Working in all 17 districts, we expanded public participation in local governance, supported local districts to increase internally-generated funds and improve development plans, and strengthened linkages to local governance initiatives at the national level. We took local culture, traditions, and power dynamics into account, creating a joint sense of ownership.

More than 270 community dialogue sessions were held, and radio shows included more than 12,000 citizen participants, reaching the entire Western Region. With small grants, we enabled 46 community groups and civil society organizations (CSOs) to track district assemblies’ budgets and assess whether assemblies received value for expenditures on infrastructure.

We also increased the capacity of district assemblies to respond adequately to the heightened demand for accountability. Two years of backlogs were cleared, ensuring the timely submission of future audit reports.

To meet a presidential directive and catalyze the addition of spatial planning into medium-term development plan guidelines of the National Development Planning Commission, MSI provided training to 678 physical planning and development planning officers from district and regional coordinating councils. Local revenue generation increased more than 40 percent across the respective districts.

Additionally, we supported the governance structures of the Regional House of Chiefs with a focus on land management issues, and we provided technical support to align oil company corporate social responsibility (CSR) and community investment objectives to community needs.