1. Agricultural Context

Legal status
The Northern Development Authority (NDA) is an independent and statutory corporation established by NDA Act, 963, 2017 to “provide a framework for
the comprehensive and long-term development of the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ)” of Ghana.
Purpose
The objects of NDA are to:
i. accelerate economic and social development in the Northern Development Zone through strategic direction in the planning and prioritization of development projects; .
ii.) mobilize public resources including financial resources and private and public investment for the accelerated economic and social development of the Northern Development Zone;.
iii. co-ordinate development activities in the Northern Development Zone with the aim of ensuring that
i) public resources are effectively utilized; and
ii) private sector investments achieve maximum development impats to reduce poverty and deprivation in every part of the zone; and .
Vision
A transformed Northern Savannah Ecological Zone; a place of opportunity and free from poverty.
Mission
To catalyze the transformation of the NSEZ through citizens' mobilization; strategic thinking; successful coordination, collaboration and facilitation, for effective
public sector delivery and private sector investment.
Operational Area The NDA operational area covers 3 complete administrative regions: Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions of Ghana.

2. What is new about NDA?

• Transitional arangemnets are being made and a Board is yet to be constituted to provide strategic and policy guidance to the instituton;
• A new approach to work focusing more on development facilitation, coordination, resource mobilization and strategic planning guidance for the development
agenda of the NSEZ;
• A new website with an interactive social media and citizen feedback features to ensure accountability, participation and learning between NDA and stakeholders;
• A new organigram for the organization based on our previous learning and our new approach to work;
• A new information portal for the NDA zone including GIS maps for key economic and social infrastructure and investment potentials for the sixty three
metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies within the NDA zone.

3. How is NDA dealing with public concerns about the misuse of public resources?

The SADA management and board is addressing concerns related to misuse of public resources in the following ways:

• Retrieval of all NDA tractors from Technical Service Providers (TSPs) back to SADA pending a board final decision on the tractors;
• Publication of list of TSPs under the NDA agricultural input support programme who have not paid their indebtedness to SADA in the national and local media;
• Recovery of all forms of indebtedness to SADA by all TSPs under its guinea fowl, afforestation , agro-processing and agricultural input support programmes with
legal support from the SADA lawyers and the Attorney Generals Department;
• Preparation to press legal charges against TSPs who have not paid their indebtedness to SADA after negotiated settlement dates.

4. How is SADA ensuring the public resources are properly used and fully accounted for in the future?

Going forward SADA shall ensure value for money and accountability for all public resources in the following ways:

• Using competitive bidding processes for procuring services from clients;
• Minimizing the human factor in procurement by using standardized formats and website for soliciting call for proposals for SADA projects and programmes;
• Using professional firms and institutions to evaluate and advise on Joint Venture, PPP and other contractual arrangements before committing public resources;
• Conducting due diligence, drawing on internal and external resources to assess capacity of suppliers desirous to work with SADA;
• Designing and implementing a rigorous results based M&E; system that tracks the use of resources against expected outcomes;
• Ensuring and enforcing anti-corruption and conflict of interest disclosures by SADA staff and service providers;
• Recruiting highly skilled and experienced professionals to occupy senior positions in the organization. This involves checking on the job history of all applicants
before offering them appointments to work in SADA;
• Improving internal proceeds, controls and systems for financial reporting and audit.

5. Does SADA benefit only people from northern Ghana?

No. SADA provides an enable environment for people in all parts of Ghana interested in exploring the enormous opportunities available in the NSEZ to increase
incomes, jobs and wealth irrespective of ethnicity, creed or sex.

6. Is SADA focusing only on agriculture?

No. SADA employs a comprehensive, holistic and an integrated approach to wealth creation and poverty reduction for the NSEZ. It takes advantage of intra and
inter-sectoral synergies and complementarities within and amongst the various sectors including agriculture, energy, transportation, mining, housing, education, health, etc. Please kindly navigate the SADA website.

