Slum Improvement in Ghana: The Study of Aboabo and Asawase in Kumasi
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Date
June, 2011
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Abstract
Urbanization in the world has left much to be desired as slum dwellers are trapped in poverty, insecurity, deplorable housing conditions, inadequate provision of water, electrification and sanitation, poor health and education and low productivity (Jennervik, 2006). These conditions are as a result of the failure in existing urban, social and economic development policies. Governments are therefore challenged in addressing the issue of slum development and their further expansion. The growing incidence of slums has thus, resulted in new policies, programs and strategies by city authorities to improve the living conditions of slum dwellers. The main objective of the study which focused on Aboabo and Asawase (the first estate to be built in Kumasi around 1947) in Kumasi was to analyze the nature, magnitude and the growth dynamics of selected slums in the metropolis and to come out with recommendations on how to improve slum conditions. The study employed the cross sectional research design in which the case study method was used. The research made use of the participatory approach in order to have diverse views on the research topic. The study observed that, the conditions in the study communities had deteriorated considerably leading to poor sanitation, encroachment on the land, poor housing and low income generating activities. It was further established that, although some attempts had been made to upgrade the communities, programmes and project were biased towards improvement in infrastructure services and gave less attention to housing development and income generating activities. This was attributed to the fact that the projects and programmes were not holistic and also lacked proper coordination. iii
As a remedy to reduce further slum expansions and formation in the study areas and the metropolis, it is recommended that, at the local level, the Kumasi Metropolitan Planning Unit as lead organization supported by other departments should develop holistic slum improvement packages and generate enough revenue for their smooth implementation. Local level efforts should be supported with national level decentralization of development programmes and projects to the less endowed regions especially the Northern and Upper regions to help reduce rural-urban drift. The proposed recommendations will help improve slum conditions in Ghana and the world at large.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Development Planning and Management.