PROFILE OF THE ATIWA DISTRICT

Introduction:

The Atiwa District Assembly is one of the District Assemblies in the Eastern Region of Ghana, it was granted its present status by the Legislative Instrument (LI) 1784 of 2004. It was carved from the then East Akim District Assembly now East Akim Municipal Assembly, in the year 2004. Its Capital is Kwabeng which is situated at the foot of the Atiwa Range.

The profile of any given locality serves as an information bank with regard to the vulnerability of its population to nature as well as human-made risks and shocks, their management arrangements and adaptation challenges. This section gives a brief sketch of the establishment of the Atiwa District, the physical conditions and social realities.

Vision Statement

Our vision is to become one of the best districts in the country in terms of quality service delivery and improvement in the quality of lives of the people of Atiwa

Mission Statement

The Assembly exists to facilitate the overall development of the district through the provision of socio-economic infrastructure, services and efficient management of resources involving all stakeholders to enhance the quality of life of the people of Atiwa

Location and Size:

The Atiwa District which covers a total area of 2,950 square kilometers is one of the twenty-six Districts in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Lying between longitudes O^° 3? West and O° 50 East and latitudes 6° 10? North and 6° 30? North. The District is bounded on the North by Kwahu West and Kwahu South Districts, on the North-East by the Fanteakwa District, East Akim to the South-East, Kwaebibrim to the South and Birim North to the West. The strategic location of Atiwa District, sharing boundaries with districts that are famous in agricultural production, provides an opportunity to develop agro processing facilities to make use of raw materials from these areas.The large area under the jurisdiction of the District has implication for many small settlements whose population may not measure up to the population threshold for provision of certain socio-economic infrastructure. And being a relatively new district it may also require enough financial resources to be able to close the infrastructure gap.

The District has a total estimated population of 110,622. (2010, Population and Housing Census Report). The district is divided into seven (7) Town/Area Councils namely Kwabeng, Anyinam, Sekyere, Abomosu, Asamang-Tamfoe, Akropong and Kadewaso.

Fig 1 District Map of the Atiwa District

CLIMATE

The Atiwa District lies in the wet semi equatorial zone characterized by a bi-modal rainy season, which reaches its maximum during the two peak periods of April-July and September-October. The annual rainfall is between 1,250mm and 1,750mm.Temperature ranges between a minimum of 26°C and maximum of 30°C. A relative humidity of 65-75 percent during the dry season and 75-80 percent in the rainy season is a characteristic of the district. This climate is very good for agriculture for both food and cash crops. Atiwa District is quite close to Accra and agro-processing factories. Farmers will be encouraged and supported to go in to cash such as cocoa, citrus and palm plantation.

Vegetation

The District is located within the mist semi-deciduous forest. The forest reserve covers the Atiwa Scarp and its surroundings. Commercial tree species covering 12% land area include; Odum, Wawa, Ofram, Asamfra, Mahogany, Okyenkyen etc. The vegetative cover is suitable for intensive agricultural and agro-based industrial activities including food processing, sawmail or wood processing. However pragmatic measures should be put in place to protect the forest cover in terms of reforestation and checking of illegal chain saw operators.

Topography and Drainage

The gentle and undulating land rises about 240m to 300m above sea level with the highest point at the Atiwa ranges which rise over 350m above sea level. Different types of rock formed gave the different relief features, which include flat bottom valleys to steep-sided high lands which are covered with iron pans, bauxite and kaolin. The steep sided highlands have created some wonderful sightseeing waterfall around Adasawase and Pameng.

The Birimian rock formation covered over (75) percent of the forest zone. Granite occurs in parallel belts and contains different mineral deposits among which includes: Gold, diamond, bauxite and Kaolin. Major perennial rivers like, Birim, Densu, Adenchensu, Merepong and Pra have their catchment areas within the Atiwa forest with other several seasonal streams in the District. The pattern of flow is largely north-south in direction and very good water drainage basic in the district. The rock formation has significant implication for growth of the quarry industry serving as a great potential for the production of chippings for road construction. The unique rock formation resulting in development of waterfalls provides great potentials for tourism development. Effort should be made to identify these natural attraction and such partnership to develop the to additional revenue for development

Soils and Suitability for Agriculture

The predominant soil type is the Atiwa series; these are usually reddish-brown, well-drained, deep gravel-free silty loams and silty clay loams, located on the relatively high lands while the valley bottoms are mainly of the Oda series with poorly drained alluvia silty clays. Food crops like Cassava, Maize, Plantain, Cocoyam and yam and tree crops like cocoa, oil palm, coffee and citrus thrive well on it. Since the farmers in the district have comparative advantage in the production of the above mentioned projects, farmers will be encourage and supported to produce more to increase their income level

Natural Resources

The District is endowed with mineral deposits (gold, diamond, bauxite and kaolin), which are found in the Birim river basin around Enyiresi, Abomosu, and Kwabeng bauxite and manganese are found at Asamama and surrounding area whilst kaolin deposits are found at the Atiwa Ranges. Forest reserves cover about 100 square kilometers of the Atiwa ranges and contain various timber species, medicinal plants and are good attractions for eco-tourism timber species. The species include: Wawa (Tripochiton scleroxylon), Odum (milicia exelcsa), sapele (Guthaphragong) and mahogany (Kaya ivoreensis) etc.

Adenchemsu, Sea Abena, Akuku, Kankan, Abresu, Awusu, Kokobeng, Frempong, Kade, Subri, Anikorkor are some rivers and stream in the District. The Birim, Densu and Pra rivers trace the source from the Atiwa ranges which are potential source of water for irrigation and fishing. Butterfly sanctuary at the Atiwa forest also serves as a major tourist attraction site. The availability of mineral deposits such as gold could be of great potential for the district to raise enough internally generated funds to provide suitable socio-economic infrastructure to improve the welfare of the people in the district. Again these resources may also lead to emergence of illegal mining activities which has implications for water pollution, land degradation, flood and land litigation and conflict. The Assembly should collaborate with minerals commission to check illegal mining activities to reduce water pollution and environmental degradation. The communities should also be supported technically to engage with the mining companies so that they will benefit from the resources.

Population Size and Distribution:

The total population of Atiwa District is 110,622 based on 2010 population and housing census. The distribution of the population in the district by sex shows that females constitute 50.6% while male constitute 49.4%. Comparing population by the locality type, there are more people in the rural areas than the urban centres. The total sex ratio is 97.7 percent implying that for every 100 counts of females in the district, there are almost 98 males. However, the sex ratio in the rural area is almost the same with 99.6 percent which shows that for every 10 females there are almost 10 males.

Age-Sex Structure

The analysis of the age-sex structure indicates that children under 15yeas in the district constitute the highest cohort of the population of 44,111 which represents 39.9 percent of the population followed by 30-59 years (27.1%). The age group 15-24 years (youth) recorded 17.3 percent while Age 25-29 recorded the lowest with 6.8 percent of the total population.

Among the male population, the age-group under 15 years (41.7%) recorded the highest whiles the age group 25-29 years (6.3%) recorded the lowest. The pattern is the same for the female population which also had persons in the age-group under 15 years (38.1%) recording the highest and the age group 25-29 (7.3%). This may probably be due to the adventurous nature of persons in that age-group to migrate outside the district and explore other places of their interest or for greener pastures.

The age-sex structure is graphically represented by a pyramid in Figure 2.1. The figure indicates a broad base which narrows as the age’s increases after age 45 years. The phenomenon confirms assertion that large cohorts are born at a particular year but the members exit through either migration, death or both. For both sexes, more females than the males survive to higher ages although more males than females are in the age group 0-4 years. The pyramid shows that from the age group 20-24 the male population started reducing and the female population began to increase. The same can be said for the age group 25-29. This may probably be due to the risky nature of jobs that males engage in which makes them more prone to death than females. From the Age group 30-34 to age group 40-44, the male population recorded an insignificant change in the population size. The youth nature of the population has implication for provision of socio-economic infrastructures that support their proper upbringing and shape their future. There is the need to provide enough pre-school and basic school infrastructures as well as expanding the primary health facilities to take care of their health needs.

