Ghana Venskab Strategic update and results report 2016

ghana venskab Strategic update & RESULTS REPORT 2015

Photo cover page: Ulrik Tofte

table of contents

Contents List of annexes 2 1. GHANA FRIENDS UPDATED STRATEGIC PLAN 2017-2018 4 1.1 DEVELOPMENT AND STATUS OF STRATEGIES 4 1.2 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE 8 1.3 STRENGTHENING OF M&E SYSTEM 9 1.4 QUALITY ASSURANCE 9 1.5. FURTHER STRENGTHENING AND CONSOLIDATION OF FINANCIAL SYSTEM AND PROCEDURES 9 1.6 THEMATIC STRATEGIES 10 1.7 SCHEMATIC OVERVIEW OF ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 11 1.8 development education activities 2017 12 2. EVIDENCE OF CHANGE 13 2.1 APPROACH TO MEASURING & DOCUMENTING RESULTS 13 2.2 CHANGE AT THE LEVEL OF RIGHTS HOLDERS AND RELATION TO DUTY BEARERS 14 2.3 CHANGE AT THE LEVEL OF POLICY PROCESSES 28 2.4 ALIGNMENT AND HARMONISATION 31 2.5 HUMAN RIGHTS BASED APPROACH 33 2.6 INNOVATION 35 2.7 PARTNERSHIP AND CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT OF PARTNERS 39 2.8 MUTUAL LEARNING WITHIN PARTNERSHIPS 42 2.9 ADDED VALUE IN THE CONTEXT OF MUTUAL CONTRIBUTIONS 43 3. ASSUMPTIONS AND RISKS 46

4. Development education 2015 48 5. MAIN RESULTS FOR 2015 50

List of annexes Annex 1 - Rammebudget 2017 - 2020 annex 2 - budget notat Annex 3 - GV tilsyn 2017 - 2018 Annex 4 - redegørelse for opfyldelse af egenfinansieringskravet (5 %) annex 5 - gv plan for oplysningsaktiviteter annex 6 -Strategi for Folkelig forankring annex 7 - gv partnerskabsstrategi

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1. GHANA FRIENDS UPDATED STRATEGIC PLAN 2017-2018 As described in the 2014 results report, Ghana Friends has undergone a great transformation in recent years. The transformation has been set in motion by external factors, e.g. changes in funding modalities, as well as internal forces within the organization. By now Ghana Friends has been a framework organisation for 1.5 years and has achieved many of the annual goals we have set ourselves in the framework application from 2014.

This document will provide an update on the development and status of our strategic plan for 20172018. The reduction of our grant by 26% from 2016 and onwards, as a result of the cut down in development assistance in 2015, has made it necessary to make some changes in our strategic plan.

1.1 DEVELOPMENT AND STATUS OF STRATEGIES

Ghana Friends has developed a set of comprehensive strategies for the core areas of our work in Denmark: communication, fundraising and voluntarism, which together form the basis of our popular foundation. The strategies are bound together by a text outlining the overall framework such as the vision, mission and geographical focus. The strategy for our programme in Ghana is described in the GV Development Strategy 2015-2018 and our approach to partnership is described in the Partnership Strategy.

The strategies for communication, fundraising, partnership and voluntarism were all developed and approved by the board in 2014 and 2015. In 2016 an overall framework was developed and approved in consultation with the board.

Our focus in the rest of 2016 and 2017 will be on the implementation of the strategies and adjustments of the strategic priorities where necessary.

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The text below will describe this process in more detail.

1.1.1 COMMUNICATION STRATEGY At the end of 2014 Ghana Friends recruited a fundraiser and communication officer in order to prioritize and upgrade these areas. It was seen as a necessary investment in our ability to communicate professionally and raise the necessary funds. The communication strategy, approved in April 2015, operates with three overall principles for our communication credibility, persistence and commitment that remain relevant. In relation to our three overall focus areas for 2015-2018 - brand communication, digital communication and press communication - it has been necessary to reprioritise, as our fundraising and communication officer was laid off in October 2015.

This means that press communication is no longer a priority. The tasks related to fundraising and communication have been allocated to the remaining three staff members at the secretariat.

In terms of branding we have implemented the planned activities with a focus on a re-evaluation of our name, logo and visual identity.

The process of changing our name from Ghana Venskabsgrupperne/Ghana Friendship Groups to Ghana Venskab/Ghana Friends has been a long journey involving a large group of members. The change might seem small, but it was a rather intense process leading to constructive discussions on our identity and values. Members were encouraged to come up with name proposals and quite a few proposals came in. It was not possible to agree on a new name at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in May 2015, but the majority voted in favour of continuing the process. An ad-hoc working group, with members drawn from various committees, held a creative workshop in September 2015 to evaluate the logo and come up with a suggestion for a new name. It was decided to keep the logo, but the name proposal of the creative group was not approved at the extraordinary AGM in September 2015. Members were encouraged to come up with more name proposals and more than 30 proposals were put to an internet based vote. The majority of members preferred ‘Ghana Venskab’ and this choice was finally approved at the AGM in May 2016. This decision was

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followed by an adjustment of our visual identity.

In terms of web communication, we have achieved many of our targets, even if it has not been possible to devote as much staff time to this area as planned. In 2015 two campaign sites were developed in relation to our development education activities.

Most importantly, it has been decided to modernize our website and a group of volunteers and staff have started implementing a work plan that should lead to a new website being launched at the Ghana Seminar in September 2016.

Regarding the third strategic focus area press communication Ghana Friends does not have the resources at present to prioritize a systematic and focused effort at enhancing our visibility in external media. Instead we have focused on upgrading our internal media. We have reached external media in a few cases, such as the debate concerning the Danish movie ‘The Gold Coast’, of particular interest to our work.

1.1.2 FUNDRAISING STRATEGY Ghana Friends initially saw the requirement of own financing as a major challenge, but our fundraising work has come off to a good start. The fundraising strategy has proven to be a useful tool to guide the work of the fundraising committee and the secretariat. In 2015 we managed to conduct most of the planned fundraising activities and meet our targets, but it has been necessary to adjust our ambitions for the coming years.

Contributions from private donors will continue to be the main priority for our fundraising work. The response from our members has been very positive; more than 20% of our members have started making regular contributions since September 2014.

However, the target for regular contributions has been adjusted downwards to reflect a slower than expected rate of recruiting new members. In terms of single contributions, GV conducted a successful education campaign in 2015 that attracted approx.

100.000 kr., which was above target.

Ghana Friends has invested considerable time and energy in an upgraded membership and donor database, with features that enables us to track and

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document donations and other forms of contact. The upgraded database has been the point of departure for a telemarketing exercise implemented by a group of volunteers in 2015. Volunteers called previous members and other contacts in the database and encouraged them to reactivate their membership and/or make a contribution. The intervention was almost cost-free and the success rate was considerably higher than most professional telemarketing.

The success with fundraising so far proves that members are willing to also make financial contributions in addition to their time and professional expertise. It has been possible to change the perception of Ghana Friends, which is now also seen as a fundraising organisation.

The challenge lies in expanding the circles of possible contributors beyond the existing membership base, given the limited brand recognition and resources.

