The United Nation Children Fund (UNICEF) and the National Development Planning Commission will launch the third edition of the District Legue Table (DLT) in November 2021.
The DTL is a simple ranking tool for assessing and tracking the level of development in the 260 districts in Ghana, using selected indicators and data collected from District Department and Agencies (MDAs) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
It ranks districts in terms of the level of citizens’ wellbeing in relation to health, education, water and sanitation, energy, road and digital infrastructure, security, social protection and governance.
At the prelaunch of the third DLT in Accra, a Social Policy Specialist at UNICEF Ghana, Charles Dzradosi, said the NDPC in 2017 began the District League Table (DTL) to ensure government gained better understanding of the status of development across the country.
Also, he said the DLT sought to provide the evidence and basis for more equitable resource allocation and social investment to reduce disparities across Ghana.
He added that the DLT was aimed at increasing social accountability; and also improving the state’s responsiveness in development and service delivery at the district level.
He said previous DLTs held have shown that there are significant inequalities in wellbeing and development across the country and there’s a need for greater accountability across government, especially at central level, to ensure progress in development.
“The DTAs have shown it is necessary to allocate resources in an equitable manner so that challenged districts get greater support; they have also shown that even though district assemblies are not directly responsible for allocation of most resources for social services, their leadership through the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) is critical,” he added
He hinted that NDPC and UNICEF proposes that the DLT be integrated into the allocation formula used by the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to help ensure resources are allocated more equitably and effectively; and that MMDAs can also use the DLT to inform their district planning and budgeting processes.
He said the DLT could be adopted as one of the official assessment tools on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other development goals of the country.
This year’s DLT (DLT III) is on the theme ‘Developing the District Analysis Table for Child-Responsive Inclusive Development as a tool for promoting national and district level accountability for achieving the SDGs’.
As the theme suggests, it will focus on child-inclusive development and cover 32 indicators: including skilled attendants at delivery and the under-five mortality rate; final exams pass rate; recorded cases of child-marriage; recorded cases of child trafficking and abuse; as well as the proportion of schools with access to computers and Internet services.