Fig. 2 Population pyramid of Atiwa District, 2010

POPULATION DENSITY

The District covers an area of 2,950 square kilometers, which his translates into a population density of 37 Persons per square kilometer. This indicates that the district is sparsely populated in except of the four largest settlements. This indicates most of the settlements may not meet the population threshold for provision of essential socio- economic infrastructure like water, school, road and health facilities among others. It therefore requires that facilities should be strategically located to serve scattered settlements.

The projected population by area council bases is depicted below.

Table 1 Population by Area Council (2014-2017)

Area council	2014	2015	2016	2017
KWABENG	25125	26679	27245	27823
AKROPONG	11264	11504	11747	11997
SEKYERE	22869	23355	23850	24356
ASAMANG-TAMFOE	11253	11491	11735	11984
ABOMOSU	15267	15591	15922	16260
ANYINAM	26772	26878	27448	28031
KADEWASO/AWURONSUA	7217	7371	7527	7687
TOTAL	119,767	122,869	125,474	128,138

Source: Computed from 2010 Population and Housing Census Reports

RURAL-URBAN SPLIT

The Atiwa District is predominantly rural with about 66.7 % and 33.3 % rural and urban irrespectively.

Nature of physical Development and problems of Settlement Planning and

Management

Physical Development

Physical development in the district can be grouped into two – private and Public.

Individuals undertake the private development for their exclusive use (building for residential, commercial civic user etc) Public development on the other hand can be classified, as constructional works, be it building, road, bridges, culvert etc. for the general good of the citizenry. The central and local government normally undertakes these.

Private and Public physical development undertaken in the district are governed by two major developmental tools at the disposal. These are Development planning and Development Management (Control) all working through the Statutory Planning Committee (SPC). The Building Regulation LI 1630 is the legislation that regulates the issuance of Building Permit and monitoring of physical construction.

The Town & Country Planning Department and settlement planning consultants together have prepared and approved planning scheme/ lay -out by the District Statutory Planning Committee for Kwabeng. The aforementioned scheme/layout is a tool available to the Assembly through the DSPC to ensure orderly physical development in the district capital.

It must be stated that most settlements in the district do not have schemes/layout. In addition, monitoring of physical development and enforcement of legislations/byelaw on physical development is weak, mainly due inadequate equipment, transport and logistics. These have resulted in haphazard and unauthorized erection of physical structures. There is therefore the need for the District Assembly to provide adequate funding for the preparation and management of settlement schemes/layouts to guide proper settlement development so as to reduce the haphazard, uncontrolled and uncoordinated development in most parts of the district.

Culture & Tourism

The Atiwa District is endowed with an enviable potential that predisposes the area to tourism development. The potential of the District include physical, historical and cultural variants that could be developed for conventional tourism. The scenic landscape and multiple ethnic characters make the area a favourable destination for adventure-seeking and exploratory tourists.

Other existing attractions are the water falls, forest reserves, historic places, cultural heritage and supporting facilities such as hotels and parks. Notable among the identified tourist sites is Tini waterfalls which has great potentials to attract large patronage. Tini waterfall has been relatively developed and being patronized by both local and international tourists. Tini Waterfall is located in a lush ever green forest about 6km from Adasawase, a small farming community of about 6km from Anyinam off the Accra-Kumasi highway in the Atiwa District of the Eastern region. The attraction consists of spectacular cascading waterfalls over a giant rock formation and an ancient cave. A receptive centre has been developed and the Assembly is seeking a private entrepreneur to run the place at a negotiated sharing formula.The nearness of the District to the regional capital and to some extent the national capital can boast the tourism development in the area.

Location /Distribution of Services and Infrastructure

A study of spatial location and distribution of service; and their inter-linkages in the district was carried out with the aid of the scalogram analysis. The scalogram shows the analysis of the distribution of functions/services. The scalogram is non-qualitative. It only indicates the presence of facilities in each settlement in order to guide development decision-making related to the choice of project location. The scalogram, which is a matrix showing selected settlements and the respective functions they perform in a district, provides an in-depth knowledge about the adequacy and variety of functions performed by each of the selected settlements. It also helps in the determination of hierarchy of settlements and the nature of spatial integration they exhibit in the district. The tool also helps in determining the hierarchy of settlements and the nature of spatial integration they exhibit in a district. To identify the presence or absence of services and facilities within the district, the settlement functional matrix (scalogram) was used. By this, the settlements were ranked based on different types of facilities in the settlement.

The settlements were ranked in a hierarchy based on the variety of the aforementioned services in the scalogram. Anyinam has the highest number of services in the district. It is necessary that the district focuses on equitable spatial development.

Table 2: Functionality Index (Scalogram) Analysis of the District

COMMUNITY	POPULATION	PRIMARY SCHOOL	JHS	KINDERGATEN /DAYCARE	REFUSE DUMP SITE	T. B. A.	BOLEHOLE	AGRIC. EXT. AGENT	HAND DUG WELL	RIVER/ STREAM	ADULT LITERACY	CHPS COMPOUND/ RURAL CL.	SHS	MATERNITY HOME	DRUG STORE	POLICE STATION	ELECTRICITY	PETROL FILLING STATION	LORRY PARK	HEALTH CENTRE/CLINIC	WEEKLY MARKET	COMMUNICATION CENTRE	PUBLIC TOILET	GPRTU/PROTOA	POST OFFICE	RURAL BANK	TARRED ROAD	COMMUNITY CENTRE	GUEST HOUSE	TELEPHONE FACILITY	HOSPITAL	FIRE STATION	MAGISTRATE COURT	TRADITIONAL COUNCIL	COMMUNITY LIBRARY	TOTAL No. OF FUNCTIONS	TOTAL CENTRALITY SCORE	LEVEL OF HIERACHY
WEIGHT		2	3	1	1	1	3	1	2	1	1	2	4	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	4	1	1	1	1
ANYINAM	10,961	X	X	X	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0	x	x	0	x	x	x	0	31	28	1
KWABENG	10,901	X	X	X	x	x	X	x	x	x	0	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0	0	x	x	x	30	26
ABOMOSU	6,021	X	X	X	x	x	0	x	0	x	x	0	0	0	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	0	x	x	0	0	0	0	0	23	23
SEKYERE	9,671	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	x	x	x	0	x	0	x	x	x	x	0	x	0	x	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	18	18
NEW JEJETI	8,668	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	x	x	x	0	0	0	x	0	x	0	0	x	0	x	x	0	0	0	x	0	x	x	0	0	0	0	0	17	17	2 3
ENYIRESI	8,128	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	x	x	x	0	0	0	x	0	x	x	0	0	0	x	x	0	0	0	x	0	0	x	x	0	0	0	0	17	17
AKROPONG	4,446	X	X	X	x	x	x	x	x	0	0	0	0	0	x	x	x	0	x	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	x	0	x	x	0	0	0	0	0	17	17
ASUNAFO	929	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	0	x	0	x	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	11	17
AWENARE	848	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	x	0	x	0	0	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	13	13
AKWABUOSO	812	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	9	13
AKAKOM	813	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	9	13
AMONOM	987	X	0	X	x	x	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	8	13
BOMAA	1,028	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	X	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	13	13
TIAWIA	969	X	X	X	x	0	x	0	0	x	0	x	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	9	13
ASAMAMA	1,350	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	0	x	0	0	x	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	x	0	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	12	12	4
TUMFA	1,308	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	x	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	x	x	0	0	0	0	0	12	12
EKORSO	952	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	11	11
KADEWASO	1,035	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	11	11
ADASEWASE	4,916	X	X	X	x	x	x	0	0	x	0		0	0	x	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	11	11
AKWADUUSO	812	X	0	X	x	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	6	11
PAMENG	891	X	x	X	x	x	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	x	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	10	10	5
AWURENSUA	982	X	x	X	x	x	x	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	10	10
TISWIA-SUBRISO	962	X	0	X	x	x	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	x	0	0	0	0	7	10
TOTAL NO. OF SETTLEMENTS		26	28	32	37	28	25	14	42	12	14	20	2o	5	14	4	11	20	11	16	12	6	20	33	25	20	10	16	26	10	10	20	5	7	8
TOTAL CENTRALITY	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100		100	100	100	100	1100	100	100
WEIGHTED CENTRALITY SCORE		2.6	2.8	3.2	3.7	2.8	25	14.3	4.2	12.5	14.3	20	20	5.3	14.3	4.4	11.1	20	11	16.7	12.5	5.6	20.0	33	25	20	10	16.7	2.6	100	10	20	5.2	7.3	8

