Integrated Planning Is Key to Improving Children’s Lives — NDPC Director-General

The Director-General of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, has underscored the need for a more coordinated and holistic approach to national development planning, stressing that policies must reflect the real-life experiences of children.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Strategic Moment of Reflection Meeting held in Accra, Dr Amoah noted that children’s needs cut across multiple sectors and cannot be addressed in isolation.

“Children do not experience life in sectors; our planning must therefore reflect a coordinated approach that brings all systems together,” she said.

She explained that areas such as health, education, nutrition, and protection are deeply interconnected in the lives of children and should be treated as such in policy design and implementation.

Dr Amoah emphasised that the meeting was not a routine assessment but a deliberate effort to strengthen delivery systems and ensure that development interventions lead to measurable impact.

“We are here not only to ask what has been done, but what difference it has made. This is about moving from intention to impact, and from fragmented action to integrated delivery for every child,” she stated.

Representing the Deputy Minister of Finance, the Coordinating Director, Mr David Klottey, highlighted the importance of translating macroeconomic recovery into tangible improvements in people’s lives, particularly for children and vulnerable populations.

He stressed that economic stability must reflect in better nutrition, improved learning outcomes, increased access to healthcare, and stronger protection systems.

Also addressing the meeting, the Regional Director for West and Central Africa at UNICEF, Gilles Fagninou, reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to supporting Ghana in scaling effective interventions. He pointed out that while solutions are known, the key challenge lies in implementing them at scale through coordinated systems.

“We know what works; the challenge now is scale, ensuring that every child benefits regardless of where they live requires systems that work together, not in isolation,” he said.

Director of Research at NDPC, Richard Tweneboah Koduah, stressed the importance of aligning policy, planning, and financing to achieve meaningful results.

He noted that child-centred development remains a cross-cutting priority embedded across sectors.

“Because children do not live in sectors, our planning must reflect a coordinated, multi-sectoral approach that integrates education, health, nutrition, and protection systems,” he said.