About MICZD

Ministry of Inner-city & Zongo Development

Welcome to MICZD

You are welcome and thank you for taking the time to visit the website of Inner-City and Zongo Development (MICZD) Ghana. Here, you can find the necessary information relating to Inner-Cities and Zongo communities you need.

Our goal as a Ministry, is to empower the indigenes of Inner-Cities and Zongo (MICZD) communities through a Coordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies and facilitate a prosperous, inclusive and sustainably social transformation of the Inner-Cities and Zongo Communities.

The MICZD exists to ensure to formulate and oversee implementation of policies, programmes and projects to alleviate poverty and ensure that the depressed areas of our society or communities become inclusively developed and prosperous.

The out-going Hon. Minister Boniface handing over notes to the in-coming Minister Hon. Dr. Abdul-Hamid

Mandate

To formulate and oversee implementation of policies, programmes and projects to alleviate poverty and ensure that Inner-Cities and Zongo communities become inclusively developed and prosperous.

Vision

To create prosperous, inclusive and sustainably developed inner-cities and zongo communities across Ghana.

Mission

To coordinate and facilitate critical interventions through collaborative and affirmative actions that progressively address the developmental deficits of inner-cities and Zongo communities in Ghana.

  • Core Functions
    • Formulate and implement policies to deal with special needs of Inner-cities and Zongo communities;
    • Promote and coordinate implementation of all planned programmes as well as budgets for the development of Inner-cities and Zongo communities;
    • Initiate and coordinate research including the continuous development and review of policies, laws, rules and regulations affecting Inner-cities and Zongo communities;
    • Provide information on the state of economic and social development of Inner-cities and Zongo communities;
    • Promote dialogue between state actors and Inner-cities and Zongo communities for enhanced cooperation for development.
  • Why the Ministry of Inner-cities & Zongo Development?
    • The Ministry was established by Executive Instrument (E.I) 28 on 28th February 20017to: ensure that Inner-cities and Zongo communities do not become areas of despair, difficulty and social conflict (H.E. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo , 11th January 2017)
    • Focus on areas with highest levels of prevalence, concentration and manifestation of all of Ghana’s development challenges such as poverty, disease and illiteracy.
    • Promote inclusion and integration of minorities and marginalized groups
    • Respond to global and local development goals:
      • Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 11): “making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.
      • 40 Year National Long Term Plan Vision:- “build a just, free and prosperous country with high levels of national income and broad-based social development”.
      • 40 Year NLTDP Goal 3 : -“Build safe, well-planned and sustainable communities”.
  • What is a Zongo?
    • Zongo is a Hausa term, meaning the temporary camping place of a carrier or a lodging place of travellers.
    • They are mostly migrant communities in urban areas dominated by people of northen Ghana and the Sahel region of Africa and mostly traders.
    • Zongo characteristics have evolved over the years and presently comprise a lot of non- muslims and several tribes of both Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian origin.
    • Some communities have all characteristics of Zongos but they do not bear the zongo name tag. These communities have the Zongo heritage through lineage, customs and traditions.
    • How many Zongo communities do we have
  • Inner-cities
    • They are the indigenous enclaves within the cities and represent the urban core areas from which the physical expansion of the rest of the city starts.
    • They are either clustered or dispersed in a wider geographical space, especially in Accra.
    • They have tremendous opportunities for the promotion of our heritage through its forts and castles, traditional architecture, slave, markets, and Religious Monument as well as streetscapes.
  • Inner-cities & Zongos – Similarities
    • Inner-cities areas and Zongos in Ghana bear all the characteristics of slums:
      • Poverty& limited prosperity
      • High illiteracy rates
      • Poor environmental sanitation
      • Poor housing & overcrowding conditions
      • weak local economic development
    • Inner-cities areas and Zongos both present opportunities such as affordable rents and serve as sanctuary communities for new migrants who want to build their future in the city.
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