For the analysis, 23 settlements (representing communities with population 800 and above people were used. Thirty (34) services and facilities, under education, health, water; energy, post and telecommunication, finance, agriculture, etc sectors, were identified and considered as shown in the matrix is shown in above scalogram. Based on the variety and level of the aforementioned services in the scalogram, settlements were ranked in a hierarchy. Hierarchy one (1) has the highest number of services in the district, totaling 18 to 28 out of 34 facilities considered. A centrality index was calculated from the scalogram for all the 37 settlements, and four communities that fall within the first hierarchy have access to 18 to 28 facilities and services out of 34 considered. The third hierarchy has between 13 to 15 of the facilities and services and the fifth and last hierarchy has 3 to 10 of the services and facilities Anyinam has the highest centrality index of 28 followed by Kwabeng had a centrality index of only 26. The analysis revealed that even though there is a linkage between population concentration and distribution of services, some settlements with higher population lacked certain facilities. However, some of the settlements are not far from settlements where the facilities and services they lacked are located. The district must make efforts to provide services and facilities in areas where they are not currently available even though the population threshold of some of the settlements does not qualified for provision of certain socio-economic infrastructure

DISTRICT ECONOMY

The economy of the Atiwa District can be analyzed under four (4) broad categories namely; Agriculture, Industry, Trading and services. Agriculture remains the dominant sector and employs about 60% of the labour force. This is followed by the service sector which employs about 34.4% and the mining sector employs 6.6% of the total labour force in the district.

Fig 3 – The structure of Atiwa Economy

Source, DPCU 2015

Manufacturing/Industry Sector

Industry

There are small and medium scale industries in the district. The industrial sector is dominated by small-scale manufacturing activities, which range from Gari Processing, Oil Palm Extraction, Mining, Saw Mills and Bakery.

Manufacturing

The district has a number of small scale industries engaged in the production of various items. The manufacturing sector is dominated by businesses in the area of Dressmaking, Carpentry, Metal, fabrication, Distillation of alcoholic beverages (akpeteshie and pito), Leather works ,Ceramics, Quarrying, Baking, Milling, Wood processing (saw mills) and Batik / tie and dye making. These businesses are mainly micro and small-scale enterprises without permanent employees and the owners usually depend on apprentices to undertake their activities.

Service Sector/Trading Sector

The service sector is arguably the fastest growing sector in the District economy. A large number of small and medium scale service enterprises have sprung up in the District quite recently mostly in the area of ICT and the setting up of business centres, hair-dressing salons, repair shops (mechanics, electricians, sprayers etc), spare parts dealers, drug/chemical stores, pharmacies, supermarkets, drinking spots. Other known service providers are banking, telecommunication and postal services.

Financial Institutions

There are four (4) banks in the District. These are Ghana Commercial Bank Ltd, Fantiakwa Rural Bank, Atiwa Rural Bank, Adonteng Rural Bank and five saving and loan schemes

Trade and Commerce

About 12% of the working population in the district is engaged in trading/commercial activities (buying and selling) of all types of products ranging from foodstuff to building materials and spare parts. Most of the traders are small size retailers, and apart from a few who trade in defined market places, most trading activities in the district are still located along roads, water ways and residential neighborhoods, thus creating a lot of environmental sanitation problems.

Agricultural Sector

The Atiwa District which lies within the moist semi-deciduoos forest has two rainfall patterns with annual rainfall ranging from 1,250mm to 1,750mm. The atmospheric temperature is fairly uniform through-out the year, ranging between 26^oC and 36 ^oC. It is estimated that 60% of the economically active population is engaged in the agricultural sector. These are catered for by fourteen (15) agriculture extension officers. Majority of the settlements within the district engage in agricultural activities apart from few urban centres. The adoption of scientific farm practices is high among literate farmers and has resulted in increased. The major crops grown in the District are Cocoa, Maize, Cassava, Plantain, Oil palm and Vegetables. Cocoa and Oil palm dominate as the Major cash crops.

Table 3 : Crop production level

Crop	Total Production(Mt)
	2012	2013	2014	2015
Maize	14,400	17,823.40	15,874	15,928
Rice	50	416	392	378
Cassava	–	114,778	271,020	176,800
Plantain	–	110,778	67,585	88,070
Cocoyam	–	42,452	42,185	25,128
Yam	–	7,036	6,900	6,975

Source: District Education office, 2015

Table 4: Production Projection for the Next Four Years

CROP	Total Production(Mt)
	2014	2015	2016	2017
Maize	17,520	19,272	21,199.2	23,318
Rice	415	462	508	559
Cassava	194,480	213,928	235,321	258,854
Plantain	96,877	106,565	117,221	128,943
Cocoyam	27,640	30,404	33,444	36,788
Yam	7,673	8,440	9,284	10,212

Source: District Education office, 2015

The major crop producing areas in the District are Ahankrasu,Sankobenase,Akakum,Adwadurosu,Larbikrom,Akukuso,Awuronsua,Abakoas, Abakoase-Subriso, Tiwia-Subrisu, and the Major Livestock producing areas are Kwabeng, Abomoso, Fremponso, Mbraim Sekyere, Akropong, and Tumfa. Post harvest loses is estimated to be between 10-20% of total production and causes of such loses is attributed to bad storage structures, poor preservation and storage practices. Slash and burn and mixed cropping are the types of farming practices practiced in the district. The most common crop pests and diseases prevalent in the district are the black pod of cocoa, Insects, nematodes, weeds and fungi diseases and the Major diseases affecting livestock are PPR Helminthiasis, New Castle. The appropriate insecticides, herbicides and fungicides are recommended to farmers for spraying in order to control the diseases and pest.

Cocoa is the most important crop in the District. The pests and diseases that affect crops in the district are insects, nematode, weeds and fungi diseases. The measures that are taken to control these diseases and pests include appropriate insecticides, herbicides and fungicides recommended to farmers for spraying.

Livestock and Poultry

The livestock sector is not pronounced as in the crop sub – sector. Every household keeps few animals and small ruminants. The sub-sector is divided into two sections; Animal production and Veterinary services. The Major animals reared are; sheep, goat, poultry, cattle, pigs. Common diseases found are (PPR) Pest de Petit Ruminants Helminthiasis for sheep and goats, fowl pox and new castle for poultry.

Post Harvest Losses (Agro – Based)

Post harvest losses, arising mainly as a result of poor storage structures, inadequate market for produce and bad road network are estimated to be between 10-20 of total production.

Processing of farm produce especially gari is in its infancy. The District experience heavy loses. Now with the assistance of European Union, one new multipurpose Gari and Corn mill processing Machine has been installed one at New Jejeti. A modern palm Kernel processing Machine also funded by European Union has also been installed at Frimponso. The percentage of post harvest loses is between 10 – 20%. The agriculture related problem that are faced in the District include; high cost of farming inputs, low pricing of produce during peak of harvest, untimely supply of inputs for farmers and farm lands are destroyed during small scale mining.

Illegal Mining Menace

Illegal mining (Gallamsey) has been a major challenge to agriculture in the District as vast arable lands have been lost to mining whiles water bodies used for irrigating vegetable farms are also polluted with toxic mercury and other chemicals.

Farmer Based Organizations (FBOs)

The Department of Co-operative has sensitized the farmers in the District to form groups to create an opportunity for them to have access to credits and loans from the financial institutions to expand/boast their production.

