STAR-Ghana Foundation (SGF) has held its 3rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) to, among others, consider and adopt Reports of the Governing Council, Executive Director and Auditors for the 2021/2022 financial year.
The AGM, held on Thursday, August 25th, 2022, in Accra with both in-person and virtual participation was in compliance with statutory requirements for the Foundation. Among other objectives, it served as a platform to provide strategic direction to the Governing Council for the development of the Foundation. The meeting also discussed key developments within the Foundation’s operating context during the reporting period and their implications for the organisation and its work.
Dr Esther Ofei-Aboagye, Chairperson of the Governing Council for STAR-Ghana Foundation, in her remarks said that the external context has continued to be challenging.
“In response to the context and in line with its vision and mission, STAR-Ghana is playing a key role in the processes leading to the establishment of a Ghana Civil Society Forum as a platform for coordinated voice and advocacy on issues affecting the sector. The Foundation is also, supporting local CSOs to pilot innovative approaches to local resource mobilisation for community development and their own sustainability, through the Giving for Change project”, she added in her statement to the AGM.
According to the Governing Council Chair, “the Active Citizenship Strategy has been developed and launched; and a draft operational plan has been developed for GC sign-off”, adding that “the development of a Local Philanthropy Strategy is underway, building on the lessons and results of the “Giving for Change” project funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.
Dr Ofei-Aboagye further notes that reductions in overall donor funding and changes in the focus of development assistance; Ghana’s ongoing economic crisis and its implications for the poor and disadvantaged; continuing declines in the quality of public goods and services, particularly health and education; as well as hijacking of spaces for public discourse and advocacy by the scorched earth approaches of strident partisan groups; have all combined to limit spaces for civil society and citizen activism as well as the sustainability of the civic sector.
For his part, Executive Director for the Foundation, Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu revealed that SGF has “directly engaged with approximately 151,000 citizens, working with 56 partner organizations and institutions”. According to him, STAR-Ghana Foundation’s work has contributed to “improved stakeholder coordination and collaboration towards sustainable peace, security and inclusive development in northern Ghana in particular and Ghana in general”. SGF has also developed and tested models of local philanthropy in Ghana as well as establish the Ghana Civil Society Forum for a more resilient and accountable civil society actor as well as provide advocacy for an enabling environment for Social Enterprises and Local philanthropy.
After the motion for the adoption of the reports was moved and accepted, the appointment of Prof Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu’s replacement on the GC and appointment of Directors were considered. Suzan Yemidi was nominated by the Emil Short committee as Prof Henrietta Mensa Bonsu’s replacement. Her CV was shared with members for further review and approval.
Highlights of Annual Report
The Annual Report also highlighted a number of key achievements during the period under review, including:
- Cumulatively, fourteen (14) partners were engaged by the Foundation through various forms of partnerships for the Conflict, Security and Stability Fund (CSSF), Giving for Change (GFC) and Partnership Beyond Aid (PBA) projects.
- The Foundation’s Active citizenship strategy provides a framework for taking forward STAR Ghana’s aspirations for sustaining itself as a center of active citizenship. The strategy is anchored on three areas- promotion of volunteerism, involving an enabling environment and piloting of models of volunteerism at community, district and national levels; promotion of civic awareness, consciousness and activism among the citizenry; and facilitating the emergence and strengthening of citizen and social movements around issues of social inclusion, good governance and governance of public goods and services delivery
- Through the Partnership Beyond Aid project, capacities of 210 Medium Scale Micro Enterprises in seven (7) districts in northern Ghana were strengthened to assess government’s Covid-19 Alleviation Programme for businesses and to engage government-Business Advisory Centres and the Ghana Enterprises Agency on the recommendations from the community score card reports. The reports from the score cards have engendered conversations with the Ghana Enterprise Agency at both the regional and national levels, leading to openness to share more information to inform the conclusions from the report cards.
- Through engagements from SGF and our stakeholders, the Education Committee of Parliament, Ministries of Education and Finance and Ghana Education Service committed to a roadmap for achieving improved education budget execution, to ensure that annual education spending responds adequately to the needs of the sector. These actors have agreed to periodic meetings around the education sector budget cycle, to monitor planning and execution of budget at the overall and sub-sector levels. The Committee has also requested of the Scholarship Secretariat to present to the Committee modalities for ensuring equity in the awards of scholarships to Ghanaian students.
Future outlook
Chairperson of the Governing Council (GC) in her projections for the Foundation’s future emphasised "though the Foundation has gained acceptance as a national facilitator of required social change, there is more to be done to establish it firmly and sustain its work”. Dr Ofei-Aboagye added, “the present funding environment is still very challenging, and the pressure is on for the Foundation to be resourceful and innovative. Our efforts to promote the culture and practice of local philanthropy should inure to our benefit as well as contribute to a new way of sustaining our democratic governance practice”. “We are still very optimistic that the STAR Ghana Foundation will fulfil the vision that called it into being” she prayed.
The GC Chair expressed gratitude to the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) of the United Kingdom, the European Union, the Hewlett Foundation, Botnar Foundation, Comic Relief and the Global Fund for Community Foundations for their support. She also thanked subscribers, the Management and Secretariat under the “able” leadership of Alhaji Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu.
STAR-Ghana Foundation is a registered national CSO which aims to increase the effectiveness of citizens and civil societies to achieve an equitable inclusive society through the promotion of active citizenship and local philanthropy.
