Election 2016: STAR-Ghana projects open up new opportunities
STAR-Ghana’s first call for grant proposals supported initiatives promoting peaceful, credible, issues-based and inclusive presidential and parliamentary elections for Ghana in 2016. Out of the 219 organisations that responded to the call, 35 were awarded grants totalling $US2,216,167.
Grant partners were asked what opportunities were on the horizon following their work with STAR. Here are some of their stories.
Media
Blogging Ghana said other government and independent organisations are interested in its social media training. Its work promoting the voices of young and marginalised people online could soon be rolled out in other West African countries.
Through its project, Foundation for Sustainable Development in Africa-Ghana produced social media content on the theme ‘Election is no war’, encouraging interaction between political parties and communities and laying the ground for future projects.
CILTAD/Coastal Television’s My Central Agenda Platform (MYCAP) project educated the electorate to vote based on issues. CILTAD believes voter education can be rolled out nationwide, perhaps through Facebook Live and other social media platforms. ‘The media can take this to another level,’ added CILTAD. ‘This should not just be during the election period, but also should form part of their core mandate.’
The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC)’s STAR-Ghana Presidential Encounters 2016 has positioned the national broadcaster to spearhead future presidential debates and encouraged the creation of more platforms for the voiceless in rural Ghana through new technology and new media.
Citi 97.3FM’s STAR-Ghana project has made them capable of supporting civil society organisations, pursuing longer campaigns around issues such as land grabbing and training more citizen journalists.
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), an influential media development and freedom of expression advocacy organisation in West Africa, believes its Eminent Media Persons Group will improve professional standards and promote independent journalism in Ghana.
Multimedia Group Limited’s People, Policy & Power project promoted issue-based and responsible media coverage of the elections. It believes it can now collaborate further with local and community radio stations, increasing media reach to more remote areas.
After its STAR-Ghana project enhanced media regulation and established mechanisms for settling complaints for or against the media, the National Media Commission has been looking into establishing regional media advisory committees in underserved regions.
Upper West region radio station W93.5FM has developed a weekly programme on disability issues and shows for other minority groups. Independent television channel TV3 Ghana has identified capacity gaps in news reporting.
Skyy Media Group worked for an inclusive, violence-free 2016 election in the Western Region, where it now plans to help develop a formidable local election observation organisation.
Events management and theatre production company Globe Productions has seen interest in drama as a medium for education grow through its project, which trained 12,000 people in anger management. ‘The interesting nature of drama makes it one of the best tools for social change for the disadvantaged in our society,’ Globe said. ‘We can let the disadvantaged groups tell their own story through drama.’
Inclusion
Global Action for Women Empowerment (GLOWA) suggests the active involvement of women in their target districts during the election has increased their interest in politics and will eventually lead to some of these women taking up leadership positions, initially at grassroots level.
The Centre for Active Learning and Integrated Development (CALID) believes a more open election, and greater participation by young people, will help the Electoral Commission to build more trust and confidence.
Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD) reports that its election project has enabled continuous engagement with the government on matters of inclusion, such as employment, participation and political appoitnments.
Social Initiative for Literacy and Development Program (SILDEP) has heralded the use of local dialects and sign language during the elections, following its Mini-Max Voter Education 2016 project.
USCOND, which promoted the agenda of women, people with disabilities and young people during the election, said there has since been an agreement with the National Commission for Civic Education, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, media partners and the Electoral Commission to hold regular meetings on electoral education.
TRADEAID Integrated, which aims to make trade work for the poor, said collaborations developed through its STAR-Ghana project would be further strengthened in future programme planning. ‘Another emerging opportunity is the community led voter education concept, [which] could be adapted and used for implementation in our food security programme,’ the organisation said.
As a result of its project, the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) believes it will be able to provide more gender training for police personnel, while training manuals it developed can be enhanced and used with other groups.
Abantu for Development has deepened its long-term working relationships with policy makers and actors including the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, political parties, civil society organisations, women’s organisations and other grant STAR-Ghana grant partners.
