The social dimensions of development are discussed under this section with emphasis on education, health, water & sanitation and housing. An analysis of the social well being of the people and their access to basic necessities of life are crucial for the overall development of the district. Such an analysis brings to light the extent of social deprivation or, otherwise, among all segments of the society.

This section of the report therefore focuses on various aspects of the quality of life of people in the district as well as their access to basic social infrastructure and services such as education, health, water, sanitation, and other issues that affect the development of the district’s human resources.

Transportation

Transportation plays an important role in development. There is therefore the need for interaction within and between settlements that constitute the economy. The nature and condition of communication system and transportation is very essential.

The district is served with a total of about 300km of road distributed over the district, of this, only 37km of the entire road network is tarred. The remaining 263km is made up of feeder roads and tractor trails.

This makes traveling to most of the settlements very difficult and uncomfortable. In addition to road, there used to be railway line from Akim Oda through Akim Wenchi. Kusi to Kade. It formed s part of the Central Eastern Railway Line; the line has been programmed for rehabilitation by the central government.

Energy

Major sources of energy in the district for cooking are firewood (69.3). charcoal (20.4) Gas (1.9), electricity (0.7) kerosene (1.9) charcoal (20.4) and others (5.5). The impact of using firewood for energy has a negative effect on the environment, and if not controlled. there is bound to be environmental degradation, which can consequently turn the semi-deciduous forest into shrubs. Kerosene continues to be the main source of energy for lighting (67.9) followed by electricity (31.0) Electric power is present in the district but distribution is not adequate. Efforts are being made to extend to other areas without it.

The District Assembly, collaborating with the Electricity Company of Ghana, had planned to extend Electricity to 8 settlements under the Self-Help Electrification Projects (SHEP - 4). The beneficial settlements are - Abenaso, Okyinso, Kwamang, Kukubi, James Town and Sakyikrom.

Housing Stock

According to the 2000 population and Housing Census report, there were 21,001 houses in the district which 7.4% of the housing stock in the region. The population per house is 8.2 and the average household size is put at 4.8. The district averages for the three variables are higher than the regional averages of 7.6 are 4.8.

The implication being that there are few houses in the district when are compares it to its population. This has led to more people occupying one room. To correct this anomaly, efforts should be made to build more hoses in the district.

Housing Conditions

In the district different types of materials are used, in the construction of buildings. Mud/mud brick and earth as material for construction constitute 54.3 of all the houses, wood 4.2, metal sheet/state 0.3 store 0.2, Burnt bricks 1.5, cement blocks/concrete 27.3, sandcrete/landcrete 11.3, Bambo 0.2, palm thatch 0.2 others 0.6. From the analysis, it can be seen that the use of wood (4.2) for walls in the district is one of the highest in the region. Efforts should therefore be made to discourage this as it has very serious consequences on the environment.

Table 1.42 Main Roofing Material

main material for roof               %

Thatch/palm leaf                     15.3

Bamboo                                      2.1

Mud/mid brick                            0.2

Wood                                          0.6

Corrugated metal sheet        78.1

Slate/Asbestos                         2.4

Cement concrete                     0.5

Roofing tiles                             0.8

Others

Source: 2000 population & Housing Census

of all roofing materials. Even though this is encouraging, efforts should be made to lessen the use of materials that cause deafforestation.

Floor Material

Materials used for the floor in may houses vary according to the economic circumstances of the household. Overall, cement or concrete in the main material used for floors of at least 77.5% of households. This is followed by earth/mud (19.6%) wood (1%), stone (0.8%) burnt bricks (0.2) vinyl tiles (0.3%) ceramic tiles (0.1), Terrazzo (0.2).

Tenure

Shelter is one of the basic needs of human beings. The acquisition of a dwelling place is therefore the ambition f every individual. In the Kwaebibirem district the distribution of housing tenures of occupied housing units are indicated in the table 1.43 below.

Type of tenure %

Owning 60.5

Renting 21.5

Rent-free 17.5

Perching 0.5

Table 1.43: Housing Tenure of occupied housing units

Spatial Organization

• Unplanned and haphazard developments

• Erosion in communities

• Poor quality of houses

• Inadequate Telecommunication facilities

• Inadequate distribution of Electricity

The Vulnerable and Excluded

About two-thirds of people living especially in the rural areas of the District are vulnerable due to poverty.