One of the steps in this direction is collaboration with educational institutions and it will remain a priority area for GV in the coming years. The focus will be on further developing and deepening the existing collaboration with Hald Ege Efterskole and Friskole, rather than expanding the number of partners. The collaboration with Hald Ege Efterskole and Friskole has obvious benefits in terms of fundraising and development education. The two schools have contributed with approx. 100,000 DKK in 2016 and 180 students and teachers from Hald Ege efterskole have visited the E4L programme in Ghana in January 2016. There has been follow up to the visit in the form of articles, facebook updates etc. and this has also been an opportunity for Ghana Friends to come into contact with the parents of the students.

It is agreed that the collaboration will continue in the coming years.

Application for funding from foundations is on-going; Ghana Friends has carefully selected a number of foundations with a statement of purpose that matches our thematic areas; and has developed some basic project concepts for adaptation to target the relevant foundations. So far we have been granted funds for teacher training and SfL classes, and for a teacher exchange program to augment

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the development education budget. We expect that the income from foundations will rise in the coming years. The fundraising committee will explore collaboration with private companies, but it is not a highly prioritized area.

Regarding the 15% co-financing of activities in Ghana by other donors, the GV strategy is to cooperate closely with the local partners on this. Especially Ghanaian Developing Communities Association (GDCA), the older, more experienced partner organisation, which has a number of subsidiary implementing organisations under its umbrella, is expanding its cooperation with other donors in areas related to the E4L programme. GV and the partners regularly take stock of the portfolio and assess opportunities for synergy effects, value addition and up-scaling through GV involvement in these other interventions.

In the thematic area of education GV is working with School for Life (SfL, the organisation under GDCA which focuses on education) to build linkages to the other partners they work with. During 2016 the GV SfL committee will together with SfL organize a workshop for the SfL partners and other relevant stakeholders on quality education to strengthen the links and explore possibilities for cooperation and co-financing. From GV’s prior knowledge of the other interventions there are several areas of common interest and where the different partners can benefit from mutual inspiration.

A collaboration was initiated in 2015 between a French organisation, Acting for Life, GV and GDCA through CLIP (GDCA subsidiary focusing on food security and livelihoods) on a project for building resilience of agro-pastoral systems in West Africa under the project title PARSAO. The project operates in 7 countries in West Africa and is a good learning opportunity for GDCA/CLIP and GV e.g. on multi-partner interventions and on value chains. This cooperation runs until 2018 in the first phase with likelihood of continuation after that, and provides a good contribution to GV’s 15% co-financing.

1.1.3 STRATEGY ON VOLUNTARISM Implementation of the strategy on voluntarism is ongoing and so far there have been no major adjustments of the objectives and goals. The strategy has three overall strategic focus areas: more members, possibilities for different kinds of voluntarism and increased volunteer focus on the work in Denmark.

Ghana Friends has used its comparative advantages, strong personal relations and knowledge of Ghana, to maintain and expand its membership base. As mentioned, a group of volunteers have conducted a telemarketing campaign that resulted in more donations and renewed memberships. Apart from this, it has turned out to be a positive experience and a useful way of connecting with previous members to remind them of our existence. In a few cases it has also resulted in a renewed engagement in our voluntary work.

Despite a big effort, we have not quite achieved our target of 350 members in 2015 (324 members). We have a core of committed and involved members; and we are a niche organisation with a relatively limited number of members and low brand recognition in the Danish public. This presents us with a number of challenges. One of the challenges relates to resources, as volunteers conduct telemarketing.

According to the Danish Collection Act it is also prohibited to contact people that we have had no previous contact with, which makes it difficult to expand our circles. To add to this, there are a certain number of people every year that we lose contact with or who decide not to renew their membership, so small increases in total membership still reflect a certain influx of new members. Nevertheless, we do our best to make sure that we maintain and expand our membership base, e.g. through another telemarketing campaign in 2016.

There has been a lot of progress in achieving the second and third goals of the strategy on voluntarism, which is to diversify ways of being a volunteer in Ghana Friends and greater focus on activities in Denmark.

The work with fundraising has in itself in several ways diversified and revitalized our voluntary work. It has created new relations and ways of contributing,

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which have been well received. As an example, two young Danish women have created a small business, ‘Afrobatics’ with tie and dye clothes sold at festivals and donated all the profits to young entrepreneurs in Ghana.

The work with development education, e.g. the photo exhibition ‘Without Blinking’, has involved many volunteers and exposed our work to a new audience.

In the programme committees there have also been many efforts to redefine committee work, which will be continued. To highlight a few examples, members of the youth committee supported the visit to Ghana by 180 students and teachers from Hald Ege efterskole in January 2015. The visit was a huge logistical exercise and the inputs from our volunteers are invaluable for this type of collaboration.

LISE GRAUENKÆR

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1.1.4 PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY Ghana Friends adopted its first partner strategy in 2014, which introduced a more strategic approach to working with and in partnerships. The strategy operates with different types of partnerships varying in level of cooperation (funding, duration of engagement and capacity development) from high to low. One of the hallmarks of Ghana Friends has been the long and committed partnerships with a few partners, but the strategy put into words other kinds of collaboration, which have always existed, and opened up for new types of partnerships. Ghana Friends remain committed to being involved in different kinds of partnerships, but the 26% cut in Danida funding from 2016 has made it necessary to adjust the targets for entering into new partnerships during the strategy period. It was planned that Ghana Friend should enter into a new organisational partnership in 2017. An organisational partnership is the most demanding form in terms of resources and commitment. This objective is no longer feasible with the new grant size, instead it will be a priority to strengthen the existing partners and develop their capacity and their cooperation with other organisations within the limits of the reduced grant.

In addition, more focus will be on developing and maintaining non-funding based strategic partnerships. This type of partnership can be with organisations, institutions or networks which a) serve as a platform for learning and sharing as well as building a stronger voice or b) have a demand for knowledge and access to partners and communities in Ghana, in return for access to fundraising or other opportunities in GV’s interest. The revised partnership strategy is included to this report as annex 7.

1.2 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Ghana Friends reviewed and adjusted its organisational structure in 2014/2015, as described in the 2014 results report. The organisational structure was adjusted to revitalize voluntary work and to make sure that the structure is aligned to the new framework set-up.

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Ghana Friends has three programme committees organized around the thematic areas of the E4L programme – education, youth and food security. There are three organisational committees working with fundraising, membership – and friendship activities and development education. In addition, there have been some ad hoc groups and activities throughout the year, which have focused on specific and timebound tasks, such as making a proposal for a new name and visual identity.

The plan is to review the functionality of the new organisational structure by the end of 2016 and make adjustments, if necessary. For now, it is possible to draw some conclusions on the functionality of the structure. The number of core volunteers is satisfactory and stable. The committees managed to get an adequate number of members at the 2016 Annual General Meeting, even if some of the committees are interested in recruiting new members.

The activity level in the committees is generally high.

Within the area of food security it has, however, been challenging to get consistent volunteer involvement and GV is working on new ways to involve volunteers and strengthen the organisation’s capacity. This is done in close cooperation with the partners in order to respond to relevant needs.

The board, as well as its staff and finance sub-committee is highly functional, stable and dependable.

There is a strong relationship with the partners in Ghana, as evidenced by the successful annual partner meeting, and with the secretariat in Denmark.

The board has sent two representatives to the annual partner meetings in Ghana for a number of years.

The strong relationships have proven invaluable in difficult situations, as for example the cut down in the E4L grant in 2015, which required fast and concerted action.

Increased use of ad hoc working groups and activities has been a positive development, which has released new energy. It has allowed more people to take part in our work and make a contribution.

This has been the case, for example, in connection with the ‘Without Blinking’ photo exhibition, which would not have been possible without the contribution of volunteers. Copenhagen based members have formed a local volunteer group, which meets

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regularly to get in-depth knowledge on the various initiatives and interventions GV is involved in and contributes to development education and other organisational activities. Such local initiatives are important in order to keep members well informed and retain new members. Learning from this initiative will feed into the review of the organisational structure and functionality at the end of the year.

1.3 STRENGTHENING of M&E SYSTEM During the next coming years GV’s strengthening of the M&E system will focus on outcome monitoring, including monitoring of change within the thematic areas, and developing monitoring feedback systems which promote learning. The work to strengthen outcome monitoring began in the second half of 2015 with the introduction of outcome harvesting and is continuing in 2016. The collection and verification of outcome data as well as analysis and capacity to use the findings is a demanding process, which requires consistent follow-up. More information about work on the M&E system is found in the results report.

Revised selected output and outcome indicators as well as yearly benchmarks and results for 2015 - 2018 have been submitted to Danida after the annual meeting in March 2016. The revision reflected changes due to the cut in funding and due to the strengthened focus on change within the thematic areas, and has effect on results from 2016 (see section 5).

1.4 QUALITY ASSURANCE

capacity in targeted areas; 2) hire external consultants where relevant and 3) create strong E4L teams with the local partners.

In 2015 it has been a priority for GV and its partners to strengthen the M&E system and the work will continue in 2016. The objective is to have a system in place that will ensure a steady flow of reliable and robust data, which we are able to compile and analyse for reporting and learning. An external consultancy in 2015 gave an expert view on the efforts so far and pointed to areas in need of further improvement. Outcome monitoring was singled out and new tools were introduced and tested.

To ensure that the GV secretariat delivers high quality technical support to partners in M&E, GV programme coordinators have participated in an INTRAC advanced Monitoring and Evaluation training course.

The course was combined with follow up with the course trainer and the external consultant.

A team structure with three technical teams (M&E, Advocacy & Communication and Finance) was introduced in late 2015 and it will be an important element of our technical quality assurance in the future.

With support from the GV secretariat, the teams will upgrade and assure E4L’s capacity through their combined technical capacities and inputs, as well as an element of peer review.

1.5. FURTHER STRENGTHENING AND CONSOLIDATION OF FINANCIAL SYSTEM AND PROCEDURES

In 2015 a lot of work was done to revise, mainstream and strengthen financial quality assurance and control systems (see section 1.5 for more details). In 2016 and the coming years focus will be on further strengthening technical quality assurance.

In 2015 GV and its partners have done a lot of work to redesign the financial reporting system and procedures. The aim has been to make the system more simple and effective. The efforts in the rest of 2016 and in the coming years will be directed at improving and consolidating the new system and procedures.

In terms of technical quality assurance, GV pursues a three-pronged approach. We will 1) build our own

A part time controller, recruited in 2014, played an important role in the redesigning of the financial

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system. Among other things, the controller designed the Budget Control format and supported the develop¬ment of a GV Financial Manual that clarifies our principles, policies and guidelines relating to finance and internal control.

In December 2015 Ghana Friends had its first control visit by financial experts from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The visit focused on our financial management and internal controls both at an overall level and in more details through an inspection of our books. The auditors had some minor comments, but the overall conclusion was that the funds are well managed1.

Unfortunately, it was necessary to phase out the controller position due to the 26% budget cut. The capacity building of partners and the GV secretariat has, however, provided a good foundation to build on; and it is being considered to continue the cooperation with the controller focusing on an annual partner visit to follow up and lay the directions for new developments.

The controller stayed on for the first half of 2016 to follow up and in that connection visited E4L in February 20162. He concluded that the new system has been successfully implemented by E4L , which was also substantiated by the E4L 2015 audit report.

The long form audit report specifically mentions improvements, such as a better flow of information for accounting purposes between GV and E4L3.

There is therefore evidence to conclude that the financial system is working well. However, the financial reports and the on-going dialogue between the GV secretariat and the financial team have also revealed the need for some improvements in the system and in the way it is applied.

One of the areas singled out for improvement was the cash forecasting process. The forecasting format provided in the new budget control sheet was not fully utilized as an active part of planning. There is also a need for further improvements of the com-

munication and collaboration between the districts and the programme level. Another recommendation was to make sure that there are clear and transparent principles behind the rates for feeding, accommodation and transport refund applied by the E4L programme. A set of common guidelines has been developed and agreed with the partners in 2016 and the focus from now on will be to ensure that the guidelines are well understood and applied correctly in all parts of the programme. Improvements in the mentioned areas have been made and Ghana Friends will work to ensure further gains.

1.6 THEMATIC STRATEGIES Thematic strategies were developed within the areas of food security, education, youth, gender, advocacy and peace in preparation for the roll-out of phase III of the E4L programme in 2015. The roll-out of the strategies is being followed closely, and the monitoring systems are being further developed in order to assess the effectiveness of the thematic strategies (see section on results measuring and monitoring in the ‘Evidence of Change’ section of this report).

The monitoring is beginning to pay off in terms of producing learning, which will be used to adjust strategies and test new approaches. The programme set-up is organised with thematic advisors responsible for strategy implementation including support to the district teams. This collaboration is also being monitored closely. It took some time for the advisors to fully understand their role and how they could best fulfil it in terms of rolling out the thematic strategies at district level. During GV monitoring visits various approaches to team working, improved communication channels etc. have been elaborated and much progress has been seen in the collaboration between the technical advisors and the district teams.

1 Tilsynsbesøgsrapport, december 2015.

2 ’Internal Audit and Follow Up Report, February 2016’.

3 Nexia’s audit report of E4L for 2015.

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1.7 SCHEMATIC OVERVIEW OF ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Organisational development objectives from GV framework application 2015-2018

Results and next steps

GV has the capacity to cover 5% own financing collected in Denmark and 15% co-financing before 2019

GV covered the 3% own financing and 4% co-financing requirement in 2015 as agreed with Danida. In total GV’s contribution amounted to 16% with the major part coming from own financing. GV expects to fully live up to the requirements in the coming years.

Strategy on popular foundation and voluntarism developed and implemented

Strategy on voluntarism approved by the board in 2015, implementation is on-going. The sub-strategies are combined in a comprehensive strategy for GV’s popular foundation. The strategies are bound together by a narrative, approved by the GV board in 2016, outlining the overall framework.

GV’s organisational structure is reviewed based on new functionality requirements

GV’s organisational structure was reviewed in 2014/2015.

Review of functionality of structure by the end of 2016.

The strategic frame as well as GV capacity requirements relating to programme work are in place

GV regularly assesses needs and recruits volunteers for committees and as resource persons to meet capacity needs.

Thematic strategies are in place and are being assessed based on feedback from the monitoring system.