The Bawku East Women's Development Association (BEWDA) suggests the Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee (BIEPC) is now better positioned to intervene in sensitive matters that could trigger trouble in the area and celebrated the emergence of youth and women peace ambassadors.
For NORSAAC, an organisation committed to empowering women and young people in Ghana’s northern region, highlighted the ‘opportunity to partner with other organisations working on elections and governance in the other regions of Ghana through the learning among STAR-Ghana grant partners’.
Good governance
The STAR-Ghana funded report Sixth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana by ODEKRO – an open data analysis organisation – has opened up opportunities to expand its work beyond monitoring of transparency to the effectiveness of the parliamentary services. ODEKRO is now working with other CSOs who want to engage with parliament based on the data they have.
ISODEC, a Ghanaian, rights-based public policy research and advocacy organisation, believes monitoring political parties’ manifestos will now be much easier, and suggested political parties might be required to present their manifestos within a certain timeframe in future. The Institute of Economic Affairs will use manifesto scorecards as the basis of quarterly encounters with the President around manifesto promises.
Findings from the project of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) have presented opportunities for further investigations into vote buying. They see a need to broaden their work to other parts of Ghana.
Ghana Integrity Initiative (Lead), Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), CDD – Ghana and Citizens Movement Against Corruption (CMaC) ran the Promoting a more level political playing field: Reducing abuse of incumbency project. The high level of interest from citizens and politicians in incumbency abuse, electoral corruption and vote buying offers the coalition an opportunity to advocate for more lasting change on these issues and it will be arranging further policy dialogue.
Peace and faith
Following its STAR-Ghana project, which saw peace songs played on radio and three peace concerts held, the Musicians’ Union of Ghana’s national women’s organiser and regional organisers will liaise with women’s groups across the country to provide them with musical training.
The National Catholic Secretariat believes it can now transform an ad hoc interfaith platform into a formal structure for effective cooperation and partnership, promoting peaceful coexistence among religious groups and social cohesion in an era of extremism. The use of religious leaders as peer ambassadors leading ongoing engagement with their congregations, is an opportunity highlighted by Royals Health Organisation (ROHEO).
Socioserve Ghana’s Inter Party Dialogue Committees should be harnessed for future engagements, it said. ‘They are now in a better position to manage conflict situations.’
Election 2016: STAR-Ghana grant partners showcase achievements
STAR-Ghana’s first call for grant proposals supported initiatives promoting peaceful, credible, issues-based and inclusive presidential and parliamentary elections for Ghana in 2016. Out of the 219 organisations that responded to the call, 35 were awarded grants totalling $US2,216,167.
At an end of project event in March 2017, STAR-Ghana’s Election 2016 grant partners were asked what their biggest achievements had been. Here are some of their stories.
Inclusion
Abantu for Development and the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations’ (GFD) worked to make the election accessible to persons with disabilities, seeking to have their rights enshrined in law and included in major political party manifestos. Abantu produced a Gender Performance Scorecard to measure parties’ commitment to gender equality.
GFD deployed persons with disabilities to 655 voting centres across the country as election observers, and trained 5,000 blind and partially-sighted people to use a tactile voting system. For the first time, electoral process education materials were available in Braille, while many political campaign messages were interpreted in sign language.
Socioserve Ghana gave voice to socially excluded groups like persons with disabilities, young people and Fulani groups. Hard to reach communities, previously left out of the electoral discourse, had the opportunity to host political party leaders for the first time. USCOND enhanced engagement between election candidates and young people, women and persons with disabilities informing their choices. For many, this was the first time they had directly heard responses from candidates.
The Mini-Max Voter Education 2016 project of Social Initiative for Literacy and Development Program (SILDEP) and TEERE increased voter turnout and reduced rejected votes. The project ensured the inclusion of people with disabilities as temporary Electoral Commission officials and that those with disabilities, the visually impaired, the elderly and infirm were assisted to vote.
Global Action for Women Empowerment (GLOWA) aimed for a 20% increase in the participation of socially excluded groups, particularly women, in the elections and a 50% reduction in spoilt ballots in 40 hard-to-reach communities.
