The Long-Term Fertility Impact of the Navrongo Project in Northern Ghana

Abstract

This study assesses the long-term fertility impact of the Community Health and Family Planning Project of the Navrongo Health Research Centre in Ghana and addresses policy debates concerning the role of family planning programs in rural Africa. Conducted in a remote traditional area on Ghana's northern border, the study tests the hypothesis that convenient family planning service delivery can induce and sustain reproductive change in a societal context that would not be expected to foster demographic transition. By 1999, results indicated that significant fertility decline arose in the early years of the project, associated with the combination of services provided by community nurses and social mobilization activities focused on men. When project strategies were scaled up, social mobilization components were neglected. As a consequence, the long-term impact of scaled-up operations was negligible. Results suggest that initial effects met the need for child spacing without introducing a sustained demographic transition. © 2012 The Population Council, Inc.