Table 5 Farmer-Based Organisations in the District

NO.	NAME OF FBO	LOCATION	ENTERPRISE
1.	Ewiase Wura Farmers Association	Akropong	Oil Palm Processing
2.	Biakoye Farmers Association	Akyem Banso	Citrus Plantation
3	Nkabom Kuo	Akutuase	Rice Production
4	Somo Dadee mu yie	Awurensua	Maize production
5	Aboe/Jejeti Farmers Association	Aboe	Cassava production
6	Biakoye Farmers Association	Abomosu	Cassava production
7	Biakoye Farmers Association	Akwadroso	Vegetable production
8	Wope Nyeho Multipurposes Farmers Association	Tumfa	Cassava production
9	Nyambekyere Farmers Association	Tumfa	Vegetable production
10	Nkruakan oil processors	Nkruakan	Oil Palm Processing
11	Adom Farmers Association	Tumfa	Maize production
12	Tumfa Citrus Farmers Association	Tumfa	Citrus Plantation
13	Amonom Oil processors	Amonom	Oil Palm Processing
14	Gyamase vegetable growers	Gyamase	Vegetable production
15	Kwakwadum Farmers Association	Kwakwadum	Maize production

Revenue and Expenditure Analysis

During the period under review (2010-2013), IGF and other grants received by the Assembly amounted to GHC 10, 158, 138.45 as against the estimated revenue of GHC 25,780,811.01. The amount collected represents 39.40% of the estimated figure of GHC 25,780,811.01. On the other hand, the Assembly incurred a total expenditure of GHC 9, 235,891.32 as against a budgeted amount of GHC 26,375,785.10 and this represents 35.02% of the estimated figure of GHC 26,375,785.

The effects of this were that the Assembly could not execute all its development projects during the year.

We recommend that there should be early releases of funds to the MMDAs to enable the Assemblies execute fully their development programms

Table 6: revenue and expenditure performance of the district

YEAR	REVENUE				EXPENDITURE
YEAR	Estimated (GHC)	Actual (GHC)	Variance (GHC)	% of Performance	Estimated (GHC)	Actual (GHC)	Variance (GHC)	% of Performance
2012	7, 047,872.02	1,890,591.73	(5,157,080.35)	26.83%	7,036,433.26	1, 416,581.95	5,619,851.31	20.13%
2013	5, 018,702.93	2,193,339.84	(2,825,363.09)	43.70%	4,961,076.84	1,569,076.84	3,391,638.36	31.64%
2014	7,471,684.00	2,686,681.07	(4,785,002.93)	35.96%	8,135,523.00	2,712,280.95	5,423,242.05	33.34%
2015	6, 242,752.00	3,387, 525.81	(2,855,226.19)	54.26%	6,242,752.00	3,537,589.94	2,705,162.02	56.67%
TOTALS	25,780,811.01	10,158,138.45	(15,622,672.56)	39.40%	26,375,785.10	9, 235,891.32	17,139,893.78	35.0%

Source: District Finance Department,2015.

Social Services

The District relatively has a reasonable number of public and private schools that provide education to the people within the district especially at the basic and second cycle levels. For the public schools, there are Eighty one (81) pre-schools, Eighty two (82) primary schools, Seventy (70) Junior high schools, and Two (2) Senior High schools.

With regards to the private schools, twenty two (22) are pre-schools, twenty two (22) primary schools, twelve (12) Junior High schools, two (2) Senior High schools, and one (1) vocational school.

These public and private educational institutions provide human resources development opportunities for children and youth in the district. The distribution of these educational institutions is shown in the table below on Circuit bases.

Table 7: Distribution of Schools by Circuit

CIRCUIT	PUBLIC				PRIVATE
CIRCUIT	PRE-SCHOOL	PRI.	JHS	SHS	PRE-SCHOOL	PRI.	JHS	SHS	VOCARTIONAL
ABOMOSU	13	11	10	–	2	2	1	–	–
ANYINAM	11	11	11	–	6	6	4	2	–
ENYERISI	10	10	6	–	–	–	–	–	–
KWABENG	8	10	7	1	2	2	2	–	–
AKROPONG	10	10	9	–	2	2	2	–	–
SEKYERE	13	14	12	1	4	4	–	–	–
AKROFUFU	9	9	8	–	2	2	1	–	1
KADEWASO	7	7	7	–	2	2	2	–	–
TOTAL	81	82	70	2	22	22	12	2	1

SOURCE: District Education Directorate, 2015

Out of a total of 233 Public Basic Schools in the District, Sekyere Circuit has the highest number of 39 Public Basic schools representing 16.7% followed by Abomosu Circuit with a total number of 34 Public Basic schools representing 14.6%. Enyiresi has 10 public primary schools but only 6 JHS to absorb the graduates from the primary schools and this is inadequate. There is the need to increase the number of JHS in Enyiresi Circuit to provide adequate opportunities for the pupils from the primary schools to access JHS Education.

Pre-school Enrolment level

At the pre-school level, total enrolment has decreased from 7,139 in 2012 to 6,656 in 2013. Total female enrolment is 50.4%, while male enrolment is 49.6%. These results indicate a higher enrolment of girls than boys at the pre-school level in 2013. And this is encouraging, so measures must be put in place to ensure that these girls continue their education to the higher levels.

Table 8: Pre-School Enrolment

Enrolment
CIRCUIT	PUBLIC			District totals
				Absolute No.		Percentage
	Total	Female	Male	Female	Male		Female	Male
ABOMOSU	1086	565	521	565	521		52	48
ANYINAM	881	414	467	414	467		47	53
ENYERISI	627	322	304	322	304		51.5	48.5
KWABENG	807	387	420	387	420		48	52
AKROPONG	858	426	432	426	432		50	50
SEKYERE	1114	573	541	573	541		51.4	48.6
AKROFUFU	815	414	401	414	401		50.8	49.2
KADEWASO	468	252	216	252	216		53.8	46.2
TOTAL	6656	3354	3302	3354	3302		50.4	49.6

SOURCE: District Education Directorate, 2015

Primary school Enrolment level

Primary school enrolment has decreased significantly from 13,720 in 2012 to 13,037 in 2013. But in this case ‘Boy’ school enrolment at the primary level is higher than that of Girls. Total female enrolment is 47.8%, while male enrolment is 52.2%. Measures must be put in place to increase Girl-child education.

Table 9: Primary School Enrolment

Enrolment
CIRCUIT	PUBLIC			District totals
				Absolute No.		Percentage
	Total	Female	Male	Female	Male		Female	Male
ABOMOSU	2035	972	1063	972	1063		47.8	52.2
ANYINAM	1980	966	1014	966	1014		48.8	51.2
ENYERISI	1259	585	674	585	674		46.5	53.5
KWABENG	1540	772	768	772	768		50.1	49.9
AKROPONG	1763	811	952	811	952		46.0	54.0
SEKYERE	2094	1012	1082	1012	1082		51.7	48.3
AKROFUFU	1411	662	749	662	749		53.1	46.9
KADEWASO	955	452	503	452	503		52.7	47.3
TOTAL	13037	6232	6805	6232	6805		47.8	52.2

SOURCE: District Education Directorate, 2015

Junior High School Enrolment level

At the JHS level, school enrolment has increased slightly from 4,978 in 2012 to 5,169 in 2013. Like the primary school level, Boys enrolment is higher than that of Girls at the JHS level as shown in the table 1.4 below. Overall, this implies that as they climb the educational ladder to the top, the girls’ dropout turn to be higher than boys. Management attention and action is needed to resolve the issue so as to ensure the retention of girls in school throughout the education ladder.

Table 10: Junior High School Enrolment

Enrolment
CIRCUIT	PUBLIC			District totals
				Absolute No.		Percentage
	Total	Female	Male	Male	Female		male	female
ABOMOSU	774	340	434	434	340		56.1	43.9
ANYINAM	998	471	527	527	471		52.8	47.2
ENYERISI	392	182	210	210	182		53.6	46.4
KWABENG	687	337	350	350	337		50.9	49.1
AKROPONG	673	275	398	398	275		59.1	40.9
SEKYERE	860	363	497	497	363		57.8	42.2
AKROFUFU	464	218	246	246	218		53.0	47.0
KADEWASO	321	116	205	205	116		63.9	36.1
TOTAL	5169	2302	2867	2867	2302		55.5	44.5

SOURCE: District Education Directorate, 2015

Gross Enrolment/ Participation Rate

Pupils’ Enrolment under the Capitation Grant

The capitation grant policy is a pro-poor policy aimed at reducing the financial burden on guidance thereby increasing pupil’s enrolment in schools throughout the country. This policy started in 2005 in the Atiwa District. The table below shows the pupils’ enrolment with the amount of capitation grant released from 2011/2012 academic year to 2012/2013 academic year. The study has revealed that the general school participation rate in the district has decreased from 26,822 in 2011/2012 academic year to25, 791 in 2012/2013 at the pre-school level as shown in table 23.