TRADEAID Integrated enhanced citizens’ participation in five constituencies of the Upper East region. Its project contributed to the achievement of a peaceful, free and fair nonviolent vote, the reduction of rejected ballot papers and an increase in voter turnout in some areas.
Peace
The Forum for Actions on Inclusion, Transparency and Harmony (FAITH) project of the National Catholic Secretariat reached more than nine million citizens with peace messages through community radio and in places of worship, while an active interfaith platform working for peace was sustained throughout.
The Musicians’ Union of Ghana used music as a tool for national cohesion. The union, which has 4,200 members, held peace walks, secured radio airplay for peace songs on stations nationwide and held three concerts, one live on GTV on the eve of the elections, reaching a national audience.
The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG)’s Peaceful Elections for Credible Outcomes in Ghana (PECOG) project sought to strengthen political and security conditions to ensure peaceful elections, and uphold public trust and confidence in the electoral process, its institutions and credible outcomes.
The African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) aimed to reduce intimidation and brutality by security forces by providing training sessions and manuals for police, security agencies and media.
STAR-Ghana partner Millennium Child Support Group increased the understanding among young people in slum communities of the importance of peace, security and stability. A local committee was set up to monitor flashpoints and report violence among people being influenced by politicians.
The Bawku East Women's Development Association’s goal was credible and peaceful elections in the Bawku Traditional Area. BEWDA set out to prevent ethnic conflicts influenced by political party activities, built the capacity of the Bawku Inter-Ethnic Peace Committee (BIEPC) and improved its collaboration with security agencies, political parties, religious groups, traditional authorities, young people, women and the media.
The Peaceful and Credible Election (PeaCE) project from Centre for Active Learning and Integrated Development (CALID) aimed to increase voting rights and youth confidence in the registration and voting process. There were also almost no recorded cases of violent disagreements and destruction of property in the four target districts.
Events management and theatre production company Globe Productions equipped about 12,000 people with anger management skills in five major cities to become agents of nonviolence in their communities.
Royals Health Organisation (ROHEO) increased equal participation, peaceful elections, acceptance of results, and tolerance of opposition among voters in vulnerable communities in the Northern Belt of the Volta Region. The election process was violence-free, fair and credible in project areas.
Media
The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation’s Ghana Wins Election 2016 project kept the electorate informed on key processes and aimed to reduce incidences of rejected ballots. The public broadcaster said the elimination of ‘snatched ballot boxes’ was one of its project’s main achievements.
GBC’s STAR-Ghana Presidential Encounters 2016 project kept voters up to date on the issues on which presidential candidates campaigned. Similarly, the Institute of Economic Affairs’ presidential/vice-presidential debates and evening encounters – The Seventh Milestone project – promoted issue-based campaigning and citizen participation and provided an accountability platform.
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is an influential media development and freedom of expression advocacy organisation in West Africa. Through its STAR-Ghana grant, MFWA promoted decent language and issues-based campaigning during the election, aiming to reduce hate speech and other inciting campaign messages. Significant remedial measures were adopted by some radio stations when they were cited in MFWA reports to reduce or eliminate indecent expressions on air. Use of inappropriate language about the election reportedly fell by 75% from April to December 2016 on 70 radio stations across the country.
The National Media Commission’s project aimed to enhance media regulation in the regions and establish mechanisms for settling complaints for or against the media. The commission reported an increased sense of awareness among citizens that freedom of expression should be balanced with rules securing the right to privacy, public order and public morality.
Multimedia Group Limited’s People, Policy & Power project promoted issue-based and responsible media coverage. There was increased media coverage of gender and social inclusion issues in election reporting and more opportunities for ordinary people to engage the media and get their voices heard through the ‘Joy Ballot Box’.
Blogging Ghana’s Ghana Decides 2.0: The Voices campaign promoted the voices of young and marginalised people online. Ghana’s biggest organisation of bloggers and social media enthusiasts provided a social media platform for comprehensive news coverage, information and discussion for audiences in Ghana and beyond. It also trained the Ghana Police Service to use social media to keep the peace during the poll.
