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After several initiatives had been launched as development programmes meant to help in the economic emancipation of the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions had failed, development watchers are now attributing the failures to over reliance on donor support. One of such development watchers is Prof. Haruna Yakubu, Vice Chancellor of University for Development Studies, who said the earlier interventions such as Farmers Services Company (FASCOM), Upper Region Agricultural Development (URADEP) and Northern Rural Growth Programme were largely donor-driven and donor-led. He observed that �the programs were externally shaped or influenced by the wishes of the donor. When the donor funds dried up, the projects also folded up. They were large scale projects and in the end these initiatives fell short of the expectation of the people. In their design, the people were not consulted and in their execution, the people were treated as outsiders�. Speaking at the 9th Congress of BONABOTO � a union of people from Bolgatanga, Nangodi Bongo and Tongo in the Upper Region held in Bolgatanga, on the theme: �Supporting the rebranding of SADA for development�, Prof. Yakubu said unlike other development initiatives that were not as successful as they were meant to be, when Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) was launched, the people expected the project to be different; they had very high expectations and considered it to be the solution for their problems. Though he admitted SADA had major challenges in trying to meet the expectations of the people, it should not be discarded as a failed initiative but lessons must be learnt from previous interventions so that a re-branded SADA did not repeat them. �A re-branded SADA must be a resourced one. It should not be overly dependent on donor funds�, he stressed. According to him, the fact that SADA was rebranded suggested that it had image problem, citing the guinea fowl production project and afforestation programme as two major issues negatively attributed to SADA. Prof. Yakubu called for a strong Communication Directorate with experienced staff, to not only react to moments of bad press, but to be really proactive in positioning the Savannah regions of the country as worthy investment destinations for both local and foreign interests. He also said the rebranded SADA has a challenge to relate to its constituents by reaching out to them to let them know that its doors were open to all. He emphasized that consulting the people in planning and execution of projects should become part of the organizational culture of SADA. The authority must also be transparent in its activities to assure the people that their interests were paramount to it. The congress brought together members of the association in the Diaspora and in Ghana as it always did to deliberate on the development of their areas.