Table 11 Pupils’ Enrolment under the Capitation Grant

DATE

(academic year)

Enrolment

Date grant was released

Term

Amount released

GH¢

2011/2012

26,822

October 2012

November 2012

3^rd term

1^st term

37,776.18

42,687.23

2012/2013

25,791

July 2013

September 2013

2nd term

2^nd term(2011/2012)

42,687.23

36,589.05

SOURCE: District Education Directorate, 2015

School Infrastructure

School infrastructure at the pre-school and basic levels in the district is still inadequate, including furniture, and the existing classrooms are poor. This evident in tables 1.23 and 1.24

Primary School Infrastructure

School infrastructure at the primary schools in the district is still inadequate even though the district assembly has done it best in providing new classrooms blocks. The table below shows that out of 94 classrooms in the primary level, 57.4% are cement blocks, 34% are mud classrooms and the rest of 8.5% are wooden and very bad structures.

Table 12 Primary School Infrastructure

CIRCUIT	Infrastructure(types of building)				Furniture
CIRCUIT	Cement Blk	Swish/mud	Under trees	Wooden structure	Tables	Chairs	cupboard
ABOMOSU	4	3	–	1	–	–	–
ANYINAM	12	2	–	1	–	–	–
ENYERISI	7	6	2	1	–	–	–
KWABENG	5	1	–	–	–	–	–
AKROPONG	10	3	1	–	–	–	–
SEKYERE	8	7	–	1	–	–	–
AKROFUFU	5	6	–	–	–	–	–
KADEWASO	3	4	1	–	–	–	–
TOTAL	54	32	4	4	–	–	–

SOURCE: District Education Directorate, 2015

Junior High School Infrastructure

At the JHS level, only very few of the structures are wooden buildings and most of them are in a good condition as shown in the table below.

Table 13 Junior High School Infrastructure

CIRCUIT	Infrastructure(types of building)				Furniture
CIRCUIT	Cement Blk	Swish/mud	Under trees	Wooden structure	Tables	Chairs	cupboard
ABOMOSU	2	1	–	1	–	–	–
ANYINAM	6	1	–	–	–	–	–
ENYERISI	3	3	1	–	–	–	–
KWABENG	3	–	–	–	–	–	–
AKROPONG	4	1	–	–	–	–	–
SEKYERE	5	3	–	1	–	–	–
AKROFUFU	2	3	–	–	–	–	–
KADEWASO	1	2	–	–	–	–	–
TOTAL	26	14	1	2		–	–

SOURCE: District Education Directorate, 2015

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS

The JHS has adequate teachers in the district of which over 86% of them are trained teachers and the rest are pupil teachers and the private teachers are all pupil teachers and about one hundred and fifty-one (51) private teachers in the district.

Table 14 Junior High School Teachers

CIRCUIT	Total enrolment		Total number of teachers	Public		Private	Total untrained		Backlog
CIRCUIT	Public	Private					Public	Private
ABOMOSU	774	150	74	41	21		12	21
ANYINAM	998	349	110	71	32		7	32
ENYERISI	392	–	37	33	–		4	–
KWABENG	687	117	81	56	20		5	20
AKROPONG	673	80	88	58	22		8	22
SEKYERE	860	–	103	72	24		7	24
AKROFUFU	464	12	64	44	16		4	16
KADEWASO	321	79	74	42	16		16	16
TOTAL	5169	787	631	417	151		63	151

SOURCE: District Education Directorate, 2015

Supervision and Performance in BECE

Supervision

Most of the key school level stakeholders (PTAs and SMCs) are still inactive. There is therefore a weak linkage between schools and their respective communities (who are owners of schools). The responsibility of the communities to plan, manage, monitor and maintain the effective running of schools is rarely carried out. This is affecting school performance at the basic levels.

Intensive education of community members is necessary, so as to encourage them to form such management groups for the better management of schools, and for the direct benefit of all children in the communities. It is also necessary to train the PTAs and SMCs to improve their performances. The average number of visit per month to schools, by the inspectorate division of the District Education Directorate has increased slightly from 2.2 in 2005 to 2.4 in 2009. The performance is still below the required average of 3.0 visits per month. Six (6) motor bikes have been provided to some circuit supervisors, but delays in the release of traveling and risk allowances and other incentives is affecting effective monitoring and supervision of schools.

BECE PERFORMANCE

The performance of pupils in the BECE in the district has decreased greatly from 40% in 2012 to 34.2% in 2013. Performance in the circuit bases has also decreased significantly in all circuits. Efforts are therefore needed to raise the performance level in the district.

Table 15 BECE Performance

Circuit	Percentage performance in BECE
Circuit	2014	2015
ABOMOSU	45.0	40.0
ANYINAM	62.0	60.0
ENYIRESI	35.0	30.0
KWABENG	47.0	40.0
AKROPONG	38.0	32.0
SEKYERE	35.0	31.0
AKROFUFU	30.0	25.0
KADEWASO	28.0	22.0
TOTAL	70%	80%

SOURCE: District Education Directorate, 2015

Key problems and challenges affecting improved educational standard in the district include the following:

Low academic performance at the basic school level
High number of dilapidated classroom infrastructure
High level of congestion in schools and Weak supervision in schools
Inadequate school furniture
Inadequate trained teachers especially in the rural areas and the pre-school level
Ineffective ICT education in the district

Health sector

Health Care Facilities/Services

The district has only one (1) Hospital; with the current population of 113,302 the district required about three (3) hospitals. The current hospital gap is being managed by four (4) Health Centres, six (6) Private Maternity Homes and four (4) private clinics. The location of these health facilities are located in the below table.

Table 16: Health Facilities in the District

Area Council	Hospital		Health Centre		Clinics		Maternity Homes		CHPS
Area Council	Public	Private	Public	Private	Public	Private	Public	Private
Kwabeng	–		1	–		2		2
Akropong	–		1	–				2
Anyinam	–		1	–				2
Abomosu	1		–	–		2		–
Asamang. Tamfoe	–		–	–				–
Sekyere
Kadewaso/ Awuronsua	–		1	–				–
Total	1		4	–		4		6

Source: District Health Directorate, Atiwa 2015

Health Professionals

The number of Medical Doctors in the district has increased from 3 in 2010 to 5 in 2013. The Doctor/Population ratio has therefore improved from 1: 51,013 in 2010 to 1: 37,969 in 2013. The number of nurses in the district has also increased from 51 in 2010 to 80 in 2013. The nurse/population ratio has also improved from 1:3,00 in 2005 to 1:2,373 in 2009.Whiles the Doctor /population ratio is still below the required standard of 1:25,000, the Nurse /Population ratio is above the required standard of 1:3000. There is still some pressure on the doctors, and this has implications for quality health care delivery in the district. The District Hospital now has an Anesthetist and Physiotherapist whose services augment the work of the Medical superintendent. The district health sector also requires more accounts staff to cope with the work load as a result of the implementation of the National Health Insurance scheme.

Incidence of Diseases

The trend of ten top out-patient morbidity in the district is shown in table 1.28. Most of the diseases are due to poor environment and diet. A lot need to be done on our bad environment –refuse disposal sites, places of convenience, overgrown weeds which breed Mosquitoes and eating habits.

