About GSSP

The Ghana Strategy Support Program (GSSP) is a research, communication, and capacity-strengthening Program to build the capabilities of researchers, administrators, policymakers, and members of civil society in Ghana to develop and implement agricultural and rural development strategies. With core funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/Ghana and a mandate to develop a multi-donor-funded Program, IFPRI launched GSSP as a partnership between Ghana and its development partners.

For more information, you may visit our website or download our program brochure (PDF 361K).

Development strategies

Development strategies are based on choices, not just in terms of a few select issues or activities, but more fundamentally in terms of the position a country adopts—from the sectors, public goods, and services it chooses to develop, to the way it deals with the welfare of poor and otherwise marginalized groups in its society. A wide array of social, political, cultural, and physical conditions influence the path a country takes. Analyzing why countries find themselves in a particular set of circumstances based on past choices is no easy task, but within this larger conundrum it is difficult to dispute the vital role of knowledge and information in influencing such choices. Supplying information and feeding knowledge are primary interventions that influence the choices underlying development strategies and associated policy. Such interventions are at the heart of the Ghana Strategy Support Program (GSSP).

Ghana is well-placed to take advantage of knowledge and information in its quest for pro-poor development. It is democratic and rated a good policy performer, is undergoing a process of decentralization, and in the past five years has reported fairly high levels of poverty-reducing growth. In addition, a widely shared desire to reach middle-income status has been politically articulated, and the country has a clear sense of national identity.

GSSP assists Ghana in implementing its development goals by building in-country capacity to devise and effect strategies that reduce poverty and hunger—usually through the pursuit of growth driven by agriculture and rural development. To this end, we build capacity on a variety of levels, strengthen individual technical and research capabilities, improve public and private organizational effectiveness, conduct research to meet information and knowledge gaps, and foster debate on economic options among stakeholders. Our focus is current issues of relevance: reducing regional imbalances, achieving middle-income status, making appropriate investments, decentralizing to improve accountability and service delivery, developing food crops and smallholder agriculture, aligning with global and regional initiatives—such as the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)—and achieving the Millennium Development Goals. We are also mindful of the gender dimensions associated with many of these issues.

Research

The program’s research primarily focuses on modeling economywide strategic options, analyzing public investments and governance, and developing smallholder agriculture. Economic modeling is an important strategic planning tool, but the Bank of Ghana is the only organization in the country with any modeling expertise, and even that is limited. Developing this expertise within the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the National Development Planning Commission, and outside the government is a priority for the country, particularly as it currently depends on the models of multilateral organizations with which it holds policy-related negotiations. We have been helping the Ghana Statistical Service to build and update social accounting matrixes, which form the building block of economywide modeling in terms of underlying data. Having spent time coming to an understanding of the country’s modeling needs, the program team is now working with government and academic institutions to build their capacity to develop and utilize economic models.

The program’s public investment work focuses on linking public expenditures and development outcomes in efforts to understand the type and level of investments needed to achieve certain outcomes. Such analysis depends on public expenditure information, which is not readily available in Ghana; hence, we have been working with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and other ministries to compile available information in a usable format and make it available to other researchers. Further governance-related work focuses on the organization of public expenditures, including issues of accountability, collective action, and access to key public services. The team has reviewed the country’s substantial efforts toward decentralization and is currently exploring the possibility of conducting farmer investment surveys that go beyond merely identifying constraints to improving the business environment for farmers through innovation.

An important area—and one that is central to IFPRI’s mission—is our work in support of smallholders and food crops. Given that a number of partners are engaged in developing nontraditional export crops, we are focusing on food crops on which poor producers in poorly endowed areas are likely to depend. Work on maize value chains has already been initiated to identify strategic intervention options that the government could implement to promote food crops in an open economy. This has involved modeling the linkages between farmers and businesses that could provide them with access to knowledge, inputs, and markets.

Capacity Strengthening

GSSP’s approach to building capacity is largely action research, as exemplified by our modeling activities and our work on maize, which is being done by a team representing the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, agricultural research organizations, academic institutions, and the poultry industry to ensure that potential participants in relevant policy dialogue also take part in the research. More importantly, this approach builds on existing national expertise. We are expanding our partners beyond research organizations to include the very organizations the research is targeted toward—the government and the private sector. In particular, we are embarking on work with governmental entities, such as ministries, whose capacity to identify and provide appropriate infrastructure and services is a key aspect of development.

We also undertake dedicated capacity-strengthening activities in the form of workshops and training sessions as needed. In addition, we work with donor partners to support the Ministry of Agriculture in developing its strategies and policies. GSSP has proposed an organizational review of the ministry, as well as a workshop to demonstrate how economic models can be used to foster more open dialogue on development options to reduce hunger and poverty.

Impact Assessment

It is important to ensure that the program’s activities have impact. First, the knowledge generated will contribute to more effective strategies, particularly in addressing poverty and hunger. Second, and even more importantly, the program’s capacity strengthening efforts will enable greater use of analytical tools by local research and governmental organizations, enhance the demand and appreciation for information, and promote broader participation in policy dialogues. While ultimate outcomes would be difficult to measure, activities and outputs will be monitored for relevance and effectiveness by a committee comprising representatives of local stakeholder organizations.