Northern Ghana Network for Development

Local mud home

Welcome to Northern Ghana Network for Development 

NGND is network of Ghanaian civil society organizations – non-governmental and community-based – working in cities and villages throughout the three northern regions of Ghana.   The Network is strong, resourceful and connected to the people through its  member organizations. They work in areas of health, education, food security, women’s empowerment and citizen participation in government.

During colonial times, (1400s 0 1957) southern Ghana  – the Gold Coast – experienced significant  development because valuable natural resources were there.  But the north was left behind;  the schools, roads, hospitals and government structures that grew in the south did not reach northern Ghana.

Since Ghana’s independence in 1957, successive governments have worked to bring better roads and schools north, but progress is slow.  Today 68.5% of the people in northern Ghana live below the poverty line.   Fifty percent of the children in northern Ghana, especially girls, have little or no schooling.  Infant mortality is 47 out of 1,000 births, average life expectancy is 57 years and 43% of children in the north are malnourished.