Citi 97.3FM supported citizens to be better engaged with their potential elected leaders by collaborating with other organisations to hold parliamentary debates, while the Lanbuuri project of Upper West region radio station W93.5FM ensured the inclusion and participation of marginalised young people.
Within its STAR-Ghana project, Foundation for Sustainable Development in Africa-Ghana produced social media content on the theme ‘Election is no war’, raising awareness about the negative impact of electoral violence and positive economic outcomes of peaceful elections.
Independent television channel TV3 Ghana featured 24 female parliamentary and presidential candidates in televised debates and through news reporting, enabling them outline to their policy preferences to constituents – ten won or retained their seats in the elections.
Good governance
Financial Accountability and Transparency Africa (FAT-AFRICA) enhanced political parties’ transparency and accountability to citizens by disclosing sources of campaign funds and expenditure. FAT-Africa organised training on political party financing for 80 media professionals and produced a report on best practices.
ODEKRO – which informs and empowers Ghanaian citizens on the work of parliament through open data analysis – used STAR-Ghana's funding to produce a report on the Sixth Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, deepening public awareness of the role of parliamentarians and parliament and providing a verifiable ‘baseline’ for citizens to assess their future performance.
NORSAAC, an organisation committed to empowering women and young people in Ghana’s northern region, received STAR-Ghana funding for its Strengthening Community-led initiatives for Peaceful and credible Elections (SCOPE) project. The Northern Regional Electoral Commission adopted SCOPE’s party free ballot booklets, using them to sensitise first time voters on how to mark ballots correctly.
Imani Center for Public Policy and Education and ODEKRO’s STAR-Ghana project addressed the proliferation of new districts and constituencies in Ghana by establishing an objective framework for constituency creation without influence from government.
Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) aimed to reduce vote buying. The project trained women as anti-vote buying/selling educators and vote buying incident monitors. Meanwhile, 32,000 voters received the anti-vote buying education campaign message, that vote buying is an illegal act which is punishable by law. Many of them made verbal commitments never to sell their votes again.
Ghana Integrity Initiative (Lead), Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), CDD – Ghana and Citizens Movement Against Corruption (CMaC) ran a project called Promoting a more level political playing field: Reducing abuse of incumbency through STAR-Ghana. The project increased media attention leading to President John Mahama’s call for a national debate on incumbency abuse. The organisations developed a monitoring tool to track and document the incumbency abuse and electoral corruption, which can also be used in future elections.
Meet your Candidate sessions should be mandatory, STAR-Ghana partner says
Face-to-face interaction between citizens and parliamentary candidates to encourage issue-based voting was a key activity of a STAR-Ghana funded project during the presidential and parliamentary elections.
Socioserve-Ghana’s Promoting Inclusiveness in Elections 2016 project reached five constituencies in the eastern and Volta areas.
Meet your Candidate sessions allowed parliamentary candidates to answer questions from constituents, promoting accountability and transparency among political figures.The project recommended that these sessions should be mandatory in future.
The project also brought together political parties, urging them to encourage peaceful actions among their diehard supporters.
Coming together for peace
For the first time, five chiefs from Tokoroano community came together for a durbar – a traditional Ghanaian welcoming ceremony, involving dancing, music and presentations. The chiefs in this area were known to have had long-running disputes.
Socioserve-Ghana partnered on the project with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), which sought to revamp the Inter Party Dialogue Committee (IPDC). This committee comprised of the Electoral Commission, police, political parties, civic groups and youth groups.
The IPDC prioritised community participation and screened election violence films translated into local languages. A Code of Conduct was formally agreed with communities. These actions helped to peacefully defuse potential conflicts between police and citizens, especially in the Afram Plains.
‘We allowed communities to decide what they wanted to do, and suggested what would bring stakeholders together.’
An IPDC representative.
Elections 2016 grants
STAR-Ghana’s first call for grant proposals supported initiatives promoting peaceful, credible, issue-based and inclusive presidential and parliamentary elections for Ghana in 2016. Out of the 219 organisations that responded to the call, 35 were awarded grants totalling $US2,216,167.
More about the election 2016 grants.