Abstract:
Government acquired the Mole Park and its surrounding region from the rural
dwellers for protection, over three decades ago. The present generation of local
residents (i.e. the descendants of those who released the land to government) are
disgruntled and strongly feel that they have become victims of an inappropriate
and unpopular acquisition of their land.
The main objective of the study was to assess the extent and nature of
community involvement In the rural development initiatives of the Mole
National Park.
To generate data for the study, different sets of structured and non-structured
questionnaires were used to collect data from 280 local residents (including 27
community Elders), 39 tourists and 30 park employees. The local residents and
the Park employees were randomly sampled, whiles the tourists (both foreign
and domestic) were purposively chosen to answer the questionnaires.
Participatory techniques such as Focused Group Discussions (FGDsj,
Community Interviews (CIS), and direct observations were also used to generale
data from relevant organisations, including the Park Management. West Gonja
District Assembly, Ghana Tourist Board, and from a number of distinguished
individuals.
