UNIVERSITY FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
FACULTY OF PLANNING AND LAND MANAGEMENT
DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING

Social policy primarily refers to guidelines, principles, legislation and activities that affect the living conditions conducive to human welfare. Social policy often deals with wicked problems. Social Policy is defined as actions that affect the well-being of members of a society through shaping the distribution of and access to goods and resources in that society
It is sometimes referred as "public policy and practice in the areas of health care, human services, criminal justice, inequality, education, and labor.
The term 'social policy' can also refer to policies which govern human behavior. In the United States, the term 'social policy' may be used to refer to abortion and the regulation of its practice, euthanasia, homosexuality, the rules surrounding issues of marriage, divorce, adoption, the legal status of recreational drugs, and the legal status of prostitution.
Social policy aims to improve human welfare and to meet human needs for education, health, housing and social security.
After Nkrumah’s era, successive governments, including military regimes tried to improve upon the social well-being of citizens in the nation. After 1996 the various governments instituted some social policies.
The elaborations below highlight on the various social policies formulated by the various governments from 1969 to date.
1. Dr. K.A Busia (The Progress Party 1969-1972)
The Progress Party which was founded and led by Dr. K. A. Busia won the 1969 general election.
Busia said, ’we think the yardstick by which our success or failure should be judged must be the condition of the human being himself. We must judge our progress by the quality of the individual, by his knowledge, his skills, his behavior as a member of society, the standards of living he is able to enjoy and by the degree of co-operation, harmony and brotherliness in our community life as a nation ... our goal is to enable every man and woman in our country to live a life of dignity in freedom’.
The PP thus set itself the task of finding solutions to the many social problems that confronted the nation.
Some of the social policies instituted by Busia’s Progress Party included the following:

a. Establishment of the ministry of social and rural development
Busia made rural development a priority area. To ensure the success of this policy, a separate ministry - Ministry of Social and Rural Development (the first of its kind in Ghana) was established.
A number of projects were launched to provide good drinking water, electricity and health facilities for rural communities. By 1972, a total of thirty-three projects, including one which was to make potable water available to twenty villages in the Apam area had been completed. This went together with a £3.5 million water project at Kwanyako near Agona Swedru and was to serve more than 44,000 inhabitants in twenty-two villages and towns in the Gomoa Akyempim area among many other prrojects.

b. The institution of a mid-wife training program
The health needs of the rural folks were of prime importance to Busia and therefore he sought to improve the health sector. In 1970, the Danfa Project, which was to train traditional midwives in hygienic delivery, was instituted to reduce still births and maternal mortality rates in the country.

2. General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong: (The National Redemption Council (NRC)/Supreme Military Council (SMC I): 1972 – 1978)

Ghana’s second attempt at democratic administration suffered a set-back when, as stated earlier, Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, then Commander of the Fifth Battalion staged a successful coup d’ etat to oust Busia’s government on 13 January, 1972. A military junta - die National Redemption Council, NRC, 1 was formed with Lt. Colonel Acheampong as Head of State and Chairman.
The justification presented by the newly constituted NRC for its actions focused on three main issues:
• First, the deteriorating state of the economy, and particularly, the negative repercussions of the devaluation of the cedi;
• The alleged corruption of the Busia regime and
• Thirdly, their (ousted government’s) inability to show any understanding for the conditions of the common man.
Some of the achievements of Acheampong’s regime with respect to social policies include the following;
a. "Operation Feed Yourself "
This programme caught on quite well with Ghanaians as backyard gardening began to attract the attention of even the urban dweller and all categories of people: housewives, and professionals such as teachers, doctors, lawyers and high level public servants were all seen tilling the land and growing basic foods items such as vegetables. Liberal government loans were given to encourage farming. This was to ensure food security in the country.
b. Rural Electrification Scheme
On the supply of electricity to a wider section of the populace had electricity and a number of projects were completed under General Acheampong. Under the rural electrification scheme, power stations and supply networks together with several extension works and new equipment were provided to energize electricity supply in the country. This was to extend social amenities to rural and deprived areas in the country.

3. AFRC I AND II

4. PNDC