Description
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Rapid urbanisation trends have increased awareness of the need for sustainable land use planning, particularly in West Africa where unplanned urban growth is a concern. In Ghana, land-use and spatial planning is hindered by a lack of integration and collaboration among planning bodies and other institutions, limited and inaccessible data, and a lack of citizen participation. These challenges have contributed to inefficient land use plans, urban sprawls, inadequate and displaced infrastructure provision, environmental degradation, and social inequalities. As a result, Ghana is facing significant challenges in achieving sustainable urban development, access to quality data for planning and effective land-use management. As part of the objectives of improving spatial planning processes and outputs at the national and sub-national levels of Ghana, there is a need to improve existing digital tools that support land-use and spatial planning with a focus on citizen participation, gender inclusion, and climate change dimensions. Since 2008, the Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (formerly the Town and Country Planning Department) has been operating with the Land Use Planning and Management Information System (LUPMIS). In 2016, LUPMIS was updated but its development resulted in a platform with rigid and obsolete functions that no longer meet the current planning system"s needs, as stipulated in the new Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority Act 2016, thus requiring the redevelopment of LUPMIS. The new development of LUPMIS will encompass the creation of a centralized database to ensure easy access and update of existing data, integration of LUPMIS with existing national data portals/sources, a development of a web portal for spatial analytics, citizen participation, and viewing of the data. The systems database will also have the potential to be accessed directly through existing GIS tools like QGIS, ARCGIS, etc to ensure efficiency in data analysis, data exchange, and data management. The Participatory, Accountability, and Integrity for a Resilience Democracy (PAIReD) programme was commissioned in October 2023 to support public institutions in Ghana in implementing citizen-oriented, trustworthy, and accountable governance structures at national and local level. It is implemented as part of the new "Good Governance" DC Programme, which aims to promote the rule of law and democratic principles that strengthen the population"s trust in the state, thus contributing to social cohesion and enabling inclusive, sustainable development. The key aspect of the PAIReD project is focused on increased domestic revenues; expenditure planning; participatory, gender-responsive and sustainable land-use planning; exposing corruption; and civil society participation in accountability processes. The project is also aligned with the EU"s Joint Programming Strategy (JPS) (2021-2027), with its focus on improving accountability, planning and transparency as well as needs-based, non-discriminatory public services. PAIReD works on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in partnership with the Ministry of Finance in Ghana. The Resilience Against Climate Change (REACH) project seeks to build resilience to climate change impacts in the Joint Programme Area (JPA) of the EU-Ghana Agricultural Programme. One of the key aspects of the REACH project is focused on participatory planning processes at the community level and capacity building for 14 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) for improved effectiveness and efficiency in their planning processes. The REACH project works on behalf of the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in partnership with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) in Ghana. This mission will be supported by two GIZ projects working on development and land-use planning: the Participatory, Accountability, and Integrity for a Resilience Democracy (PAIReD) programme, and the Resilience Against Climate Change (REACH) project. The objectives of the assignment are as follows: 1) Design and develop the web-based spatial planning platform; 2) Develop a spatial data repository; 3) Provide capacity development for the technical staff of LUSPA at both national and regional levels along with all 60 partner MMDAs of PAIReD and 14 partner MMDAs of REACH on the usage and maintenance of the system. The new IT solution aims to provide a comprehensive platform for various stakeholders involved in land use planning and management, including land use planners, local government officials, urban developers, citizens, and other stakeholders. For land use planners, the system would enable them to submit land use plans for review, view existing land use patterns and zones on an interactive map, analyze land use changes over time to identify trends and patterns, and generate reports and visualizations for decision-making. GIZ is seeking to procure the services of a contractor (consultancy firm or consortium) with relevant experience in spatial planning, software development, spatial data infrastructure/data warehouse. Enterprise geographic information system solutions development, and IT project management and implementation.