ABSTRACT
This chapter examines many issues in rural Ghana by examining donor-supported public-sector reform and decentralized governance programs for evidence of patterns of entrepreneurialism, democratic governance, and social equity. Prior to colonial rule, governance in Africa was based on traditional authorities. These authorities played an important, if controversial, role in the Gold Coast, now Ghana. As the Gold Coast approached independence, the issue was whether there was a potential for federal or devolved regional and district structures as demanded by the Ashanti area leadership. Structural adjustment policies in Ghana included economic and public-sector reforms, followed by democracy and governance reforms. A primary goal of decentralization in Ghana has been to incorporate economic, social, spatial, and environmental issues into the development process at the local level. Primary civil society associations in Ghana have their origins in traditional social groups, including trading networks and revivalist religious cults, some of which date back to the colonial and pre-colonial periods.