Table 17: Top Ten out Patient Morbidity

2012			2013		2014		2015
No	Diseases	Cases	Diseases	Cases	Diseases	Cases	Diseases	Cases
1	Malaria	35,727	Malaria	47571	Malaria	70373	Malaria	81,780
2	Cough & Cold/RTI	6259	Cough & Cold/RTI	9570	Cough & Cold/RTI	14629	Acute Resp. infections	21,478
3	Diarrhea	6070	Skin Disease	4753	Diarrhea	8695	Diarrhea	8,626
4	Skin Disease	3690	Acute Urinal Infection	4574	Skin Disease	5754	Hypertension	6,790
5	Hypertension	979	Diarrhea	3161	UTI	5507	Skin Disease	6,678
6	Rheumatism & Joint Pains	486	Hypertension	3067	Hypertension	4099	Acute Urinal Infection	6,649
7	Intestinal worm	290	Acute ear infection	2803	Chicken Pox	2688	Rheumatism & Joint Pains	4,721
8	Anaemia	260	Intestinal worm	2615	Rheumatism & Joint Pains	2341	Intestinal worm	3,530
9	Pneumonia	193	Rheumatism & Joint Pains	1148	Intestinal worm	1945	Diabetes	2,124
10	Gynaecological condition	123	Home occupational injuries	1020	Home occupational injuries	1611	Home occupational injuries	1,770

Source: District Health Directorate, 2015

Hypertensions normally do not come under the top ten diseases. Its current inclusion in the top ten means most inhabitants are getting this affluent disease, which we should be worried about. The eating habits of the people in the district have changed and people are taking in more of high cholesterol foods than the local fiber foods. Buruli Ulcer, though not one of the ten top diseases is endemic in the district with high reported cases of 85 in 2013. All these diseases are of public health importance.

The ten main causes of hospital admission in the district are shown in the table 1.29 below.

A most of the causes of hospital admissions are environmental and diet in nature. This means that a lot need to be done about environmental sanitation.

Table 18: Causes of Hospital Admission

2014		2015
Causes	Number of Admissions	Causes	Number of Admissions
Anaemia	152	Anaemia	367
Gastroenteritics	70	Malaria	296
Malaria	33	Diarrhoea diseases	76
Hernia	30	Septicaemia	62
Typhoid fever	19	Cellulitis	42
Cardio Vascular disease	16	Gastritis	37
Cellulitis	14	Hypertension	32
Hypertention	12	Hernia Inguinal	28
pheumonia	10	Pneumonia	28
Viral hepatitis	6	Upper Respiratory Tract Infection	26

Source: District Health Directorate, 2015

Maternal Health Services

Antenatal service coverage increased from 43.3% (3,102) in 2005 to 110% (8,736) in 2009 with average visit of 3 per client. Coverage for late teenagers increased from 12.3% (382) in 2005 to 24.8% (1,006) of the total antenatal registrants in 2009. Pregnant women registered with Anaemia reduced slightly from 22.7% in 2005 to 21.7% (1,722).The women who delivered in health facilities increased significantly from 25.6% in 2005 to 50.4% in 2009. Out of this, 1.4% (55) had still births (babies died at birth). Women in labour still report to health facilities late and others use all sorts of herbal preparations during labour before seeking health care and others never visited the health facilities during pregnancy. Measures are still required to encourage pregnant mothers to patronize pre-Natal and post-natal health care services to improve their health status and that of their babies.

Immunization

Immunization coverage for BCG, Measles, OPV and Yellow Fever has increased from about 81 % on the average in 2010 to 89.1 in 2013. The table 38 shows Immunization coverages in the district in 2013.

Table 19: Immunization Coverage for 2015

Area	Percentage Coverage
BCG	93.5%
Measles	88.7%
OPV3	87.6%
DPT/HIB/HBS	88.4%
Yellow Fever	88.7%
Pentavalent3	87.7%

Source: District Health Directorate, Atiwa, 2015

There is low community involvement in health programmes in the district. The reasons are ignorance, apathy to mention a few. During immunization sessions most women stay at home with the pretext of having forgotten the date. The rate of child malnutrition in the district is has reduced from 2.8%in 2005 to 0.1% in 2009

Infant and Maternal Mortality

The District did not record maternal death or infant death in the health facilities. Not much information is captured by Community Based Surveillance volunteers (CBSV) in the area of infant and maternal death. There is the need to strengthened and motivate the CBSVs for them to be effective.

District Health Insurance Scheme

The District in its efforts to make health care services accessible to majority of people has established a District-Wide Mutual Health Insurance scheme. The Scheme is fully operational. The total number of registered members has as at the end 2013 was 86977 representing 75% of the total estimated population of the District. The Atiwa District Health Insurance Scheme has its full complement of staff and office equipment. The secretariat is well accommodated and has acquired a Four Wheel Drive Pick-up which is being used for educational campaign to increase participation rate in the district. Key problems and challenges in the health sector include the following:

Low patronage of antenatal health care services.
High doctor/population ratio
Inadequate In-patient infrastructure and equipment (wards, beds etc.)
No residential accommodation for health staff in all the health facilities.
Poor community involvement in health programmes.
High level of sanitation related diseases
People travel long distance to access health care
Poor data capturing from institutions and outreaches
Poor security at some health facilities

Water Situation in the District

Even though the Atiwa District Assembly has varied water sources and systems including piped systems, boreholes and hand dug wells, flow of water has been hugely irregular, inadequate and unreliable. The average water coverage is 59 per cent. Water delivery for domestic and industrial purposes is supplemented by rain harvesting, rivers, streams and dug-outs. Most of these sources are unsafe and expose the people to water-related diseases such as diarrhoea, typhoid fever, guinea worm and schistosomiasis. The problem has been aggravated by a high population growth rate and a seemingly lack of capacity on the part of the responsible agency, the Ghana Water Company, to keep pace with the rate of demand.

Sanitation Situation in the District

Solid Waste-Generation and management

Solid waste in the district is generated from domestic (household), commercial (market and trading) and institutional activities. About 70% of the solid waste generated in the district is organic. Plastic waste is also high. Open dumping of refuse is the main method of refuse disposal in most communities in the district. However, the method is not properly managed and has resulted in indiscriminate disposal of refuse and also the creation of huge piles of refuse in most settlements in the district. There are 36 huge piles refuse in the district. These dumping sites serve as breeding grounds for mosquitoes and source of typhoid, cholera and other sanitation related diseases. The indiscriminate disposal of refuse results in chocked drains, and flooding whenever it rains, and thus contribute to the breeding of mosquitoes and creation of conditions for the development and spread of sanitation related diseases. Total number of reported cases of malaria in 2009 was 81,780, and most of the top 10 diseases in the district are sanitation related.

The District Assembly is responsible for solid waste management in the district. The Assembly performs this responsibility through the District Environmental Health Unit and a private company called Zoom Lion Limited. Through the collaborative efforts of the District Assembly, the Environmental Health Unit and Zoom Lion Limited the following progress had been made since 2005.

Number of refuse heaps in the district has reduced from 44 to 36
One (1) skip loader has been acquired
Seven (7) new communal refuse containers have been acquired and placed at vantage points
Fifteen (15) new tri cycles have been acquired for refuse collection
40 youths have been engaged to clean major town roads and drains
Regular fumigation of drains and open spaces in town has been carried out.

Despite these there are still a number of challenges. Sanitary tools and equipment (wheel barrows, shovels, rakes, protective clothing, refuse trucks, communal and household refuse containers) are inadequate for refuse management in the district.

Roads situation

The district has a total road network of 259.10 kilometres, out of these 60.8 kilometers of Bitumen surfaced road. This represents 42.26% of total road surface in the district. The length of bitumen surfaced roads in the district has increased from 82.2 km in 2010 to 109.5km in 2013. The percentage of roads in good condition has also increased from 57.3% in 2010 to 64.10% in 2013. A total of 166kms of road (out of 259.1km) is in good condition. Motor vehicle remains an indispensable means of transport for most people in the district; the generally low level of good roads in the district makes movement within and outside the district relatively difficult.

However, the condition of about 150km of the district’s total road network is untarred they are motorable throughout the year as shown in table 18. The District capital, Kwabeng has only 5km of the town roads tarred. This forms only 10% of town streets. The remaining untarred roads have no drains a situation which facilitates erosion in the town. This analysis indicates that more needs to be done by the District Assembly and the Road Agencies to improve the condition of roads in the district, especially those in the remote Cocoa and food crop growing communities so as to improve accessibility towards increased food production, access to market and reduce poverty.

