Making the Functional Organisational Assessment Tool Work for Local Governments in Ghana: Evidence from the Central Region

Effective assessment of the performance of local governments (LGs) enhances responsiveness to the tenets of decentralisation and good governance. Various tools have been used to facilitate the assessment of LGs. However, the responsiveness of these tools to leadership and accountability to citizens remains a challenge. The paper examined how the Functional Organisational Assessment Tool (FOAT) can be made an effective tool for assessing the performance of LGs in the Central Region of Ghana.Mixed-methods approach was used. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select a sample of 989 respondents from three local government areas namely: Cape Coast Metropolis (CCM), Effutu Municipality and Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa(AOB) District. Data were collected from regional, district and community actors using interview schedules and an interview guide. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyse the data.

The study found that the FOAT paid less attention to leadership in the performance assessment of LGs. Mechanisms for holding leaders accountable were not provided in the FOAT and there was very low awareness about FOAT, especially at the community level. The study recommendsthat the FOAT should cover assessment of the leaders in responding to performance requirements and the FOAT administrators should create awareness about FOAT.