Approaches to watershed management in Ghana: A study of the Inchaban Watershed

By the end of 1980, the failure of engineering-led approach to watershed management was clear in most developing countries, and international agencies had to undertake a major rethinking into a better approach. The challenge to these countries was to develop an integrated management system that would bring the needs of local people and the interest of management organisations on board. This paper explored the various approaches and the level of coordination that exist among watershed management institutions in Ghana after the post independence era and suggested best approaches for policy formulation and implementation. Using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions guides, information relating to the developments in the Inchaban Watershed was solicited from 41 key respondents selected from the management and user institutions, chiefs and individual users. The results of the study revealed that the Inchaban watershed management institutions started using haphazardly two approaches to management: bottom-up and sectoral. The management institutions afterwards cooperated poorly in policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects making them unsuccessful to achieve their main aim of conserving the Inchaban Watershed. It is therefore recommended that the WRC, NDPC and MWH which are at the top of affairs in watershed management should collaborate effectively, and follow strictly the rules enshrined in either the bottom-up or sectoral approach.