Some of these people cannot even meet their nutritional requirements and other basic necessities such clothing, good housing and health care.

The Ghana Living Standard Survey defines segments of the Ghanaian Society who constitute the extreme poor or vulnerable and excluded. The segments as defined are not different in the Kwaebibirem District. The vulnerable and the excluded include the following:

1. The rural food crop farmer

2. Malnourished children, victims of child labour, school dropouts and orphans

3. Disadvantaged women such as single parenting women, malnourished pregnant women and nursing mother teenage mothers, commercial sex workers and illiterates

4. Displaced people, including those displaced by acquisition of former state farms lands by GOPDC & rainstorm

5. The elderly with no access to family care and protection

6. The physically challenged persons with no employable skills

7. Drug addicts

8. Children and women suffering from sexual abuse and battery and

9. The unemployed

10. People living with HIV/AIDS

In the Kwaebibirem District, much has been done for the vulnerable and excluded. However a lot more needs to be done to improve the lot of the vulnerable and the excluded. The District Assembly has to come out with a clear cut policies and programmes for this category of people tailored along the national disability law.

Even thought there are laws safeguarding the rights of women and children these have not been adequately enforced. The departments of Social Welfare and Community Development, which are mainly responsible or who see to the welfare of the vulnerable and excluded in the District; need to be strengthened to enable them play their role of removing barriers that impede the well being of the people.

KEY ISSUES

In sum, the following key issues need to be addressed.

• High incidence of child labour

• High child delinquency

• Inadequate policies and programmes for the vulnerable

• High illiteracy rate among the vulnerable

• Low awareness in gender mainstreaming

• Poor enforcement of law on child labour as well as the physically challenged

• Large number of single parenting women

• Inadequate facilities and resources to train the vulnerable and excluded

• Outmoded and negative traditional practices

Market Centers:

Place                         Market Days

Kade                         Tuesdays/Fridays

Asuom                      Tuesdays/ Fridays

Akwatia                     Thursdays/Mondays

Takyiman                   Thursdays/ Fridays

SECURITY

Police stations                              Telephone Numbers

1. Kade Police Station                          0244 -503062

2. Asuom Police Station

3. Pramkese Police Station

4. Akwatia Police Station                      0244 -995357

5. Takrowase Police Station

6. Takyiman Police Station

Fire service

Ghana Fire Service –Kade 0243 -739357

0244 -755754

SOCIAL AMENITIES

• Electricity

• Water

The major source of water supply in the district is borehole, which serves 26.2% o the population. Next to boreholes is hand-dug well which serves 25.7% of the people. This is followed by rivers (22.9%), pipe-borne (18.7%) dug-outs (0.8%) and others (5.6%). In all 59.8% of the population of the district have access to potable water.

WATER POINTS IN THE DISTRICT

Stand pipes - 120

Boreholes - 191

Hand dug well - 59.8%

FUEL SERVICE STATIONS

1. Goil -2

2. Glory oil -1

3. Allied oil -2

4. Fraga Oil -1

UTILITIES

1. Landline Ghana Telecom

2. Mobile Phone Facility MTN, Vodafone, Tigo

3. Public Phone Booth Ghana Telecom/Vodafone

SOURCE OF WATER NO. IN THE DISTRICT

Pipe Borne                   8

Boreholes                101

Hand Dug Wells       91

River/Stream               -

Dug-Out                       -

Urban Growth and Primacy Situation

Understanding the rate and status (primacy) of urban growth is of paramount importance in spatial planning and development of a district. In Ghana, only settlements with a population of 5,000 and more are classified as urban. Only Akwatia, Kade, Asuom, Boadua,Takyiman and Takrowase qualify as urban settlements in the district. Kwaebibirem District can therefore be described as predominantly rural as 66.3% of the population resides in the rural countryside, with only 33.7% staying in ‘urban’ settlements.

Previously, Akwatia was the dominant (the primate settlement) over other settlements. However with the collapse of GCD, and the subsequent movement of people to look for greener pastures,Kade has now become the primate settlement in the district.

It was observed from the analysis of the scalogram and the primacy situation of the district that, the primate settlement (Kade) has more number of functions as compared to Kade, the district capital. This indicates a situation of less dominance of the primate settlement (Kade) in the district as it accounts for about 12% of the population of the district.

