The role of district capitals in regional development: Linking small towns, rural-urban linkages and decentralisation in Ghana

Ghana's decentralisatin programme involves the strengthening of district capitals [defined in this poper as small towns] as focal points for the socio-economic development of districts. Few studies have, however, been done on the role of district capitals and the linkages between these centres and their hinterlands as a basis for evaluating the effectiveness of the strategy. This paper provides a conceptualised and analytical model for examining the role of district capitals and rural-urban linkages in regional development in Ghana. The model is operalionalised using two district capitals in the central region as a case study. The poper identifies four critical factors in operationalising the model: small town's production and service functions: proximity and accessibility to higher-order centres; national macro-economic policies; and the impact of Ghana's decentralisation programme. It concludes that the desired goals of the strategy can be achieved by a genuine decentralisation policy and supportive district development policies formulated at the national level.