per capita since it indicates, in an overall sense, whether or not the income per person is rising.  However,

they are not indictors for any specific policy or program but rather indicate the net effects of many

activities, policies and programs (including international, climatic and other events outside the control of

policy makers); they also do not indicate that progress is being made toward a more equitable income

distribution.  None the less, GDP per capita is probably the best single indicator to measure the progress

of Ghana toward its Vision 2020 goal of becoming a middle income country and is, thus, one of the more

important economic measures to monitor.

Expected result  a  (a viable policy reform agenda to increase international competitiveness) for Policy

and Regulatory Reforms of the Sigma One USAID contract under the TIRP project is to increase the

international competitiveness of Ghana.  Thus, the monitoring of exports and imports is essential for

evaluating progress toward achieving this result.  Increased competitiveness should result in larger

exports, especially for nontraditional products.  However, it is also important to maintain and even

increase traditional exports, i.e., to increase their competitiveness since they provide a large share of the

country's foreign exchange earnings.  Thus, it is important to monitor both overall performance of the

export sector and to track what is happening to exports of individual products or categories of products. 

Competitiveness is, essentially, a function of the cost and other factors, including especially economic

policies, related to individual products, although exchange rates, export/import taxes, and other policies

in both Ghana and its actual and potential trading partners are important in determining competitiveness. 

Under Milestone 2.9, a database will be developed to monitor competitiveness; that database will

facilitate the monitoring which this plan encompasses.

Expected results b and c (ongoing participation of private sector in the policy dialogue and change

process; increased public knowledge of policy reforms) involve enhancing the policy process by inducing

greater participation of public and private sector businesses in policy dialogue and development.  The

result will be an improved policy making process as these activities become institutionalized; this,

however, is a process that will take time.  Thus, the monitoring for these two results will be through

achievement of program milestones that encompass holding conferences, forums, workshops, and

seminars, through the development of newsletters and other forms of disseminating information; and

through monitoring of newspapers, magazines and other media to determine the effectiveness of the

policy dialogue process in improving the quantity and quality of the information being distributed, as well

as the sophistication of the media representations of the issues under consideration.  In addition, focus

groups will be utilized to help determine if greater understanding is being attained by different

socioeconomic groups, people in the various regions, and by gender.  These approaches also will be

supplemented by rapid survey methods and informal interviews with businesses, including

microenterprises, importers, exporters, manufacturers, financial firms, etc.

Expected result  d  (implementation plans for agreed upon policy reforms) is concerned with developing

plans to implement the aggreed upon policy and regulatory reforms.  Monitoring this aspect of the

program will involve documentation of the developement of plans for implementing the reforms and will

consist primarily of those involved achieving Milestones 1.6, 2.8, 2.11, 2.12, 2.13 and 2.20.

Expected result e (streamlined procedures for importation of agricultural and industrial inputs) will be

monitored through determination of changes in the laws and regulations on imports to streamline and

simplify the process.  Then, to determine the effectiveness of the changes, the importation of agricultural

and industrial imports will be monitored to determine increases in the quantities imported and/or

decreases in the real prices of those imports.  Timeliness of importations also needs to be evaluated since,

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