This situation, which is not much different from other settlements in the district, implies that the distribution of services/facilities in the district is not based on only the threshold population but other factors such as centrality and status, among others.

This signifies that the primate settlement (Kade) is increasing at a rate equal to the rate of growth of the other settlements in the model. This is as a result of the use of the same growth rate for extrapolating the population of different settlements. In any case, the primacy situation is not likely to be different from the actual situation.

Transportation Network

The movement of people from an origin to a destination brings great benefits to development through exchange of goods and services, technologies and new ideas of innovation. Thus internal interaction (between settlements) is beneficial for development. This internal interaction is made possible by effective transport system. The transport system exerts spatial influence on an economy particularly access to socio-economic services and activities by affecting the movement of passengers and good in the district. An effective transport system achieves the following:

• Minimisation of travel distance and time to access socio-economic services

• Maximisation of accessibility or and coverage of the network to all origins and destinations within and outside the region.

• Minimisation of traffic congestion, and

• Maximization of network densities.

The current transportation system (roads network and other modes of transport) in the district does not meet all the above criteria to facilitate efficient and intra-district movement for socio-economic exchanges. For instance, apart from the main trunk road, which passes through the district from Asamankese through to Anyinam and from Subi to Abompe (10km), Boadua to Sakyikrom, all the roads in the district are rough and untarred.

Besides the few access roads, tracks, paths and footbridges make up the rural transport infrastructure system on which, rural dwellers gain access to markets and social services existing in a few major settlements. Most farmers still trudge to and from the rural fields on footpaths while carrying farm implements, fuel wood, water and harvested crops.

Classification of Roads

The district has estimated road network coverage of 300 kilometers. This includes about 37km of first class road linking up the district capital to Asamankese and Anyinam. There are about 273km of second and third class roads linking up the market centers and major settlements. In view of the district’s total land area of 1230km2, the district is seemed to have inadequate transport networks to optimally integrate the district economy.

The existing network does not facilitate easy connectivity due to limited availability of alternative links between the settlements. In Table 1.11 below, further analysis of the road network is presented.

Accessibility to Services

Accessibility in this context means the ease with which the residents of a settlement can reach or be reached by a service or facility. This has been measured using time taken to reach or be reached by a service. The travel time depends on the distance, the road condition and the mode of transport and is therefore considered a good indicator of accessibility.

It can be seen from the distribution of services and facilities that all the settlements do not have all the services and facilities required for development. Technically, that cannot be achieved. What is important is that residents of these settlements should have access to the services and facilities in the district.

A study was undertaken to determine the degree of accessibility of residents of these settlements to four basic services, namely; Banking, Senior Secondary School, Periodic markets and Health (Hospital and health centers)

Functional Region

The functional region is a geographical area characterized by intense interaction of socio-economic activities and functional coherence. This interaction can be seen in the form of exchange of goods and services. By implication, this is the area, which has the infrastructure base for easy acceleration of the pace of development. Thus, in terms of investment, the functional region is the zone where maximum returns can be reaped.

The functional region covers 19.6% (241km2) of the total area of the district. With the exception of Kwae, Pramkese, Takyiman, Apinaman, Okumaning and Wenchi all the other zones are within the functional region. By implication, about 80.4% of the total area of the district is functionally incoherent and therefore provides a weak base for development.

The aim of the district therefore, should be to expand the functional area to cover most if not all parts of the district through, not necessarily the provision of services in all settlements but most importantly, though the rehabilitation of roads and other communication channels to link all settlements to major service centers. It is in connection with this that certain roads, trails and tracks have been earmarked for rehabilitation and re gravelling.

In conclusion, it must be realized that since the accessibility analysis focuses solely on physical and not economic and/or social accessibility, the mere expansion of the functional region without a corresponding improvement of people’s incomes will not ensure total accessibility and functional coherence in the district.

Telecommunication facilities

Telecommunication in the district is fairly encouraging as almost all the major communication providers have cell sites in the district. There are about thirty-six cell sites in the district.Teledensity is therefore high in the district (about 25Km).One can make and receive telephone call in almost every major village in the district.

Where the facility is not available, one needs not to travel more than 2Km to have access to telephone facility. What is lacking in the ICT sector is internet facility. Apart from Kade and Akwatia where there are private providers of internet facilities, no other community has access to internet facilities. The District Administration itself has no internet facilities.