Quality assurance systems are developed and in place

A financial quality assurance system has been developed and implemented in 2015. In 2016 focus will be on further developing technical quality assurance.

GV has fully implemented communication strategy

The implementation of the communication strategy is ongoing and many of the objectives have been met. However, it has been necessary to reduce goals in some areas due to cut in funding, e.g. press and web communication.

Administrative and financial management guidelines/manual revised

A financial manual was developed in 2015 and the administrative guidelines were updated.

M&E system revised in collaboration with partners

The M&E system has been revised in collaboration with partners in 2015 to reflect E4L phase III; and the monitoring manual has been finalized. Staff capacity in monitoring and reporting has been built to reflect requirements in the new system. In 2016 a system for outcome monitoring is being further developed and rolled out, incl. staff capacity building.

Partnership strategy developed and implemented

A partnership strategy was approved in 2015. The strategy was revised in 2016 to reflect the reduction in the E4L grant.

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1.8 development education activities 2017 GV’s development education activities are still guided by the communication strategy developed in 2015. The revised Communication Strategy is attached as part of Annex 6.

With fewer resources available for development education activities, priorities have been made based on the following considerations: Optimize use of resources by strengthening focus on cost effective online media.

The main media that GV will focus on will be GV’s website, Facebook pages and campaign sites. GV’s website is currently under renewal and the first version will be launched by October 2016. In 2017 the work will continue to optimize this website and integrate communication channels and social media through which GV will implement its development education activities to a larger degree.

GV’s Facebook page is also being revamped with regular updates both from our programmes in Ghana and GV’s Activities in Denmark to increase visibility and support from activists. Lastly, GV’s email newsletter will continue to be distributed 6-8 times a year and it is a focal point to increase subscribers. GV aims at increasing synergy between online media including the Ghanaian partners’ channels.

Communicating with and through school partners.

GV has a wide range of school collaborations through and with which development education activities are carried out. The teacher exchange program will continue. GV has piloted a collaboration concept with Hald Ege Efterskole and the collaboration is planned to continue for the next three years.

Different development education activities will take place at the school and both GV and the school will share articles from the schools visit to Ghana in online and print media.

For a plan of GV’s development education activities including budget for 2017 refer to Annex 5.

The Information Committee in collaboration with the Secretariat carries out development education campaigns and activities. Other volunteers and activists are included when relevant.

1.8.1 OBJECTIVES FOR GV’S DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION ACTIVITIES Through targeted activities GV will communicate about the organisation’s development activities in Ghana and other relevant development issues. This will be done to: 1.

Strengthen public foundation and support to development aid.

2. Promote increased knowledge and understanding on Ghana specific development issues.

3. Increase knowledge and support to quality education as a sustainable way of combating poverty and inequality, and strengthen democracy.

Fewer editions of high cost print magazines.

The magazine Håndslag will be produced in fewer editions (2 per year) and only distributed to members and selected contacts. Others can access it through an online version on the website. Communication materials will to a higher degree get distributed online.

Continued focus on volunteer led activities, seminars and campaigns.

GV’s development education activities are to a large degree driven by volunteers and GV prioritises that these activities can continue. This includes participation in Verdensspejl, Couleur Café, and the Ghana Seminar among others.

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GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

2. EVIDENCE OF CHANGE Ghana Friends wrote its first results report in 2015, which covered phase II of the E4L programme (20122014) as well as the first six months of 2015. This report covers our first year as a frame organisation and as such it is the first regular results report from Ghana Friends.

The focus of this section is on the key results and changes that have been achieved in 2015 and the lessons that can be drawn from them.

As 2015 was the first year of a new programme phase, E4L phase III, efforts were focused on start up activities in the first half year. New district offices were set up, staff members were trained in community mobilization among other topics and the organisational capacity of target groups was assessed, which provided the data for a baseline. In other words, a solid foundation was laid for a new phase of the E4L programme. Training of the target groups and implementation of other planned programme activities started in May 2015.

In October 2015 our grant was significantly reduced and it became necessary to make a restructuring of the programme, including the closing of one of the new district offices.

2.1 APPROACH TO MEASURING & DOCUMENTING RESULTS GV and our partners’ approach to measuring and documenting results and changes has been and is an on-going process to assess and strengthen systems, methods and tools as well as staff competencies. It is a high priority area and plays a major role in the GV secretariat’s work on project and programme development and partner capacity building.

GV is cooperating closely with the partners on development and application of systems for measuring and documenting results. The area was given additional priority with the appointment of a dedicated

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

M&E officer for the programme in Ghana in 2014.

The officer is responsible for developing systems, approaches, tools and formats, and for on-going monitoring and reporting. An M&E team made up of the advisors on the programme and the organisational development and capacity building officer supports the M&E officer. This approach ensures both that the area of M&E is given the necessary attention and that it is mainstreamed across the programme.

GV provides technical support for the development and implementation of the monitoring system; and continuously develops the organisation’s capacity in the area.

During the first quarter of 2015 an organisational capacity assessment tool was developed and used to assess the capacity of all the civil society groups the programme works with. The data from this assessment serve as baseline in relation to the organisational capacity development of the targeted civil society groups and is expected to be repeated regularly to measure change in organisational capacity; as basis for assessing the effectiveness of the intervention strategy.

In 2015 the M&E manual for E4L III was finalised, including monitoring tools and formats for reporting for all levels feeding into the monitoring system; and staff capacity was built on using the tools.

During 2015 as start-up year for E4L III the focus has been on monitoring at output level. In terms of the results at district level, monitoring starts with the district teams who report to the programme office quarterly about results achieved from activity implementation. The programme office represented by the technical advisors, organisational development and capacity building officer and M&E officer monitors and verifies the results achieved in the districts in order to assess quality of implementation and relevance of strategies applied. The quarterly reporting to GV is used to assess whether implementation is on track and agree on whether adjustments are needed.

Data on outcomes are compiled and reported for the semi-annual and annual reporting. Due to the start-up in 2015, outcome monitoring only took place at the end of the year, when the outcome harvesting method was first tested in an adapted form to

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strengthen staff capacity in preparation for future outcome monitoring. District teams were brought together for an outcome reflection session where they recorded concrete outcomes from their districts and shared a selection of these with each other. At the same time, the level of change and level of E4L attribution to the outcomes was assessed. The data was subsequently processed and analysed by the M&E team for use in the annual report. Apart from the actual collection of data on outcomes, the exercise generally sharpened staff focus on observing, assessing and reporting outcomes.

During the first year of E4L III GV saw the need to strengthen the monitoring of outcome, including more specific change indicators within the thematic areas. The logframe has strong focus on general strengthening of civil society groups and organisations, but was less concrete on expected change, especially at outcome level, within the focus areas of education, food security & livelihoods, and youth, as well as the main cross-cutting themes, which are governance and gender. In order to strengthen the outcome monitoring, a consultant was contracted to support specifically on that topic in connection with the finalisation of the M&E manual. This inspired the selection of the outcome harvesting method for outcome monitoring; and subsequently a format has been introduced for regular collection of outcome data along with a system by which the technical advisors verify and analyse the data.

