Local Medium-Term Development Planning for People in Vulnerable Situations

This research report was prepared as part of the project Local Development for the Inclusion of People in Vulnerable Situations (LOCDEV). The report draws on an empirical analysis of Ghana's National Medium-Term Development Policy Framework 2022-2025 and 33 municipal and district development plans, as well as survey data and group discussions with local planning actors and social welfare officials. It examines the extent to which the country's medium-term development planning system provides opportunities for a systematic mainstreaming of the rights and needs of people in vulnerable situations into local development processes. The report presents findings on the structures, processes, and practices through which vulnerability is addressed within local planning. It concentrates on group-specific aspects of vulnerability, as reflected in planning documents, including childhood, youth, old age, gender, disability, and mental health. Both the substantive treatment of these issues and their institutional integration within planning structures and processes are examined. Findings suggest that despite uniform national planning guidelines, local planning practices exhibit a variety of approaches and patterns for addressing these issues. This variation indicates, on the one hand, a degree of discretion that local governments can exercise. On the other hand, it reveals opportunities for peer exchange and collective learning to strengthen vulnerability-responsive local development planning. Therefore, the report also aims to encourage the development of peer exchange and collective learning processes on vulnerability-responsive planning among local government stakeholders.