NAME: AMOAKO MATTHEW

INDEX: FE/CIV/19/001
COURSE: DEVELOPMENT ENGINEERING
DEPT: CIVIL ENGINEERING

TAKE A COMMUNITY AND WRITE ABOUT ALL THE FOLLOWING

CHANLLENGES, THEIR CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS.
- FINANCIAL
- POPULATION EXPLORATION
- ILLITERACY
- POOR SANITATION
- INSUFFICIENCE INFRASTRUCTURE
- TRANSPORTATION
- ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARER
- CLIMATE CHANGE

DEVELPOMENT CHALLENGES IN ABOABO LOCAL

MUNCICIPALITY
OBSERVATIONS AND DISCUSSION

Access to affordable healthcare

In an attempt to achieve sound community development
through various development projects, the paper recognised
that, the Department of Social Development in Aboabo Local
Municipality was constrained by the prevalence of TB, HIV
and AIDS which wield immense pressure and strain on the
current health facilities. Instead of rendering community
development projects (CDPs) to communities the Department
of Social Development (DoSD) had to cope first with giving
other form of support to the affected people. The high
prevalence of HIV and AIDS exert more pressure and demand
on health and most importantly social services.
When patients have access to health care, they are empowered
to build beneficial relationships with providers and ultimately
manage and overcome illness and injury. Without that access,
people live with undue pain and conditions that tend to
worsen over time.
Many in the Aboabo Local Municipality do not have ready
access to health care — and the barriers they face are not of
their own making. Between high insurance costs, inadequate
transportation systems and appointment availability issues,
potential patients often encounter insurmountable obstacles to
the health care they need and deserve.
Causes of access to affordable healthcare
- High Health Care Costs
- Transportation Barriers
- Implicit Bias and Health Care Avoidance
Solution to access to affordable healthcare
- Expand Insurance to Cover Health Care Costs
- Invest in Mobile Clinics
- Extend Telehealth Services
 - Educate the Public About Multiple Health Care Sites

The Need to Improve on Skills Development (Skills

Development and Training)
The paper established that the shortage of skills and the
incompetence of the technical staff in both Aboabo Local
Municipality and the Department of Social Development was
another blow in achieving sound communityDevelopment.
Gardner Business Solutions (2011) reasons that, the failure by
local government to train staff members in projects
management, market awareness and business knowledge has
seen the life span of several community development projects
being shortened. Matthew (2023) admits that, leaders of the
community development projects suffer from managerial
skills, uncompetitive pricing, poor knowledge of business and
poor team work and coordination. This dearth in the
administrative systems is due to the lack of skills
development that has contributed to the demise of many
development projects in the Sawaba Aboabo Province.
Causes of illiteracy
- Poverty
- Lack of affordable education facilities
- Social barriers
- Lack of awareness
- Unemployment of the educated
- Illiteracy among parents
Solution to illiteracy
- Lower educational cost
- Grants
- Awarenes
- Free education

Unfavourable Climatic Conditions

The geographical location and the poor climatic conditions of
Aboabo Local Municipality pose a serious threat to the
community development projects in the surrounding
communities such as Sawaba and Mampong. The prevalence
of terrestrial summer rains often accompanied by storms and
thunder, coupled with the weakened soil cover, flooding and
erosion is common sight in Aboabo District. Matthew (2023)
in his study found out that, the failure by the Ashanti West
government to respond to the effects of bad climatic
conditions and prioritise agriculture posed a serious threat to
the local residents thereby subjecting them to high food
insecurity.
Causes of climatic change
- Greenhouse Gases
- Human Contributions
Solution to climatic change
- Wind power
- Green Buildings

Population growth
Demography is not destiny, but population growth trends are
crucially important to the future of Aboabo Local
Municipality already struggling to alleviate hunger, eliminate
severe poverty, manage water scarcity, curb environmental
degradation or prevent conflict.
Rapid population growth is a “challenge multiplier,” the
researcher finds. Unless their fertility rates fall faster than
they are now, these communities’ progress in eliminating
hunger, reducing severe poverty, minimizing environmental
degradation and avoiding political instability will be slow.
But it’s far from hopeless. The good news is, programs
needed to reduce demographic vulnerability, such as family
planning, yield multiple benefits and are relatively
inexpensive.