Further, GV’s two programme coordinators participated in INTRAC training on advanced M&E in 2015, which provided useful skills and inspiration to develop key lines of enquiry on education, food security & livelihoods and youth which are being implemented in 2016; and more generally to support partner capacity in the area of results measuring and documentation. In relation to governance and gender it has been decided to undertake research on change within these areas approx. two years into the programme rather than including them in the key lines of enquiry (KLOE). This is a consequence of the need to design a realistic monitoring system, which is not overly ambitious and complex. GV finds that the programme is now in a good position with the two approaches to outcome monitoring: The KLOE providing information on ‘requested change’; and

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outcome harvesting identifying broader planned and unplanned outcomes within the change areas of E4L III. Surveys will be undertaken regularly based on the KLOE to track changes; and triangulation of findings will be done to ascertain their validity.

Measuring of progress in partner capacity building and change at the level of policy processes takes point of departure in objective 4 of the programme logframe, which is closely linked to the partner capacity development plans. Progress is assessed regularly during GV partner visits. Responsibility for reporting on this lies with the managers of the partner organisations and the technical advisers from the respective organisations. During the first year of E4L III it has become clear that in order to make results in this area stand out more clearly there is a need to break down the outcomes on milestones in order to assess the level of progress. Work is on-going in relation to this in 2016. Regarding change at the level of policy processes, results are measured in relation to advocacy strategies, which are assessed quarterly in the Advocacy and Communications Team.

2.2 CHANGE AT THE LEVEL OF RIGHTS HOLDERS AND RELATION TO DUTY BEARERS GV’s development programme, Empowerment for Life phase III, has as overall objective that: Civil society groups and organisation in Ghana’s Northern Region actively drive and influence social, economic and political development initiatives and pursue their interests and rights.

The immediate objectives focus on the following elements of civil society strengthening: 1.

organisational capacity to mobilise communities to address community issues and rights 2. technical capacity to drive social and economic development processes 3. gaining access to and influencing democratic processes and advancing interests and rights through advocacy, dialogue and networking.

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The capacity elements reflected in the immediate objectives are closely linked. During the first year of E4L III, the main focus has been on building the CBOs’ organisational capacity combined with technical skills and initial development of action plans.

Hence, the results and change derived from these activities are to a high degree related to the groups’ capacity. The change seen in 2015 is, therefore, a starting point for the change processes guided by the Theory of Change roadmap for the civil society groups and the impact expected from this. In this section change will be reported in relation to the three immediate objectives, and related to the thematic areas of the E4L programme.

Immediate objective 1: Civil society groups and organisations have organisational capacity to mobilise communities to address community issues and rights.

In January 2015 the programme staff, together with a consultant with expertise in organisational development, developed a tool for capacity assessment of community-based organisations (CBOs) and other district level civil society groups. The groups covered the thematic areas of education, food security & livelihoods and youth, as well as CBOs concerned with peace and governance. Subsequently this tool was used to assess the capacity of 297 groups in 115 communities across the programme area, consisting of 6 districts in Northern Region.

Depending on their score, the groups were categorised as having weak (126), basic (158) or moderate (13) capacity. This organisational capacity assessment (OCA) serves as baseline and was used as point of departure for planning the organisational capacity development of the groups. Another 3 groups were subsequently added to make up a total target of 300 CBOs and other organisations.

Following analysis of the OCA the intervention for the rest of 2015 had strong focus on establishing cooperation with the targeted civil society groups in the districts. Organisational trainings, facilitation and mentoring of the groups were carried out

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

CBO CAPACITY LEVELS 200 150 100 50 0

Weak capacity

Basic Capacity

Moderate capacity

leading to the following results at output level, and in some cases initial changes at outcome level related to organisational functionality and agency: 50% of the targeted groups (150) defined and articulated their organisational identity, vision, mission and values, and 145 developed gender sensitive constitutions in 2015.

A formal constitution gives the groups access to registering with relevant authorities and to open bank accounts. At the same time, the processes related to development of constitutions and building or strengthening the common understanding of the purpose of the groups is an important element in preparing the grounds for increased activity.

47% of the groups strengthened their capacity in terms of leadership and group dynamics in 2015.

The E4L strategy aims to support the development of civil society organisations operating according to good governance principles, such as principles of participation, transparency and accountability. This is intended to strengthen the legitimacy of the groups as representatives of the interest groups vis-a-vis the respective duty bearers. The capacity building in leadership and group dynamics takes point of departure in the above good governance principles and encourages democratic participation and inclusion, and is gradually leading to improved effectiveness of the groups. The E4L district teams are mentoring the groups to support them in practising the organisational skills in order to enhance internal governance.

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Around one third of the civil society groups have improved capacity in financial management and record keeping.

With the groups gaining awareness in this area and at the same time developing formal constitutions it has become possible for them to open bank accounts. For many groups this is an important factor in strengthening their organisational effectiveness. Improved understanding of financial management and access to banking and thus safe custody of their funds, improves transparency and accountability within the group and increases the incentive to generate organisational resources. This in turn improves the possibilities for longer-term planning and for carrying out organisational activities. At the same time groups are beginning to mobilise resources for their activities, and the incentive is much stronger because the funds can be kept in the bank, reducing the risk of misuse or other loss due to unsafe storage.

Building on the above results, at least 20% of the groups proceeded to formulate and undertake concrete activities to address development issues.

The 300 groups are located in 115 communities, meaning that a number of communities have more than one group present, and in several cases the mobilisation of groups is seen to lead to cooperation thus increasing their effectiveness, e.g. in terms of stronger pressure on duty bearers.

Immediate objective 2: Civil society groups and organisations have technical capacity to drive social and economic development processes.

In addition to organisational capacity described above, the civil society groups targeted in E4L III are supported to develop technical capacity within their respective areas of interest. In the following, the technical capacity building which has taken place during 2015, and results seen from it after this first year of E4L III are outlined:

Food security & livelihoods (FS&L) During 2015 Farmer Field Schools were established in 12 sites and 66 farmer and women groups acquired knowledge about good agronomic practices and improved crop varieties, as well as post-harvest loss management. Further, they acquired an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) as duty bearers of relevance to the farmer groups. The technical capacity building of the farmers groups began mid-year to coincide with the farming season.

Results within this area typically take more than one growing season to manifest themselves, and the below results are therefore process steps, which will be followed closely during the coming years.

With increased awareness about diversity of crop varieties the farmers are able to reduce their vulnerability in relation to effects of climate change and produce crops with higher protein content. Many farmers, and MOFA field officers participating in the Farmer Field Schools, had not been aware of the variety of seeds, which could grow in more adverse conditions than the normally used seeds.

The farmers were informed about how to get access to the seeds, and links were created between the farmers and researchers at the Savanna Agric Research Institute who work on documenting experience with different seed varieties. The farmer groups also acquired knowledge about good agronomic practices such as improved land preparation, sowing and weeding methods and several farmers experimented with the new practices on parts of their farmland, which resulted in improved yields and reduced loss of soil fertility. The improved agricultural practices take into consideration the adverse effects of climate change, and this coupled with the increased access to different crop varieties make the farmers less vulnerable.

Participation in the farmer field schools has inspired some farmer groups to establish group farms in addition to their individual farms. They have used their enhanced organisational skills for this, and are applying their newly acquired technical knowledge in their farming activities.

The E4L district teams and the FS&L advisor 16 I Page

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From saving in rags to formal banking brings transparency to women’s group Binchakiyado is a community in Saboba district, where E4L works with a women’s farmer group.

