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Every country or community craves for development in various forms – development that has positive impact on various facets of human endeavor. This insatiable quest for development calls for pragmatic measures to bring it to fruition.

One tested model that holds the key to rapid socio-economic development at the local level is the Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP), a process that was developed and popularized in East Africa by Spark MicroGrants, a partner organization of Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA). In fact, Spark MicroGrants has successfully implemented this model in seven countries involving 816 communities with over 550,000 people directly impacted by this initiative.

ACA, a non-profit-making organisation, has since 2016 been helping some West African communities threatened by mining activities to choose a development pathway through legal support and popular mobilization.

In the long-term, the FCAP process envisages that this tried and tested model will be adopted by the government as the main vehicle for the execution of development projects at the local level. Since 2018, FCAP has been ACA’s community-driven development strategy, which encourages communities in Ghana and some other West African countries to create a common development vision and equips them with skills and financial resources – including a USD 9,000 microgrant–to pursue it.

FCAP typically combines facilitated meetings, community capacity building, savings groups and a microgrant to the community, to impact individual livelihoods and a sense of social cohesion within the whole community. Beneficiary communities are first trained, among others, in how the people could come together, mobilize resources and take their destiny into their own hands.  ACA and the local authorities usually hire Community-Based Facilitators (CBFs) to run the FCAP process on a day-to-day basis in each community.

How FCAP works

The Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP) is run under three broad Phases. These are the Planning, Implementation and Post-implementation.

Phase 1: This stage involves effective planning during which community members are first trained, among others, in how they could come together, mobilize resources and take their destiny into their own hands.  ACA and the local government authorities usually hire Community-Based Facilitators (CBFs) to run the FCAP process on a day-to-day basis in each village.

Phase 2: This is the implementation stage. At this point, ACA signs grant agreement with each beneficiary community to enable the people implement their chosen project with the $9,000.00 micro-grant within a specified period. Examples of communities which are currently at this stage are Saamang, Abompe, Dome, Hemang, Nsutam, Dwenase, Bosuso and Kplandey in the Fanteakwa South district as well as Asikam and Ahwenease in Abuakwa South of the Eastern region of Ghana.

Phase 3: The last Phase of FCAP is the post-implementation stage where the communities are weaned off FCAP and expected to have acquired some skills to implement their own sustainable development projects, going forward. At this stage, these communities mobilize financial and material resources themselves toward projects in their communities. Donkro Nkwanta, Nwoase, Kyeradeso and Salamkrom in the Nkoranza South municipality, Sagyemase in Abuakwa South as well as Juaso and Nsuapemso in the Fanteakwa South district are communities which are currently at this stage of FCAP.

Success stories

Plans are underway to roll out FCAP in one hundred communities across the Ghana following the successful piloting of the process in four communities in the Nkoranza South Municipality namely Donkro Nkwanta, Kyeradeso, Nwoase and Salamkrom as well as additional three communities in the Eastern region namely Sagyemase in Abuakwa South and Juaso and Nsuapemso in Fanteakwa South district.

The good news is that each of the seven communities just mentioned above has something concrete to show because of the implementation of FCAP primarily because each of them created a common development vision and was equipped with skills and financial resources to realize it.

For instance, Kyeradeso had no health facility and to avoid the situation where the people of the area travel to nearby communities for medical attention, the community decided to use the $9,000 microgrant to put up a CHPS Compound while Salamkrom constructed a 4-unit nurses’ quarters to accommodate nurses posted to the area.

This CHPS Compound at Kyeradeso near Nkoranza is one of the several other community-based projects successfully executed under FCAP

For the people of Nwoase, their main concern was to have accommodation facility for teachers in the town so that they would not have to commute from neighboring towns to work daily. To this end, they have constructed a 4-unit Teachers’ Quarters to ensure that teachers in the area have a convenient place to lodge and go about their normal duties.

Donkro-Nkwanta, on the other hand, has constructed a 1,400-seating capacity Community Centre to serve as a suitable place of holding major public and social gatherings such as Town Hall meetings, wedding receptions, funerals and many more.

In the Eastern region town of Juaso, a community still battling with varying devastating effects of mining, the residents are done with a soap-making factory – thanks to FCAP and they have just begun the production of black soap in commercial quantities to generate income for themselves and to boost their local economy.

Their compatriots at Sagyemase and Nsuapemso have successfully put up CHPS Compounds to aid the access to primary health care services in these communities.

Post FCAP implementation stage

It is note-worthy that Donkro Nkwanta, Kyeradeso, Nwoase, Salamkrom, Sagyemase, Juaso and Nsuapemso have recorded tremendous successes after transitioning to the post-implementation Phase of FCAP.

For example, the people of Donkro Nkwanta have successfully organized a fund-raising ceremony in partnership with their compatriots in the diaspora toward the provision of streetlights in the town, construction of a school block, renovation of the Maternity Block of their local Health Centre as well as provision of doors and windows of the Community Centre. The diasporans have so far supported the community with Gh.c 15,200.00.