Causes of population exploration

-Birth rate - Birth rates are measured through the live births of
babies born yearly per 1000 people in a population.
-Death rate - Death rates are measured through the deaths
yearly per 1000 people in a population.
 -Migration - Migration is the entering and leaving of a
country.
-Lack of education
Solution population exploration
- Promote family planning
- Make education entertaining
- One-child legislation
- Women’s empowerment

Sanitation
Poor sanitation puts children at risk of childhood diseases and
malnutrition that can impact their overall development,
learning and, later in life, economic opportunities. While
some parts of the world have improved access to sanitation,
millions of children in poor and rural areas have been left
behind.
Lack of sanitation is a barrier to of Aboabo Local
Municipality prosperity and sustainable development. When
children, especially girls, cannot access private and decent
sanitation facilities in their schools and learning
environments, the right to education is threatened. As adults,
wage earners who miss work due to illness may find
themselves in financial peril. And when health systems
become overwhelmed and productivity levels fall, entire
economies suffer.
Causes of poor sanitation
-Open defecation.
-Unsafe drinking water.
-High density living.
-Lack of education.
-Increased health issues.
-Increase in diseases.
-Decrease in schooling.
Solutions to poor sanitation
-We need to improve hygiene awareness
-Recognise sanitation as a basic necessity
-Building of infrastructures

The Need to Improve on Infrastructural

The success of community development as a part of
government’ initatives to alleviate poverty and generate
employment rely on adequate infrastructure that supports
various developmental programmes. The paper depicted that,
the poor infrastructures such as proper recreational and
vocational schools to promote skills development among the
youth and inadequate equipment (laboratories) in local
schools hampered the advancement of science and research.
 The department of Education and Energy failed to adequately
provide favourable infrastructure to support education which
is one of the obligations of community development
The lack of transport services hampered the ability of CDPs to
flourish in the Ashanti West. Goods and services could not be
moved in time owing to the poor roads networks. The main
transport systems were largely focused and on the movement
of goods and people across the Ashanti West landscape
particularly in the community of Sawaba. These challenges
had a negative bearing on the success of the community
development projects. The Aboabo Local Municipality IDP
(2013- 2014) concurs that poor infrastructure (roads,
railways) have been a major impediment in the transportation
of people and goods across the district. Matthew (2023)
argues that such challenges facing community development
projects should be mitigated through the community
grassroots and integrated approaches where people are
consulted on the way forward on how to boost their own
infrastructure.
Causes of insufficient infrastructure
- lack of funding
- lack of capacity
- poor planning and oversight
- lack of By-laws,
- grant dependency and corruption
Solution to insufficient infrastructure
- generate funding
- Have enough capacity
- Good planning and oversight
- Effective By-laws
Causes of transportation
- inadequate public transportation facilities
Solution of transportation
- Adequate public transportation facilities

The Need to Improve on Revenue Collection Strategies

(Revenue Collections Strategies)
The paper established that Aboabo Local Municipality was hit
by a poor revenue base which resulted from poor revenue
collection strategies relating to the under-pricing on services
rendered for the public. This had a negative bearing on the
Department of Social Development because the municipality
was not able to adequately fund social services in the
communities, which was a hindrance in achieving effective
community development. A study by Matthew (2023)
revealed that cooperatives which lie at the cornerstone of
community development projects have been experiencing
cash flow challenges as a result of their inability to access
equity capital from the members. Banks are reluctant to fund
cooperatives because they lack collateral security hence it’s a
risk they cannot afford.
Matthew (2023) concludes that community development
projects (cooperatives) have the potential of turning around
the third world economies in the event they flourish in a
conducive environment.
Through adequate financing community development projects
can help the poor in the most vulnerable and marginalised
communities in West Africa with the much needed
opportunity for selfdetermination and economic
empowerment.

Causes of financial
- Financial literacy and capability
- inadequate funding
- poor governance
- political interference
Solution to financial
- Education
- Awareness
CONCLUSION
The main findings of this paper have shown that community
development in the Eastern Cape is still to be achieved.
Community development projects such as women cooperatives
have the potential to regenerate employment and alleviate
poverty in the rural communities; however they are being
hampered by internal and external factors in terms of
management, funding and coordination. The paper deduced that,
the government needs to improve on its infrastructure to
improve the movement of goods and services. The paper
depicted that employing incompetent staff compromised
community service delivery hence the government needs to
adopt a holistic approach towards improving recruitment
strategies. Inadequate knowledge in Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) needs to be addressed as a
matter of urgency through educating the local people on the use
of modern technology.