The development of the town is run by the Kwahu-Tafo Development Council, a twenty-five-strong body representing all sections of the community. It is avowedly a-political, and offers the opportunity for cross-party collaboration and the involvement of all energetic elements in the town, regardless of faction. It has been notably successful in this aspiration.

 

The Council is run entirely by voluntary and unpaid effort.  It is led by an Executive, under the Presidency of Nana Nkosuohene (the Development Chief), consisting of Chairperson (Adwoa Yeboa), Treasurer (Mary Oppong), Director of Projects (Joseph Annor Ofori), Financial Secretary (Nana Osei Ntim), and two Secretaries (one for Kwahu-Tafo (Mr Barimah-Nkansah) and one for Accra (Fred Ofori)).  The Executive meets monthly in Accra, as does the wider membership in Tafo (in a meeting open to the public).

  

Taking the initiative, KTDC identifies projects in consultation with the community, and then prioritises, budgets and fundraises for them. Finance is first sought from the District Assembly, PTAs, School Management Committees, tradesmen and townspeople, and then from FOT. Funds from FOT are requested in a written Funding Proposal, and when agreed are transferred to the KTDC�s bank in Accra in segregated �accounts�, which means that money raised for one purpose may not be used for another.

 

Following a Strategic Planning Workshop held in Kwahu-Tafo in January 2003, and a system subsequently developed with Friends of Tafo, the planning and execution of every project is subject to a published Procedure; all KTDC undertakings are designated as Projects; and each one has a Project Director responsible to the Executive. All Executive meetings are attended by the over-all Director of Projects (a Quantity Surveyor from Tafo who works in Kumasi), along with each of the current Project Directors, who is required to account for the progress of his/her Project.

 

Each transfer is accompanied by a request for a report back to FOT within six months.

 

To formulate the focus of their aims, FOT and KTDC held a seminar in the Ghanaian capital Accra in November 2006 to identify the vision of the community over the next five years. The Executive of KTDC is charged with bringing this Five Year Plan to fruition, and is supported in the task by Friends of Tafo. Progress is reviewed by the community every twelve months.