The group used to keep their funds tied in rags with their Magazia. This gave rise to a lot of suspicion with many stories about money missing. The money was also exposed to risk of theft, going mouldy or being eaten by mice, for example.

The group brought it up in a meeting with the E4L district team as an issue, which negatively affected their organisation and reduced the incentive to generate funds for the group.

A group cannot open a bank account without having formal organisational documents.

After the E4L III team had facilitated the group to come out with a constitution and after the constitution had been validated, the group could approach Bonzali Rural Bank and open a bank account for the group. Now the women know that the group’s money is in a safe place, and the transparency has led to increased trust within the group.

BIRGITTE DAHL

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ensured that the Ministry of Food and Agriculture representatives at district level were involved in the activities; and the farmer groups were enlightened about their right to and possibility of accessing agricultural extension services from MOFA. Farmer groups are now aware that MOFA extension services are not only for large-scale farmers, and they are more actively pursuing the MOFA support and finding it easier because contacts have been facilitated

by E4L.

The work with VSLAs has been upscaled in E4L III. During 2015, 46 youth, women and farmers groups (approx. 1,400 individuals) were supported to form VSLAs and began saving. They have been able to build up savings of sometimes relatively large amounts, which group members use for starting or scaling up economic activities to increase household income, and to support their children’s education or unforeseen events or setbacks. This is expected to increase their resilience.

A number of farmer groups have begun to engage

Based on the monitoring data available so far, the VSLAs are seen as a potential for very positive change by the groups; and the increase in economic activities and the ability by group members to make independent financial dispositions create a big interest among others in the communities to an extent that new VSLAs are forming and beginning operations without the initial training by E4L staff. In some cases trained and well-functioning VSLAs are supporting the new groups. The district teams are compiling information on the number of new groups formed as a spin-off from the programme. Based on experience from the first year of E4L III, it is important to time the start-up of groups so that they can have access to loans for the beginning of the farming season. Some groups are keen to save, but hesitant to start giving out loans typically because they need to build up trust within the group. It is considered to organise experience sharing between VSLAs in order to bring out good practices and lessons learnt. The district teams also mentor the VSLAs to strengthen their effectiveness.

duty bearers at the district and community levels to gain access to productive resources such as land and water for irrigation from dams. In one community, for example, the farmer group and a youth group have joined forces to engage the DA and other relevant stakeholders on rehabilitation of a dam as this holds potential for involving young people in vegetable production during the dry season. In other cases farmer groups are engaging duty bearers for allocation of additional farming land and for access to farm inputs.

Farming communities also acquired skills in improved post-harvest loss management, and farmers across all programme districts are beginning to apply a low technology method of solarisation and triple bagging to treat their farm produce. According to feedback collected from the groups in connection with monitoring in 2016 they are seeing positive results from the new methods, in terms of reduced loss and improved prices. The improved methods are also expected to improve the nutritional value of the produce.

Economic empowerment through Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA) Towards the end of E4L II GV worked with the partners to pilot the VSLA approach as a tool for economic empowerment of especially women and youth groups. The pilot brought promising results, which both the E4L partners and the target groups found very encouraging. Access to safe custody of their money increased the willingness to save, and when the groups reached the stage where they could begin to give out loans the members found an enormous empowerment in the fact that they could access funds based solely on their own decisions.

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VSLA in numbers

49 VSLA’s finished first cycle 46 new VSLA’s established

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The magic of Village Savings and Loans In Jimli in Mion district E4L works with a women’s processing group. It was one of the first groups to be offered support to start up a Village Savings and Loans association (VSLA). In this group the women are trained in administering their own savings and loans. In communities that are not located near the district capital it is very difficult to access banking services. Furthermore, most women - and men believe that they do not have enough money to be able to save up or do not recognise the value of having savings.

Furthermore, the women who are mainly into small scale business and farming often struggle to either start up businesses as they lack start up capital or be able to invest further and expand their businesses.

The women in Jimli finished their first VSLA cycle in 2015, and the results were very impressive.

The group had saved up a large amount of money giving the women a big share out. The women stated, that it meant that they were able to increase their farming and small scale businesses, they had access to money so that they could pay school fees for their children, or cover expenses if family members were sick. Seeing the results and benefits that the women got the community became very interested in the idea of VSLA. The status of the women increased in the community. Other groups have approached the women to assist them in starting up new VSLA groups, which the women have done mainly without help from the E4L staff. As one of the members stated: “This VSLA idea is the most fantastic thing you have ever brought us we look forward to see what great idea you bring us next time.”

LISE GRAUENKÆR

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education At district level E4L III works with a variety of groups in relation to education. This includes District Education Oversight Committees (DEOCs) and School Management Committees (SMCs), which in principle form part of the official system for education management and governance at district and individual school level, respectively. Further, the programme works with Parent and Teachers Associations, and with former School for Life committees, which have continued and broadened their interest in improving education in their community.

During 2015, 36 formal groups (DEOCs, SMCs and PTAs) have acquired technical knowledge on school governance, their own roles and responsibilities, and the responsibilities of duty bearers within education. This, coupled with on-going facilitation and the organisational training under objective 1 of a larger number of education groups, has contributed to the following types of changes at local level in 2015:

The groups have gained knowledge, skills and confidence to engage district authorities on issues of inadequate access to quality education due to lack of infrastructure, teachers or teaching materials.

A number of concrete changes are already being seen in the form of improved school infrastructure, establishment of wing schools which provide access to education for children in very rural areas, posting of teachers, and supply of educational materials.

Sustainable changes on a significant scale rely on longer-term pressure and influence on local development plans, but what can be seen for now is that educational groups have contributed to improvements in all programme districts, and the strategies on combining organisational and technical capacity building appear to be relevant.

of teacher shortage by working with teachers to improve conditions which can contribute to improved teacher performance, such as providing accommodation for teachers and offering access to local resources. Experience from previous educational interventions shows that improving the working and living environment can make a difference in whether a teacher is prepared to stay in a rural under-privileged community, and a number of E4L communities are beginning to see change in teacher regularity resulting from this.

The DEOCs in the 6 programme districts were reactivated and facilitated to develop and implement action plans. In some cases the districts did not seem to be fully aware of or prepared to follow the national guidelines on composition of the DEOC; and it was challenging to support them to develop action plans.

Based on positive experiences from other districts it has been found that it is strategically important to support the DEOCs in developing concrete activities, and to involve other educational stakeholders in the district as this can boost the enthusiasm of the DEOCs. In the future work with this target group, considerations on sustainability of interventions will be carefully assessed.

Schools receive some funds from the authorities based on the number of pupils as well as fees and levies paid by the parents. These funds are often exposed to misuse, but the school governance groups trained by E4L are now beginning to demand accountability on the utilisation of such funds.

The education groups have become more aware about the importance of supporting and monitoring teachers and are beginning to address issues 20 I Page

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Governance Governance is seen as a cross-cutting theme applying at all levels of the programme, from internal governance of the civil society groups targeted by the programme and GV’s partner organisations, as well as governance as it pans out at different levels of the public governance system. In terms of technical capacity under objective 2, the following results were seen within the area of governance at local level in 2015:

Peaceful coexistence is a precondition for development and the programme aims to contribute to this by strengthening civil society capacity to promote and help to build peace. this is done through the capacity building of peace clubs. During 2015 local elections were held in Ghana after long delays, and parliamentary primaries took place in preparation for the 2016 national elections. These can be tense events and the peace clubs were supported by the E4L governance advisor and the district teams to sensitise communities which then actively pursued peaceful elections.

