The Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development and its Departments and Agencies belong to the Central Management Agencies category of Government Machinery whose mandate among others, is to ensure good governance and balanced development of Metropolitan, Municipal, District Assemblies, in line with the Civil Service Act, 1993 (PNDCL 327). The functions of the Ministry are as follows:

• Initiate and formulate policies on Local Governance, Decentralisation, Rural and Urban Development;
• Initiate and develop policies and guidelines on the acquisition and use of human and financial resources of Assemblies;
• Strengthen the coordinating functions of administrative regions in Ghana; · Ensure rapid socio-economic development of newly created regions.
• Coordinate, monitor and evaluate. the implementation of local government sector policies and programmes; 
• Initiate the review/promulgation of legislation and regulations on local governance, decentralisation, rural and urban development; 
• Develop human resource policies to promote professionalism and productivity within the sector; 
• Promote participation of civil society in administration and development on matters relating to local governance; 

• Coordinate the development of sector medium-term plans and annual action plans in line with National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) framework; 
• Coordinate the development of sector annual budget and facilitates the allocation of resources for local level development; 

• Strengthen the implementation of programmes for the development and maintenance of Parks and Gardens for recreation. 
• Enhance the implementation of programmes for skills and community development. · Strengthen the registration of births and deaths to provide the statistical basis for development planning; and 
• Provide administrative and other services to support the performance of the sector.

These core functions constitute the work of the Ministry's Departments and Agencies. The following are the departments and agencies in the sector;

• Department of Community Development
• Births and Deaths Registry 
• Department of Parks and Gardens
• Office of the Head of Local Government Service (OHLGS) 
• Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS)
• Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation (IMCCoD) 
• Office of the Administrator of District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF)