Enablers and inhibitors of community participation in Ghana’s Community-based Health Planning and Services programme: a qualitative study in the Builsa North Municipality

BACKGROUND: Community participation is essential for the successful implementation of primary health care programmes across the globe, including sub-Saharan Africa. The Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) programme is one of the primary health care interventions in Ghana which by design and implementation heavily relies on community participation. However, there is little evidence to establish the factors enabling or inhibiting community participation in the Ghanaian CHPS programme. This study, therefore, explored the enabling and inhibiting factors influencing community participation in the design and implementation of the CHPS programme in the Builsa North Municipality in the Upper East Region of Ghana. METHODS: A qualitative approach, using a cross-sectional design, was employed to allow for a detailed in-depth exploration of the enabling and inhibiting factors influencing community participation in the design and implementation of the CHPS programme. The data were collected in January 2020, through key informant interviews with a stratified purposive sample of 106 respondents, selected from the 15 functional CHPS facilities in the Municipality. The data were audio-recorded, transcribed and manually analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The results showed that, public education on the CHPS concept, capacity of the community to contribute material resources towards the construction of CHPS facilities, strong and effective community leadership provided by community chiefs and assembly persons, the spirit of volunteerism and trust in the benefits of the CHPS programme were the enablers of community participation in the programme. However, volunteer attrition, competing economic activities, lack of sense of ownership by distant beneficiaries, external contracting of the construction of CHPS facilities and illiteracy constituted the inhibiting factors of community participation in the programme. CONCLUSION: Extensive public education, volunteer incentivization and motivation, and the empowerment of communities to construct their own CHPS compounds are issues that require immediate policy attention to enhance effective community participation in the programme.