This was attributed to the recent District League Table (DLT) launched by the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana and UNICEF.

The District, which placed last among the 11 districts in the Region and 215th position out of the 2016 districts in Ghana, managed to improve its score by 27 percentage points from 2015 to 2016.

The District scored 64.7 per cent and is now placed as second best performing District in the Region and 49th position in the country.

Another district that performed creditably was Sissala East District, which scored 67.0 per cent to replace Wa Municipal at the top of the regional rankings. The District also occupies the 32nd position in the national rankings.

The Region also improved in the ranking with an average score of 60 per cent in 2016 as compared to an average score of 53 per cent in 2015.

The DLT is a simple tool that ranks the level of development in each of Ghana’s 216 Districts, using six indicators across six sectors and aimed to increase social accountability – where citizens and service providers demand of, and account to each other – for improved development across Ghana.

Mr Sulemana Alhassan, the Regional Minister commended CDD – Ghana and UNICEF for sustaining the DLT initiative since its inception in 2014.

He said the DLT had challenged Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) especially the deprived ones to strive hard to improve services and raise the standard of living among the people.

The Regional Minister said the DLT also highlighted the need for government and stakeholders to find innovative ways of solving some basic developmental challenges relating to sanitation, water, health, education, governance and security.

 Mr Prosper Ahalivor who spoke on behalf of the Head of the Local Government Service (LGS) said it was pertinent to disclose that in its bid to improve institutional and staff capacity, competition, performance and service delivery, the Service had developed and implementing an evaluation/assessment system known as the LGS Performance Management System (PMS).

He said the LGS therefore recognised the DLT as an objective assessment initiative that had the potential to engender competition among MMDAs, stimulate district level performance and further deepen efforts at decentralisation.

He said the DLT as a simple ranking tool had become a significant national tool for raising awareness of district development and promoting social accountability at the local level.

While commending CDD Ghana and UNICEF for designing the DLT, Mr Ahalivor said it was the conviction of the LGS that the DLT when sustained would positively influence and encourage dialogue between the state actors and citizenry.

He said it would provide the platform for Assembly members, opinion leaders, chiefs and civil society organisations to ask questions on how their districts were faring.

He encouraged poor performing MMDAs to learn from the success stories of their high achieving colleagues and strive to reach to the top of the rankings.