Why so many pictures of markets, vendors, women with stuff on their heads?

Because each and every one of these is a revenue source for the AMA. Depending on where they are, each one of these vendors will pay tolls of at LEAST 20 peswas (about $0.05 USD) a day for the right to trade. Those in stalls/stiles or other more permanent business structures will also pay a yearly Business Operating Permit fee (variable fee depending on business, starting as low as 43p and up to hundreds of cedis - think dollar divided by 2) and a Property Rate (think property tax). If the vendor is in a stall that is rented, they pay rent as well as a property rate.

This is THE major source of income for the AMA, aside from grants from the national government, international donors, and the like. So improving the collection rate, the ability to collect, and the ability to pay directly to an institution such as a bank without paying the revenue collector will increase the "revenue mobilization" of the AMA. This direct pay may be through many different means, but mobile money is likely to be the winner. Direct payment is a hot button for many people in both the markets and the AMA; it will start to improve the transparency of the system - traders will KNOW that the money they have paid has in fact gone to the AMA and not been "lost" along the way.

But back to the collection - the AMA has approximately 500 revenue collectors (310 are direct AMA employees, the rest are contractors) to collect information from ALL of these traders. So remember how I said that Makola market was likely 10's of thousands of vendors/traders? Makola may be the biggest, but there are 18 other, not so small, markets across the greater Accra region. The revenue collectors make about $2000C (cedi) a YEAR - yet in some cases, they are bringing in (between tolls, BOP, PR) almost $1000C a DAY in revenue for the AMA. Go back to my comment on transparency.

So even a small improvement will make a BIG difference to the AMA and their ability to provide services for their citizens. This is where we will be focusing our energies and recommendations for our ESC/Smarter Cities Challenge assignment.