A similar story can be told at Sagyemase where, with the support of their colleagues in the diaspora, the community is wiring their CHPS Compound with ease. A Member of Parliament aspirant has also provided financial support toward the tarring of the floor of the CHPS Compound.

At Salamkrom, the people have been able to pool resources toward the construction of a maternity block.

The Kyeradeso community has also undertaken a few self-help initiatives during its post-implementation stage of FCAP. From their own internal mobilization of resources, they have extended pipe-borne water to their clinic and kick-started a nurses’ accommodation project in the town.

Even though, these communities have been weaned off FCAP, that does not mean that ACA is done with them because they will continue to enjoy other support packages through the Citizens’ Committee Network (CiCoNet), Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa (PILIWA) and the Citizen Science programs.

CiCoNet is ACA’s answer to the threat that its partner communities face from powerful economic interests as it serves as an interface group of concerned citizens who help protect the communities’ development vision. Through CiCoNet, our communities have won key victories, such as prompting the suspension of a highly polluting mining company’s operating permit and inducing companies to fill abandoned pits that endangered the welfare of children and livestock.

ACA’s Public Interest Lawyering Initiative for West Africa (PILIWA), a regional movement of lawyers driven by social justice, a host of self-motivated and human rights-driven lawyers, serve threatened communities and assist them to fight for their own vision of the future in the face of pressure from powerful political and economic actors.

PILIWA members have resolved to relentlessly fight for justice and sustainable development in eight West African countries namely Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.

Through PILIWA, ACA’s legal team undertakes case-based legal support, in which ACA directly intervenes to represent or otherwise support West African communities facing serious threats to their human rights, natural environment, or land and livelihoods.

ACA’s Citizen Science program is an alternative, independent, participatory and inclusive scientific approach that helps communities detect the likely impact of mining activities through land, water and air.

Going forward

Having successfully run FCAP in Donkro Nkwanta, Nwoase, Kyeradeso, Salamkrom, Juaso, Sagyemase and Nsuapemso, ACA is currently implementing this development model in eight more communities in Fanteakwa South namely Saamang, Abompe, Dome, Hemang, Nsutam, Dwenase, Bosuso, Kplandey as well as Asikam and Ahwenease in Abuakwa South.

Besides, ACA is in the process of scaling it up by roping in additional 20 communities in Nkoranza South and 46 more communities in Abuakwa South and as time goes on a lot more communities in Ghana are expected to be covered to bring this participatory model of development to the doorsteps of people.

By Michael Offei

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It was all joy at Saamang, Abompe, Dome, Hemang, Nsutam, Dwenase, Bosuso and Kplandey in the Fanteakwa South district as well as Asikam and Ahwenease in Abuakwa South of the Eastern region of Ghana when these communities signed grant agreements with Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA), an NGO, to carry out various development initiatives. Advocates for Community Alternatives (ACA), a non-profit-making organization is facilitating the execution of self-help programs and projects in ten communities in Abuakwa South and
Fanteakwa South districts of the Eastern region of Ghana.

The excitement and enthusiasm demonstrated by these community members during the signingof the grant agreement are ample testimonies of their resolve to pursue their vison in line with the medium-term development plan of the Fanteakwa South district assembly.
ACA is partnering with the Fanteakwa South and the Abuakwa South district Assemblies to support Ghanaian mining communities to implement the Facilitated Collective Action Process (FCAP), a process that was developed and popularized in East Africa by ACA’s partner
organization, Spark MicroGrants.

FCAP is part of ACA’s community-driven development strategy, which encourages communities to create a common development vision and equips them with skills and financial resources – including a USD 9,000 microgrant–to pursue it.

Each community is receiving a $9,000 grant from ACA to pursue sustainable development projects that will put these communities, which are threatened by extractive development, incontrol of their own development and give them the tools to advocate for their own vision of the
future.
In line with the District Assemblies’ medium-term plans, Hemang, Dwenase and Kplandey have prioritized the construction of mechanized boreholes while Dome is putting up a CHPS Compound (mini clinic that typically provides primary health care services).
For residents of Asikam, a maternity block is urgently needed to increase access to maternal health services and further facilitate the process of upgrading their CHPS Compound to a health centre, while their counterparts at Nsutam consider a mini market as their priority. Classroom blocks are to be built at Saamang and Ahwenease.

