The paper assesses the performance of the Local Economic Development (LED) at the local level in Ghana using the Sissala East District as a case study. LED strategy is to place greater emphasis on the local arena and the potential of local authorities to tailor public policies to meet the MDGs by 2015.

The emphasis is on economic infrastructure, strategic enterprise and support sectors and cluster value/supply chains. However, monitoring in the 7 pilot districts for this programme shows encouraging progress of about 62% but these have largely centred on regional and national basis with no specific focus on the status at the local level. It is against this background that the paper sets out to assess the performance of LED at the local level. Data was sourced from Focus Group Discussion with actors at the District level and from the decentralised departments of the District Assembly.

The status of attainment of LED goals in the Sissala East District is mixed: whilst there are indications that some of the goals particularly those on economic empowerment of women, entrepreneurial capacity and some indicators of district level planning can be attained, it is unlikely that others can be attained within the stipulated timeframe.