An assessment of the impact of the catholic diocese of Jasikan on the socio-economic development of the Northern part of the Volta Region
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Date
2011-11-30
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Abstract
The Catholic Church in Ghana has been growing over the years. It is for this reason that the Catholic Diocese of Jasikan was created to meet the needs of the faithful in the way that God loves them. The Church is God’s agent of transformation in communities. However, over the years, churches have interpreted their mission to meet the needs of the people in different ways. For example, some Churches have focused only on the spiritual aspects of poverty. Their expression of love to the community has been in proclaiming the gospel. Some have expressed love through focusing on people’s material needs without giving enough attention to spiritual needs. They demonstrate the gospel without necessarily proclaiming it.
The survey was conducted to find out how the establishment of the Diocese had impacted positively or other wise on the lives of the people in the Northern part of the Volta Region. The survey used research tools including questionnaire administration, interviews, focus group discussions, personal observation and the review of related literature.
The findings of the research showed a number of important issues. The research showed for example that the Diocese was vigorously pursuing programmes and projects such as in education, health, agriculture, women and development and youth development. The research showed that the policies being pursued were also contributing to the poverty reduction programmes of the various District Assemblies in the Northern part of the Volta Region.
The study concluded with some recommendations. On the issue of self-reliance it is important to indicate that for proper self-reliance, the Diocese must take local economic planning very seriously. This means there must be a re-thinking of the whole structure of the church. The Diocese can encourage all parishes to embark on a “green revolution” where more farms could be established and maintained.
Networking is also an important tool that is suitable for the Diocese to improve on her performance and enhance their impact in poverty reduction. As a rural Diocese, Networking is therefore seen as a very effective means to share useful information and the spread of knowledge about the needs of the people, the solutions and best practices.
On education, it is highly recommended that the Diocese should come up with a 5-year strategic plan for the development of education in the Diocese.
It became clear from the study that the process of reducing poverty in any community is not an easy task and so the Diocese having taken it upon itself to contribute to the reduction of poverty in the Northern part of the Volta Region would need the unflinching support of all stakeholders especially the District Assemblies in bringing about the needed change in the life of the people.
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A Thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the
of Master of Science in Development Policy and Planning.