Community members of Abompe and Bosuso are investing their grants in income-generating ventures to create employment and wealth among themselves. While the people of Abompe are going into poultry farming, their counterparts in Bosuso are venturing into the production of soap in commercial quantities.“I have learnt a lot from ACA over the last four months as regards project implementation and
management. Thanks to ACA’s engagements with us, we are clear in our minds in taking our destiny into our hands and mobilizing resources toward a common goal. My community arrived at a consensus that we should have a health centre and we remain committed to ensuring the successful implementation of our project”, Gideon Ofori Boakye, the Assembly member for Asikam Electoral Area said after the signing of the grant agreement.
“This project will go a long way to help the community as this maternity block, which is about to be built, forms part of the broader plan to upgrade our CHPS compound to a health centre to improve access to good quality health care.” The Mmrateehene (chief of young males) of Asikam, Obed Ofori Ansah also had this to say: The engagements between ACA and the local assembly and the community over the last few months have broadened our horizon on several issues. For instance, we learnt about effective planning and implementation of community-based projects. We are so grateful to ACA and its partners for the good work done so far.”

Already, Sagyemase, Juaso and Nsuapemso in the Eastern region as well as Donkro Nkwanta, Kyeredeso, Nwoase and Sallamkrom in the Bono East region have benefited from the FCAP microgrant projects while plans are underway to add 20 more communities in the Nkoranza
South municipality.
“Following the roll-out of FCAP in my community, Segyemase, we were first trained in how the whole process works. The training, among others, gave us more insight into how we, as a people, could come together, mobilize resources and, with one accord, take our destiny into our hands”,
Emmanuel Akyeamadu, a beneficiary of FCAP in Segyemase near Osino said. He added: “We came together as a community and contributed through communal labour to ensure cost-effectiveness in the execution of the CHPS Compound project, with ACA assisting with the cedi equivalent of $9,000 at the time, which was about Gh.c 52,000.”

In all, ACA intends to replicate the process in a hundred communities across Ghana’s mining regions in the coming years. ACA has also sponsored CDD projects in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Through FCAP, communities have successfully built key infrastructures, including clinics and community centers, and start-up collective enterprises, such as rice farms and black soap manufacturing.
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On July 6, 2023, the Citizens Committee Network (CiCoNet), a group of concerned community members in the Eastern Region of Ghana, led a group of journalists to tour three towns that have been badly affected by mining activities.

The field trip, which took the journalists to Juaso, Nsuapemso and Segyimase, gave media representatives an understanding of the impacts of mining on community members’ lives and livelihoods and showcased the failure of Ghana’s mining regulatory agencies to respond to the human rights and environmental abuses that communities are suffering at the hands of some mining companies operating in the area.

The trip kickstarted at Juaso, where the team visited a structure slated for use as a black soap manufacturing facility, a project that the community launched to provide alternative livelihoods for people who have lost their land to mining expansion.  Ironically, work on the project has stalled due to recent moves by Kibi Goldfields to excavate the land just inches away from the structure, without prior notice to the community.

Juaso soap making block

As soon as the group arrived on-site, and before the journalists could peacefully carry out their professional duty, heavily armed private security agents working with Kibi Goldfields Company Limited emerged, tried to confiscate the participants’ phones and devices, and blocked their egress from the area.  Notwithstanding, the ACA staff on board managed to convince the security detail to allow the media to carry on with their work.

In a series of field visits and interviews, the journalists learned of the community members’ key concerns, including the involuntary acquisition of farmlands by Kibi Goldfields (in Juaso) and Narawa Mining (in Nsuapemso) without adequate compensation to the landowners/farmers and the destruction of water bodies.  Farmers also complained about the companies’ refusal to remediate abandoned mining pits after use, which has led to the accidental death of about nine persons in less than two years.

“I lost my two sons on the same day because of Narawa Mining Company’s uncovered pits at Nsuapemso in September last year. My two sons, Grant Larbi, 24, and Blessed Damptey, 21, fell into one of the uncovered pits on their way to farm and died on the spot,” Mr. Daniel Damptey narrated his ordeal to the media.

According to him, the loss was especially devastating, as Grant Larbi, the eldest son, was the bread winner of the family.

Mr. Daniel Damptey showing 2 sons who died

Mr. George Owusu Asante, Chairman of CiCoNet, stated that Kibi Goldfield’s mining operations had taken over vast areas of lands belonging to the people of Juaso without prior notice, destroying their livelihoods and access to potable drinking water.

“Instead of the mining company informing owners of the land who are predominantly farmers for negotiations, the company takes over the land – often overnight and in most cases without surveying the land – and destroys crops and economic trees,” he stated.  “Just take a look at this building, which is to house our black soap manufacturing system, built by the community to provide an alternate source of income for residents, and just see how they are excavating around the building without any recourse to future of the community?”

The mining company’s alleged actions violate Section 72(5) of the Mineral and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), which requires the owner of the mining lease to, “in the presence of the owner or accredited representative of the owner, and an officer of the Government agency responsible for land valuation, carry out a survey of crops and produce a crop identification map for compensation in the event that the mining activities are extended to the areas.”

“The company’s excavators have shaken the building’s stability, frightening community members who want to participate in the self-help project, disrupting farming activities and causing devastating effects on the community’s livelihood,” remarked Owusu Asante.  “We are unable to farm, which is making life extremely difficult for us,”

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