Representatives from approx. 45 % of the groups have acquired knowledge about the structures and functions of the local government system. This has given them an understanding of the operations and functions of the District Assembly system, roles and responsibilities of duty bearers and citizens and the scope for citizen involvement if the system were functioning as intended. The training included representatives from a cross-section of the civil society groups E4L works with and was organised at area council level. Subsequently the respective area councils are beginning to engage the DAs to be recognised and involved in local governance, and to press for implementation of development activities planned for their areas.

The E4L partners and the programme relates closely to the district authorities and its departments. One important dimension of this is to promote good governance at district level through enhanced coordination and cooperation between the District Assembly (DA) and other stakeholders involved in development initiatives in a district, e.g. civil society organisations, agencies etc. In phases E4L I and II, the programme worked with a number of DAs to establish a ‘District Partners Platform’ for purposes of coordination, cooperation and accountability. The work brought some learning arising from challenges in relation to the DAs taking full ownership, making the approach sustainable by using a low-cost model, and making it an effective space for holding the DA accountable.

Keeping these factors in mind, the district teams and the governance advisor are facilitating DAs to take charge of such initiatives, and are seeing some DAs building data on relevant actors in their districts.

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Parents demand accountability on use of education funds In Wapuli, in the Saboba District, E4L works with the Parent and Teachers Association (PTA) at the Wapuli Trinity Junior High School.

The school receives a so-called capitation grant from the district authorities as well as fees and levies paid by the parents. Members of the PTA were trained in good school governance; and are now aware of their roles and responsibilities. This means they have started taking an interest in how the headmaster and staff use the school funds; and demand that accounts are presented to the PTA. It appeared that funds have not always been used judiciously; and with the parents demanding accountability the school has more resources to spend on improving its functionality.

The training of the PTA by School for Life has also increased their awareness about quality education. This has resulted in the PTA influencing decisions on how to spend school resources, so the school acquired additional teaching and learning materials.

BIRGITTE DAHL

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immediate objective 3: Civil society groups and organisations have access to and influence democratic processes and advance their interests and rights through advocacy, dialogue and networking

In line with the logical connection between the three immediate objectives, the two objectives on organisational and technical capacity described above are to some extent building blocks for this objective on advocacy and networking. During the very busy start-up year of E4L III there has therefore been less focus on trainings related to this objective. As mentioned in connection with the organisational capacity assessment of the groups, there was variety in the capacity of the groups, including in relation to engaging with duty bearers.

Forty-two groups specifically acquired enhanced skills in advocacy and were supported to develop action plans on advocacy issues they identified.

The organisational and technical capacity building of women and farmers groups, education groups and youth groups provided them with awareness and knowledge about their rights related to their area of interest as well as the roles and responsibilities of duty bearers, and this in itself began to sow the seeds for these groups to seek access to duty bearers. They were facilitated and mentored by E4L in pursuing their advocacy goals. Self-initiative displayed by groups in mobilising their communities and starting initiatives at the local level has led to positive changes. An example is making basic provision for schooling while advocating the authorities to deliver on their responsibilities and provide proper education facilities and teachers.

changes include increased access to productive resources. Youth groups have been very actively engaged in advocacy on a wide range of community development issues as well as to improve their own situation, e.g. access to facilities for the groups’ activities. In some cases the reported changes are not fully attributable to the E4L intervention. A number of other factors may be at play, but to the extent possible it has been verified by the district teams and the technical advisors that E4L’s work with the groups has effectively contributed to the change.

In view of expectations for the first year of E4L III, where there was a benchmark of 5% of CBOs carrying out advocacy activities this is a satisfactory result. In several cases the groups have been able to mobilise wider parts of their communities on issues and a number of groups within communities have joined forces to address common interest issues such as improvements in education or health facilities. This means that the number of groups engaged in advocacy is somewhat higher than the actually recorded outcomes.

The programme had a dedicated advocacy and communications officer up to the end of 2015, who trained and supported the district staff in working with the local groups. This position has been discontinued and replaced by an advocacy and communications team made up of the technical advisors and the M&E officer, which is expected to boost efforts in this area. This team cooperates closely with the district teams to ensure that they have the capacity required to support the groups, and to identify issues and compile evidence for advocacy at regional and national level.

During 2015 concrete outcomes resulting from advocacy initiatives have been reported from 20 communities across the districts, with several more being at an early stage in engagement processes. Within the area of education the changes have included establishing wing schools in marginalised communities to increase access to education for out of school children, posting of teachers and construction or at least contracting school buildings to improve educational infrastructure, and improved school governance. Within food security & livelihoods the

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POREKUU PETER

Libga Irrigation Dam Association demands rehabilitation of dam In the Savelugu district, E4L works with the Libga Irrigation Dam Farmers Association. In Libga there is a big irrigation dam, which provides many farmers with access to water and irrigation. It is invaluable to the local farmers as it makes it possible for the farmers to grow crops all year round and the farmers are not affected by the long dry season as most other farmers in Northern Region.

The Savelugu district is responsible for maintaining the dam and the many channels providing fields with water. But the district has not done that and the farmers have been left to try and maintain the dam with their limited resources. Now there are several leakages in the dam and the channels are breaking down.

As part of the E4L programme, the farmer’s association was trained in advocacy and lobbying.

They drew up an action plan to bring the issue to the attention of the Savelugu Municipal Assembly and MOFA. E4L district staff has supported them in meeting directly with the stakeholders to discuss the problem of the dam. Two weeks after the engagement meeting, the MOFA director and the Area Extension Agents of the area council visited the dam to assess the level of damage and then to make recommendations to the Municipal Chief Executive for action to be taken. The recommendations have been sent to the Municipal Chief Executive and the district authorities have committed themselves to rehabilitate the dam.

During a monitoring visit to the group the secretary stated that it had been a very beneficial and valuable process to work with the E4L team on this issue. The group had come to a point where they could not see a way forward, but with the advocacy training they had realised new ways for addressing the issue and not least identified the right duty bearers and actions to undertake.

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GENDER GV works with gender as a high priority cross-cutting issue, being addressed under all E4L objectives.

Under objective 1 on organisational capacity it is addressed through support to the groups to develop gender sensitive constitutions and practice gender sensitive governance, ensuring that men and women are respected and allowed equal possibilities of participation; and that gender issues are taken up and addressed by the groups. During the first year of operation, the civil society groups have developed increased awareness of gender considerations in relation to good governance in connection with the development and beginning implementation of their constitutions. The E4L district teams are including gender considerations in their on-going facilitation and mentoring of the groups ; and the teams themselves are formed to ensure the best possible gender balance.

Under objective 2, equal access to the technical capacities is given high priority; and funding is allocated to activities at a ratio, which promotes women’s access to income generation and economic empowerment. The intervention areas of FS&L and VSLA offer opportunities for economic empowerment of women, and this is already being seen through the positive changes experienced by a considerable number of these groups. Women are developing their possibilities for income generation and get access to loans, meaning that they can take independent decisions on financial issues because they do not rely on family relations or other dubious sources for funds.

