been more focused on working towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. The UNDP has been working with central government, District Assemblies and local communities in Ghana to promote livelihood schemes. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on the other hand is an international agency that promotes bilateral relations between Germany and its partner countries. GIZ is one of the key agencies used in the promotion of international cooperation between Germany and its partner countries. The GIZ focuses on the promotion of sustainable development initiatives in partner countries. The GIZ adopts a business approach in its operations. Its services are said to be demand-driven, and tailor-made with the view of promoting participation and sustainable development.

In Ghana, and other parts of Africa such as South Africa, Uganda and Zambia, International Development Agencies have become lead actors in the promotion of local economic development (see Rücker and Trah, 2007; Hindson, 2007; Rogerson and Rogerson, 2010). The introduction of the local economic development approach is seen as an attempt by the

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International Development Agencies to present the District Assemblies with an alternative development strategy to help build the capacities of their economies and increase productive activities in the localities. As Clark, et al, (2010: 18) note, the International Development Agencies are becoming instrumental in “creating a business-like, and business-facing, operational environment in which local government-led economic development and regeneration can be effectively delivered.” As such, they have occupied the driving seat in the journey towards making local economic development presentable as an alternative development strategy to both national and sub-national governments. Although, the introduction of development policies, strategies and programmes into the developing world is not new, local actors continue to read meaning into the introduction of new strategies like the local economic development approach. For instance, an official of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in Ghana reflected on the introduction of contemporary LED approaches in the country in the following terms:

“Asking about my view on the introduction of the local economic development concept ..., you know these people (International Development Agencies), how they test new models. With this thing, they again have a model that they want to test or try on us [...] All the same I think the LED concept is a good thing.... If we are able to promote it well, it will help us” (Interview with an official of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Accra, October, 2011).

Similarly, an official of the Brong Ahafo Regional Economic Development Planning Office also believes that there are motives behind the introduction of the local economic development approach by the international development agencies. During an interview with him in an attempt to understand why the local economic development concept is being given attention by the international development agencies, the Regional Economic Development Planning Official posits:

“The thing is that a lot of money and resources have been pumped by the donor agencies to support various developmental activities over the years. But where are the results? [...] This led to a reflection by the donor agencies on the kind of strategies used [...] The local economic development approach is an emerging strategy. It is an attempt to correct past failed development strategies” (Interview with a senior officer of the Brong Ahafo Regional Economic Planning Office, Sunyani, November, 2011).

The two interview excerpts above points to a growing awareness of the activities of international development agencies in Ghana. The interview excerpts show how local actors perceive the development interventions of international development agencies over the years. But as the following quote succinctly describes the situation, development assistance has become pervasive in development discourse and practice:

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“In the area of development aid, the perversion of the idea of help has gone to particular extremes. Even the highly expensive installation of what amounts to the machinery for genocide on foreign terrain – which is ruinous economically, politically and morally for the recipient countries – is now called aid: military aid. And recently it has even been possible to subsume the convenient dumping of contaminated, highly poisonous industrial waste under the general rubric of economic help. The ‘good’ garbage remains at home in local authority dumps and recycling centres; the ‘bad’ garbage, on the other hand, is shipped to the Third World to be incinerated or stored there” (Gronemeyer, 2010: 57).

Gronemeyer’s observation clearly depicts the character and intent of most development interventions in developing countries. However, an interesting observation is that although some of the key local actors seemed to be aware of the motives behind the introduction of the LED approach, they are nonetheless hopeful of positive results when LED initiatives are successfully implemented. But this is also a reflection of the dilemma that recipients often face. Although recipients are often aware of the intentions and motives of donors, they still embrace external assistance, which might in the long-run not yield any meaningful results to the recipient country.