EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Socio-economic development 15. The pursuit of neo-liberal policies since the early 1980s and generous government incentives have expanded economic, political and sociocultural spaces. Notable strides have been made in several respects to stimulate socio-economic development. The government has made good progress, albeit less than anticipated, because of administrative capacity constraints. 16. Ghana has, however, become a beacon of hope in the volatile West African subregion. The national aspiration is to become a middle-income country by 2010. In February 2003, the government issued its Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) Paper for 2003-2005, which has since provided the overarching policy context for the country's socio-economic development. Essentially, the GPRS aspires to achieve broad development objectives, including: ? Reduction of extreme poverty; ? Social and human development; ? Environmental sustainability and regeneration; ? Consolidation of democratic governance; ? Strengthening of accountability; and ? Guaranteeing protection of human rights and the rule of law. 17. Generally, a combination of good socio-economic policies and considerable foreign aid has led to perceptible progress in Ghana's socioeconomic development in recent years. The country is, however, off-target in the attainment of a considerable number of goals set out in the GPRS and in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Perceptible progress on the socio-economic front is distorted by: ? Lack of progress in gender mainstreaming as a result of cultural and other impediments; ? Weak human, financial and physical resource capacity; ? Wide urban/rural and regional disparities in the distribution of the dividends of socioeconomic development in the country, with the three northern regions and some parts Of coastal Ghana lagging far behind the rest of the country (e.g. in poverty eradication and the provision of basic services and core welfare indicators, like water, electricity, health care, roads, nutrition and education); and ? A fiscal and political decentralisation process that is weak, demobilised, unresponsive