ALPI's
Countries of Focus: Ghana
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The ALPI Country Team in Ghana is
busily preparing for the national meeting at which they will
firmly establish their agenda for the coming years.
Issues of
interest identified by each stakeholder group follow, and will
be considered at the upcoming national meeting.
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Senegal Ghana Mali Kenya Tanzania
Issues of Interest to Ghanain NGOs
Local/Ghanaian NGOs are concerned about the absence of partnership
between them and U.S. PVOs, the majority of whom prefer to either implement
project activities and programs directly in the field or have local “babies” execute
them on their behalf. Ghanaian NGOs are wondering about the long-term
interest of the PVOs because even though their programs can yield results
for the immediate or short-term needs of the communities, the approach
has shortfalls for long-term and sustainable development.
Local/Ghanaian NGOs maintain that partnership should
have two major goals:
-
development sustainability resulting from development
achievements that take into account local knowledge and experience,
both of which foster a sense of ownership and commitment, and,
-
capacity building and institutional strengthening of local organizations.
U.S. PVOs should have an exit strategy.
Issues of U.S. PVOs in Ghana
In addition to issues about income tax for U.S. PVO expatriates, NGO
Policy and the NGO Code of Conduct already addressed in the “Draft
National Policy for Strategic Partnership with NGOs,” the
U.S. PVOs have also expressed concerns about identifying credible and
genuine local NGOs with whom to partner. The credibility of a great
deal of local NGOs is questionable and PVOs as a group would like to
see this addressed.
Issues of USAID in Ghana
The mission could look to broaden the scope for partnership between
local NGOs and U.S. PVOs, assuming that become better able to make
a case on what they have to offer. Broad issues also need to be examined,
such as the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), the African Peer Review
Mechanism (APRM), the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD), all with regard to the level of civil society participation
in these processes.
Current Activities and Initiatives
Until the national meeting in Ghana, the Country Team
is wasting no time and is working steadily on the following:
- Assisting GAPVOD—Ghana’s national NGO network—to
put together a consultative meeting including local CSOs, CBOs
and NGOs on the Government of Ghana’s MCA draft Concept Paper.
- The ALPI Country Team will work to boost the credibility of
local NGOs by updating the directory of local NGOs and by creating
a comprehensive database on local NGOs so that they can be located
by area(s) of interest, activities, achievements, constituencies,
geographic focus, etc. so that development partners can make
an informed choice with respect to choosing partners.
- The Secretariat
is drafting a concept note dubbed the “Civil
Society Accountability Project” which will help
local NGOs meet certain basic standards for self-repositioning,
transparency and self selection.
Country Team Members
Secretariat: The Pan African Organization for Sustainable
Development (POSDEV)
Ghana Association of Private Voluntary Organizations
CARE International
OIC International
USAID Ghana
For more information:
If you are in Ghana and want to be involved in ALPI, please contact
Lawrencia Adams at posdev@ghana.com.
If you are in the United States and want to learn more
about ALPI, please contact Sylvain
Browa.