Table 20: Summary of Length and Condition of Road Types in the District

Road Type	Length (Km)	Good		Fair		Bad
Road Type	Length (Km)	Km	%	Km	%	Km	%
Bitumen Roads	111.50	103.5	92.82	6	5.38	2	1.79
Graveled Roads	199.60	72.50	36.32	57.8	28.95	69.3	34.71
Total	311.1	176.0	56.57	63.8	20.50	71.3	22.91

Source: District Feeder Roads Department, 2015

Governance

The Atiwa District Assembly is one of the Districts Assemblies in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The District was granted its present status by the Legislative Instrument (LI) 1784 of 2004 It is composed of thirty four (34) Electoral Areas and further divided into Seven (7) Area Councils and thirty four (34) Unit Committees spread throughout the District.

The General Assembly

The Assembly, which is the highest deliberative, legislative and executive authority in the District, is composed of fifty-one (51) members, made of thirty four (34) elected on non-partisan basis ,fifteen (15) appointed by government, Two (2) Members of Parliament representing Atiwa East and West constituencies of the district and the District Chief Executive.

There are eight (8) sub-committees of the Assembly and they are; Social Services, Works, Finance and Administration, Development Planning, House, Agriculture, Justice and Security and Budget. Reports from these sub-committees are submitted to the Executive Committee which is presided over by the District Chief Executive.

Sub-District Structures

In line with the objective of achieving complete decentralization, Seven (7) Area Councils and a total of thirty four (34) Unit Committees have been established in the District to deepen grassroots participation in governance. Only one Area Council (Anyinam) has office accommodation. The Assembly has provided them with computers and other office equipment. The District Assembly has also ceded some revenue areas to them for collection and keeps 50% of whatever they collect for their own local development.

The Area Councils still face a lot of challenges and chiefly among them include; office accommodation, inadequate funding and means of transport. These affect the execution of their functions such as resource identification/mobilization, registration of births and deaths, mobilization of communities to undertake local development activities, etc. Measures such as the provision of funding and means of transport, training and logistics are required to make these structures function effectively to enable them contribute the development of the district

Public Sector Institutions in the District

A sizeable number of other institutions and organizations have been established and operating in the District to provide services that are geared towards promoting good governance. They include the National Commission of Civic Education (NCCE), Electoral Commission (EC), District Police Command, and Atiwa District Health Insurance Scheme (ATDHIS) and the Traditional Authority. The District has two (2) magistrate courts located at Kwabeng and Anyinam, and National Ambulance Service with one van stationed at Anyinam. One fire service station without an office and the necessary equipment resources located at Anyinam. Measures are required to improve the infrastructure for the security. There is the need to provide office and residential accommodation, fire tender, logistics and office equipment to enhance the communication links between the public and the security agencies

The Administrative Set-up

The Office of the District Assembly established under Local Government Act 656 of 2003 is the bureaucratic nerve centre of the Assembly. The District Chief Executive is the political and administrative head of the institution. The District Co-ordinating Director is the head of the bureaucracy and provides guidance and direction to all the eleven (11) Decentralised Departments of the District. The administrative structure is composed of the General Administration, District Planning Co-ordinating Unit, Finance Unit, Budget Unit, Internal Audit, Works Department and Environmental Sanitation Unit.

Decentralized Departments

Nine (9) out of the statutory eleven (11) decentralized departments that are required by law to be established in the District are in operation. The composition of these departments is outlined table below:

Table 21: Composition of Decentralized Departments

DEPARTMENT	COMPOSITION	LOCATION IN ASSEMBLY SUB-COMMITTEE
1.Ghana Education Service	1. Education 2. Ghana Library Board	Social Services Sub-Committee
2.Social Welfare and Community Dev.	1. Social Welfare 2. Community Dev.	Social Services
3.Works Department	1. P.W.D. 2. Feeder Roads 3. Rural Housing	Infrastructure/Works
4.Physical Planning	1. Town & Country Planning Dept. 2. Parks & Gardens	Development Planning
5.Finance Department	1. Controller & Acct. General	Finance & Administration
6.Central Administration	1. Central Admin. 2. MPCU 3. Births & Deaths 4. Information Serv. 5. Statistical Serv.	1. Executive Committee 2. Finance & Admin. 3. Social Services 4. Works 5. Development Planning
7.Disaster Prevention	1. Fire Service	1. Social Service
8.Health	1. DHMT 2. Environmental Health	1. Social Service
9.Agriculture	1. Animal Health 2. Fisheries 3. Agric. Extension 4. Crop Services	Agriculture
10. Trade & Industry	–	–
11. Natural Resource Conservation	–	–

TABLE 22: INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS OF DEPARTMENTS

S/N	Institution	Main functions	Area of operations	Source of funding	Linkages	Challenges
1	Judiciary	-Adjudication of cases -Execution of administration	District Wide	GOG	ADA Env. Health, Social Welfare Police	Lack of office & Residential accommodation Transport and office equipment
2	Police	-Protection of life and property. -Peace keeping	District Wide	GOG	Judiciary	Lack of residential accommodation Transport office equipment
3	Social Welfare	Protection of public welfare	District Wide	GOG DA NGO	GES DHA Judiciary NGOs Churches	Lack of office and residential accommodation Office equipment means of transport Inadequate funds
4	Community development	Community animation, mobilization and development	District Wide	GOG DA	ADA NGOs Churches social welfare	Lack of office and residential accommodation Office equipment Means of transport/logistics Inadequate fund.
5	Agriculture	Food and Animal Production	District Wide	GOG DA	ADA NGOs	Lack of office and residential accommodation Inadequate professional staff Limited funds
6	District Health Administration/District Health Management Team	Public health and limited curative services	District Wide	GOG	ADA NGOs	Lack of residential accommodation Limited funds Inadequate professional staff Low community participation
7	NADMO	Prevention and management of disasters	District Wide	GOG ADA	ADA Fire Service	Mobility Problems Inadequate funds *Lack of office accommodation.
8	Ghana Education Service	Provision of educational service at 1^st and 2^nd cycles	District Wide	GOG ADA	ADA DHA Social Welfare NGOs	Lack of office & residential accommodation Inadequate teaching staff Limited fund Logistics and transport.
S/N	Institution	Main functions	Area of operations	Source of funding	Linkages	Challenges
9	Town and County Planning	Physical Planning	District Wide	GOG ADA	ADA DHA Feeder Roads ECG Highways	Lack of office & residential accommodation Inadequate professional staff Limited funds Lack of means of transport/logistics
9.0	Environmental health	Ensures good sanitation	District Wide	ADA	ADA NGOs DHA	Lack of office & residential accommodation Means of transport/logistics Lack of funding.
11	Fire service	Prevents and fights fire	District Wide	ADA GOG	ADA NADMO Communities	Office and residential accommodation means of transport/logistic Inadequate funds Lack of office equipment *Limited/inadequate staff
12	Cooperatives		District Wide	GOG ADA	ADA MOFA Community Development	Lack of Office accommodation Inadequate funding Office equipment/logistics Inadequate staff.
13	NCCE	Conducts civic education	District Wide	GOG ADA	ADA Electoral commission	-Inadequate funds -Lack of office accommodation -Inadequate logistics
14	Electoral Commission	Conducts elections on behalf of the government	District Wide	GOG	ADA NCCE Police	– Office and residential accommodation -Inadequate funds
15	Statistical Service	Provides reliable/realistic data for planning. Conducts census on behalf of the government	District Wide	GOG ADA	ADA Other Depts.	-Lack of office and residential accommodation -Inadequate funds -Transport/Logistics

S/N	Institution	Main functions	Area of operations	Source of funding	Linkages	Challenges
16	Information Services		District Wide	GOG ADA	ADA Community, Development Statistical Service, NCCE, Electoral Commission	–Lack of Office Accommodation -Inadequate funds
17	NFED		District Wide	GOG ADA	ADA GES NCCE	–Lack of Office accommodation –Lack of office equipment/logistics -Lack of means of transport -Inadequate funds
18	Finance		District Wide	GOG ADA	ADA Depts.	-Lack of Office Accommodation -office equipment/logistics -Inadequate Professional Staff -Lack of means of transport
19	Birth & Deaths Registry	Registration of birth and deaths	District Wide	GOG	DHA Environmental Health ADA	-Lack of office accommodation -Lack of transport/logistic -Inadequate staff -Inadequate funds
20	Central Administration	Provides Secretariat Duties for General Assembly	District Wide	DACF Dev.t Partners	All Institutions and Depts.	-Lack of office and residential accommodation -Office equipment/logistics -Unskilled personnel -Inadequate funds.
21	Atiwa District Health Insurance Scheme (ATDHIS)		District Wide	GOG ADA	ADA DHA	-Inadequate funds -Inadequate means of transport -Inadequate skilled & qualified personnel

Sources: Institutional survey by DPCU, 2015

Lack of office and residential accommodation, qualified and skilled personnel and inadequate funds, office equipment and logistics are found to be the main challenges as shown in table above. While there is the need for the District Assembly to put in strategies to improve the capacities of the existing staff, it should also lobby for the postings of qualified and skilled staff to the District.

