Overview
The project was developed under the French Embassy in Ghana’s call to strengthen the professional skills of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Ghana within the context of how CSOs could contribute to good governance. ACEPA’s project in this regard, aimed to engender effective citizens’ participation and representation in governance and decision-making processes in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions of Ghana, through an enhanced civil-society-parliament engagement. Building the professional competences of selected CSOs towards a more constructive engagement with Parliament was the central focus of the project. The project run from 2017 to 2018.
Interventions
The project sensitized and educated representative CSOs to enhance their knowledge on the work of various public institutions, develop awareness of their roles and responsibilities in national and local development and create interest for a better understanding and potential commitment in public decision making. Specific activities included:
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- Development of training modules
- Identification and mobilization of CSOs in the three target regions and preparatory work for trainings
- Two rounds of training for selected CSOs in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions and interaction with MPs to test skills on how to engage parliament
- In-house activities by CSOs /Implementation of action plans with technical backstopping from experts
Outcomes
The project contributed to the following outcomes:
- Participating CSOs enhanced their knowledge on Parliament as an institution, parliamentary proceedings and the best and most effective ways to engage parliament and MPs. For the majority of participants, this was their first exposure to Parliament and it is expected to impact the way CSOs’ approach their work at the local level.
- Participating CSOs acquired skills on how to package the results/evidence from their work for the consumption of policy makers and duty bearers.
- The trainings fostered a sense of collaboration and networking among CSOs operating in the target regions. The project pushed for CSOs to adopt and engage in collective actions around strategic issues, as a complement to individual actions. As a result, the CSOs were able to come up with two key issues for national level advocacy, which they were going to work on collectively.
Partners
- NORSAAC
- SONGTABA
- URBANET
- Upper West Women in Agriculture Platform
- Upper East Women in Agriculture Platform
- Northern Women in Agriculture Platform
- Trade Aid Integrated
- Community Development Alliance
- Rise-Ghana
- CODAC
- NORPRA
- CALID
- WIDO
- CARE International’s Northern Ghana Governance Activity
- CIKOD
- PRUDA
- ESOKO
- French Embassy in Ghana