UDS TTFPP A Solution To Ghana's Rural Development Challenges

University For Development Studies (UDS) is one of the universities owned by the state, it was established to train students for the development of Northern Ghana and Parts of Brong Ahafo region. The Third Trimester Field Practical Program ( TTFPP) is one of the unique features of the school which distinguish it from the traditional University system.

Students are taken through orientation on how to stay in the various communities and how to collect, analysis and use the various research tools to come out with a report of a community. Students from the school embark on various activities as part of their stay in the community; Community service especially Teaching, organizing of clean up exercise, assisting of health personnel those medical background.

First year students embark on Community Profile where population census is conducted, research is done on the housing and households, industries, economic activities, literacy and illiteracy rate, methods of cooking and thier income distribution.

Apart from above students also organizes community forums to take grievances of the community members and using SWOT analysis or any research tools comes out with the various problems affecting the development of the community, pairwise ranking is use to determine the top most issue affecting them.

What then is meant by development of a rural area?
Rural development is about improving rural life mainly in social and economical aspects. Of course, there are different levels where rural development takes place. From the rural areas of developed countries suffering from isolation and distance from services, to third world countries where poverty and malnutrition are a constant threat. Different situations, different challenges but always a crucial role to play.

Problems of Rural areas in Ghana.
The problems of rural development in the Third World and in Ghana in particular, have become a major concern today. This concern notwithstanding, the problems seem as intractable as ever. There are significant disparities in income and standards of living between the rural and urban populations (GPRS, 2004). This has resulted in the continuous increase in the movement of people from the countryside to the city, creating a serious social crisis, the ramification of which is affecting the quality of life. The manifestations of this include; people sleeping on pavements and others sprawling in shanty slums, ragged beggars, crimes and other deviant behaviours such as prostitution, drug addiction and alcohol abuse. (GPRS, 2004)

How can UDS TTFPP help.
Often data collected during the program by students can be saidd to be accurate, students stay with Community members, study thier behavior, observe certain things for themselves before coming to generalization. Form the various communities profile, students had made recommendation which are often tangible and if taken into consideration would solve the challenges facing Rural development in Ghana, some of the recommendation are;

-- Expansion of the budget for agriculture, the governmental investment in rural infrastructure and subsidies for farmers in rural areas.

-- Establishment of industries especially Shea butter ( modern factory) in the northern part of Ghana where Shea nut is grow and harvested.

-- Provision of modern Farm equipment to assist rural farmers.

-- -- Prioritize water control in rural infrastructure construction, including supporting water conservancy projects on small farmland, encouraging water-saving irrigation, restoring crumbling reservoirs, intensifying farmland protection and soil amelioration, strengthening ecological rehabilitation and stepping up agricultural mechanization

-- Provision, maintenance of health care facilities in the various rural areas.

-- Regular school feeding program to boost school attendance especially during rainy seasona.

Provision of credit facilities to help traders in the rural communities.

For Ghana to be able to develop rural areas, we need no politician to give the people what they think is their biggest problem but engaging various stake holders and the people themselves is what is needed, often because of votes, politicians provided toilets facilities to communities whose major problem is farming equipment, this amount to waste of Resources.

Again for the development of rural area in Ghana UDS TTFPP is one of the solutions.

Reference
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/economics/problems-of-rural-development-in-ghana-economics-essay.php

www.uds.edu.gh
TTFPP Report of various communities