7. What is SADA doing for the youth?

SADA supports the youth in a couple of ways:

• Mobilising resources from public, private and development partners for the implementation of programmes within the NSEZ which extend their services to the
youth involved in sectors such as: agriculture, solar energy, agro-processing, housing etc;
• Providing opportunities for the youth to profile their businesses at the annual SADA business and investment forums;
• Investing in youth enterprises that have the potential for job and wealth creation within the NSEZ;
• Facilitating access to scholarships and capacity building programmes for the youth within and outside Ghana where these opportunities are available.

8. Is SADA a grant-making organization?

NO. SADA is not a grant making organization. SADA operates on the basis of mutual partnerships and collaboration for wealth creation and poverty reduction. All programmes and partnerships with SADA are required to meet stringent environmental, economic and social sustainability requirements.

9. How is SADA addressing gender inequalities?

We address gender inequalities in the following ways:

• Collaborating with stakeholders to address inequalities in the access to and control of productive resources between women and men in the NSEZ;
• Facilitating access to quality education and health care for both girls and boys, women and men within the NSEZ;
• Ensuring equitable representation and participation of women and men in all SADA programmes

10. How is NDA addressing extreme poverty and marginalization of sections of society?

SADA strives to address extreme poverty and marginalization in a number of ways:

• Using poverty profile maps and household surveys to identify and target the extreme poor and vulnerable in the implementation of specific projects and
programmes that economically employ them;
• Facilitating access to social protection programmes for the extreme poor and vulnerable population within the NSEZ;
• Monitoring the impact of government policies and programmes on the extreme poor and vulnerable population within the NSEZ.

11. How is NDA promoting the growth of SMEs?

We support the work of SMEs within the SADA zone in the following ways:

• Profiling SMEs at our annual business and investment forum;
• Investing in SMEs that show prospects for growth and job creation;
• Facilitating access to credit, land and markets for SMEs.

12. How does NDA facilitate domestic and foreign investments in the SADA zone?

We facilitate domestic and foreign investment in the NDA zone in the following ways:

• Providing information on business and investment opportunities within the SADA zone;
• Providing annual platforms for match-making between domestic and foreign investors;
• Facilitating access to land, water and energy for domestic and foreign investors willing to operate in the NDA zone;
• Co-investing in domestic and foreign businesses in the form of Joint Ventures and PPPs;
• Facilitating access to tax concessions and credit guarantees for specific type of investments.

13. Is NDA not duplicating the role of Regional Coordinating Councils and the MDAs?

No. The mandate of NDA is clear and unambiguous.

• We collaborate with the RCCs and MDAs to improve governance and delivery of services to the people in the NSEZ;
• We coordinate development initiatives across regions within the NSEZ thereby avoiding duplications in the delivery of development projects and programmes;
• We know from our mapping of the socio-economic indicators of the zone, where the development gaps and opportunities are in the NSEZ and can provide
strategic planning guidance to government, private sector and development partners interested in working in the zone;
• We mobilise human, financial and natural resources for cross regional multi- dollar projects and programmes that are game changers for the NSEZ and Ghana.

14. How does NDA raise money to achieve its mandate?

The sources of funds for implementing the NDA mandate include the following:

(a) Direct Budgetory support from Government.
(b) Monies allocated for the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication programmes.
(c) Loans and Grants.
(d) Renst and Royalties.
(e) Donations and Gifts.
(f) Any other Internally Generated Funs by the Aurthority.

15. How does NDA measure progress and value for money?

NDA measures progress and value for money through the following ways:

• Perioding Impact monitoring of projects and programmes
• Studies and External evaluationsof projects.
• Use of Participatory Most Siginificant Change approaches

16. Is NDA a political institution?

NO. NDA is an independent and autonomous public institution in Ghana.

17. Do Civil Society Organisations (CSO) have any role in NDA?

The CSOs are the eyes, ears and mouths of NDA. They can play a role in holding NDA accountable for the use of public resources allocated for the implementation of the NDA Mandate.