As the deadline of December 2015 for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, Ghana’s progress is mixed. While some MDGs are on course to be achieved, others are likely to be partially achieved and others like goals 4, 5 and the sanitation aspect of goal 7 are lagging.

In order to at least bring these MDGs to the level of other MDGs, the Government of Ghana introduced innovative ways of dealing with them through the MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF). MDG 5 was chosen over other lagging MDGs because of its likely spinoff effects on MDGs 4 and 7 as well as on other MDGs.

This report shares Ghana’s experience in the development of the MAF for MDG 5. It identifies gaps in Ghana’s existing policies and programmes which inhibit the attainment of MDG 5; maps the various steps leading to the development of the MAF for MDG 5; identifies, prioritizes and states the bottlenecks and their solutions to the attainment of MDG 5; outlines the successes and challenges of the MAF process from development to implementation; and makes recommendations for other countries intending to develop MAFs. It will serve as a one-stop reference material for other countries intending to develop MAFs.