Gender Analysis and Mainstreaming

Gender mainstreaming is one of the social development issues receiving much attention in the international media, academia and among the agender activities. The gender mainstreaming is to becoming gender sensitive by creating equal opportunities for both sexes and the vulnerable individual in all fields of endeavour.

Gender equality is offering men and women, boys and girls equal rights, opportunities in everything they do to influence, participate and benefit from development. Men and women have the capacity to do whatever each one wants to do irrespective of sex. Equality is a pre-condition for effective and sustainable people-centred development. Many times there is a gap between policy statements and the way in which organisations raises money and organizes participation in the formulation of new policies, legislation and the consequent allocation of resources in the budgets. This has been attributed to factors that negate equal participation in economic processes and decision making, inequitable distribution of development resources particularly to less productive sectors, declining land sizes and soil fertility, the scourge of HIV/AIDS, among others. A Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiative is seen as one way to cover this gap, and ensuring that public money is raised and spent effectively.

The analysis of gender sensitivity of the Atiwa District Assembly does not look good as conscious is not made to mainstream gender in the policy and programme formulation and implementation. The below table which shows the gender composition of the Atiwa District Assembly since its establishment buttress the above assertion. The table below shows that the average female representation of the three Assembly sessions of the constitutes only 21.7 percent of the total membership of the Assembly except in 2006-2009 session where the female composition exceeded 30 percent.

Table 23: Gender Composition of Atiwa District Assembly

SESSION	MALE	%	FEMALE	%	TOTAL
2004-2005	28	80	7	20	35
2006-2009	24	69	11	31	35
2010-2014	47	86	7	14	49
Average		78.3		21.7

Again, the analysis of financial assistance to brilliant and needy children shows that in 2010 out of four-two students who received financial assistants, thirty (30) were male while only twelve (12) were female. However, in 2011 management made conscious effort to be more gender sensitive by giving more financial assistance to female needy students. And as result, out of forty (40) students who received financial assistance in 2011, twenty-two (22) female and eighteen (18) males were male. On the whole the District Assembly has not been gender sensitive as expected in order to give equal opportunities to both sexes in the development process. Some of key area the Planning Team identified during situational analysis would be addressed in the programme of action included the following:

Sensitization of women to aspire for leadership positions including local politics
Promotion of girl education in the district
Advocacy for nomination of more female to be appointed as Assembly members by Government
Adoption affirmative action in the appointment of individuals to serve on committee
Adoption of affirmative action in award of scholarships to female needy children
Strengthening of non- formal education in the district to enhance adult female literacy
Sensitization of children and women right in the district

Vulnerability and Excluded analysis

In the Atiwa District Assembly, the following groups have been identified as vulnerable and excluded: deaf and dumb; Difficult Circumstances walking, seeing, hearing, speaking; intellectually challenged, mentally challenged, Amputee, Epilepsy, Hunched. Adolescent Girls (those from low income and broken homes and single mothers as well as commercial sex workers) as well as Persons Living With HIV/AIDS. The Aged, poor Women and Unemployed Youth were identified as vulnerable.

Problems related to the vulnerable and excluded in the District include: inaccurate data inadequate credit facilities to the vulnerable and the excluded, high rate of poverty among women, and low employable and entrepreneurial skills especially among them. One major challenge confronting the District to implement interventions to address the plight of the vulnerable has been inadequate funding due to equally important competing demands from other sectors. However with the creation of the disability fund from the DACF the impact of the challenge would be reduced.

Table: 24 Categorization of some vulnerable and excluded people in the District

S/N	TYPE OF VULNERABILITY	MALE	FEMALE	TOTAL
1.	Difficulty in walking	63	60	123
2.	Difficulty in seeing	14	21	35
3	Difficulty in speaking	14	16	30
4	Difficulty hearing	4	7	11
5	Intellectually challenged		2	2
6	Mentally challenged	2	–	2
7	Epilepsy	–	2	2
8	People living with like HIV and AIDS (registered members)	26	27	53

Source: Department of social welfare and District office of the GHS, 2015

In order to reduce the vulnerability of the sections of the population described below, the following interventions will be implemented over the four years to improve the living conditions of the people:

Update data of the vulnerable people especially PWDs and the PLWHAs.
Organise employable skills for the PWDs.
Establish skills training centre for the PWDs
Provide finance to assistants to the PWDs
Support PLWHAs to access ART

Provide financial support for OVCs
Support the unemployed young female to be engaged in the National Youth Unemployment Programme
Monitor the activities of the PWDs

Information and communication Technology

There are three (3) post offices in the district. These are located at Kwabeng, Abomosu and Anyinam. The District is serviced the direct line telephone services provide by Vodaphone Ghana. All other mobile telephone services such as MTN, Tigo, Kasapa, Zain and Vodafone are also available in most parts of the district.

The District has no FM radio station; however, signals of most FM stations located in Koforidua, Nkawkaw and Accra are received in most parts of the District. Signals from GTV, TV3, TV Africa, Multi TV and Metro TV are also available in most parts of the district. There are also 5 internet cafes located at at Anyinam. There is also Community Information Centre at Kwabeng and Anyinam. These facilities provide important means through which information and feedbacks can be obtained for effective development of the district. Efforts must therefore be made to ensure that the communication service providers improve and sustain the quality of the services.

The computer literacy rate in the district is relative high especially among the youth and the students. Under the Government free laptop project, 264 laptops had been distributed to 11 schools in the districts. There is hope that more will be distributed during the plan period to enhance the ICT education among basic school students. District Assembly is also intends to connect electricity to some schools in the district without electricity to enhance ICT education

Environment, Climate Change and Green Economy

The District is located within the mist semi-deciduous forest. The forest reserve covers the Atiwa Scarp and its surroundings. Larger proportion of the district is very green as semi-deciduous forest. However, the activities of illegal chain saw operators and illegal as well as small scale miners continue to threaten the forest cover and the environment. The miners are degrading the land with impunity through excavation for the minerals and spillage of dangerous chemicals. The situation has been aggravated by the activities of the illegal miners who undertake their activities in secret without recourse to lay down mining laws and regulations. In order to protect the forest reserves, the Assembly in collaboration with Forestry department will form forest protection taskforce to prevent the activities of illegal chain saw operators and illegal miners. Again farmers will be sensitized to undertake planting of economic tree to replace the caught to prepare their land for planting. The Assembly will consciously seek environmental protection before undertaking construction works in order to ensure sustainable development.

Local Economic Development

The analysis of the business activities in the district revealed that most of the business entities are informal with limited structures for expansion. Most of business entities are not registered with the Registrar General and National Revenue authority to be able access some credit facilities for expansion. Again most of these businesses lack the necessary entrepreneurial business management skills to run their businesses efficiently. The road network and the electricity supply in district are not good enough to enhance the activities of the business community and this should be improved upon. Lack of business advisory institution in the district also hampers nurturing and growth of business entities. Effort should be made to establish district branch of NBSSI to build the capacity of the small and medium scale enterprise. The capacity of the medium and small scale enterprises should be built in terms of formalization of their business and training. Again the youth should also be sensitized and supported to submit business proposals to access the Youth Enterprise Support to establish enterprises and create job opportunities for the unemployed youth. There is no medium scale manufacturing company in the district except some few small scale mining companies and this has implication for high unemployment and poverty. Assembly should therefore take advantage of the ministry of trade and industry’s industrial acceleration programme to establish some agro-processing industries in the district to create jobs and reduce the post harvest losses.

Atiwa

Fig 1 District Map of the Atiwa District

Age-Sex Structure

Fig. 2 Population pyramid of Atiwa District, 2010

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