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

Youth Speak Up! The Youth Speak Up project, which is co-funded by Danmarks Indsamling 2015 and the E4L programme is a 2.5 year project that seeks to develop competencies of youth reporters to support active citizenship and engagement of young people in community to address injustices through use of radio and social media tools and methodologies.

The objectives of the project are: Development objective: Youth in Northern Ghana use media platforms in new and creative ways to address injustices, mobilise young people, and advocate for their rights.

Immediate objective 1: Youth in Northern Region have strengthened communicative capacity, critical thinking skills and civic awareness for identifying and addressing injustices.

Immediate objective 2: Youth in Northern Region have voice and platforms to address injustices and engage stakeholders and duty bearers in debate.

The project started in April 2015, and is implemented in 4 of the 5 E4L districts in collaboration with the local E4L Youth Centres and youth groups.

During the first five months of the project 25 youths from the youth clubs in the districts were trained as community journalists and an additional 120 youth organised in Listener’s Clubs. The journalists are trained in journalism and radio production where they identify issues relevant to youth and community development and produce radio programs on these issues.

The listeners clubs contribute to discussions and mobilisation of other youth online through use of new media (Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp). Both journalists and listener’s clubs were trained in the use of new media. Furthermore, the youth were trained in advocacy, civic engagement and social mobilisation.

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One of the main components is the youth radio programmes for the youth by the youth. In October weekly radio programmes produced by the youth journalists went on air via 4 local radio stations and have run regularly since that time. In the first months of airing programmes many different issues have been discussed such as teenage pregnancy, lack of schools, electricity, and water, youth marginalisation in local decision making and youth unemployment.

Within the first few months of broadcasting the targeted youth have already expressed the impact the project has had on them documented in a research carried out in collaboration with a Danish student from RUC in December 2015.

The main findings were: The research portrays personal development among the participants in terms of increased awareness of their own capabilities and it is evident that the participants are very enthusiastic about being involved with the project. Knowledge and skills in using communication platforms and communicating with other people have generated confidence among the participants, which has enhanced their interest in being active citizens contributing to the community.

The interviews show that getting training in using social media has provided the participants with a new platform for raising awareness on youth related issues, a platform, which was mostly associated with entertainment beforehand.

A LC states that being a part of the workshops ”(…) gives us courage and confidence to present issues”.

A female CJ states, “At first if I stand in front of people to talk I shiver but now it has vanished (…)”. And a CJ stated that being a part of the radio discussion “makes me feel proud and it makes me feel comfortable, and it makes me feel like I can speak in public without any problem”.

Finally, but not least, the media pressure on duty bearers has started paying off for Northern communities as can be seen in the following change stories.

The change stories are written by Clement Boateng, Youth Speak Up coordinator, and edited by GV secretariat. Photos by Clement Boateng.

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People Living With Disabilities in Kumbungu get their share of the cake The Kumbungu District Assembly has started releasing the 2% share of the common fund allocated to persons living with disabilities (PLWDs) in the district.

This follows a radio discussion on the regional radio station Radio Savannah on the issue by community journalists, questioning why the assembly had over the years refused to release the statutory funds due them. The Federation of PLWDs in consultation with the responsible committee at the district assembly are responsible of disbursing the funds to support the members in education, farming, entrepreneurship and other self-employable skill trainings. Since the radio discussion there has been a regular release of the funds to the PLWDs in the district.

YOUTH SPEAK UP

Zieng community now boasts of potable water The risk of children drowning in the community dam at Zieng, a farming community located on the Savelugu – Nanton road, is now minimal. This is because children and women do not have to go to the dam to fetch water again. Water is now pumped from the dam, treated at a central point and distributed into polytanks mounted at vantage points in the community for drinking and other purposes.

The breakdown of three boreholes compelled the people to fetch water from the dam. Fetching water from the dam was not only time consuming, but also posed danger to children who sometimes went to the dam alone. Authorities had, over the years, remained adamant to the community’s complaints, including the unhealthy nature of the water.

Luckily, a community journalist was selected from Zieng community. The water issue was tabled for discussion on the radio programme to draw the duty bearers’ attention to it. Upon hearing the discussion, an NGO, Water for Ghana provided the community with polytanks at vantage points. As Azara Yakubu, a women in the Zieng community said “Our children can now fetch water from the polytanks, it is no longer dangerous.

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2.3 CHANGE AT THE LEVEL OF POLICY PROCESSES GV works with the local partners to influence policy processes and policy implementation and promote change at meso and macro levels within selected focus areas. Change processes at these levels are complex and highly reliant on a number of contextual factors. Strategies therefore need to be flexible; and the change process is typically made up of a series of steps with the need to handle elements of unpredictability along the way. Interventions and achievements during 2015 are covered below according to thematic areas: EDUCATION Towards the end of 2014, Ghana’s Ministry of Education signed a CBE (Complementary Basic Education) policy, which is based on the School for Life (SfL) functional literacy model developed by GV and SfL. SfL was engaged in advocacy for this policy over some years, and plays a leading role in the CBE Alliance, which is a collaboration with other civil society organisations concerned with children’s right to quality education. The approval of the CBE policy is seen as an important step towards achieving this right for marginalised children, who do not access the formal education system.

Next steps in the advocacy work is a) to ensure that the policy is made known to all relevant stakeholders and to the wider public so that government will feel obliged to implement it, and b) to advocate for allocation of funds in the education budget for its implementation. During 2015, SfL as lead organisation in the CBE Alliance has engaged the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service on a number of occasions and has made direct inputs into the 2016 budgeting process in order to influence inclusion of the CBE policy in the national budget.

This was done by participating in budget hearings at district, regional and national levels. As yet, funds have not been earmarked in the national budget for implementation of the CBE policy. Some districts that the CBE Alliance have engaged with have, however, made provision for CBE implementation in order to

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cater for out of school children.

Complementary Basic Education has become recognised as an important factor in including outof-school children in the education system, to the extent that the President of Ghana mentioned it in his State of the Nation Address 2015.

During the period 2014 - 2018 a nationwide complementary basic education programme is being rolled out, funded by DfID and UNICEF, and most recently also USAID. It is implemented in close cooperation between these development partners and the Ministry of Education/Ghana Education Service. The programme is based on the School for Life functional literacy model; and SfL provides ongoing advisory services and monitors implementation for quality control, learning and adjustments.

The programme takes the form of a public private partnership and in addition to SfL there are nine implementing partners, who are trained and supported by SfL. In 2015, SfL continued to provide quality control and training to the implementing partners. The number of communities targeted was increased from 492 to 530. At the same time, the Ministry of Education/Ghana Education Service, the development partners and the implementing partners began to plan for a pilot of the eventual takeover of CBE implementation by Ghana Education Service. The pilot will operate in 15 districts; and SfL will be responsible for the pilot in 3 districts. GV and E4L is not involved in funding the CBE programme, apart from GV contributing own financing for six CBE classes. E4L supports SfL advocacy and networking activities related to putting pressure on the government for policy implementation.

The Minister of Education made a trip to Northern Region and visited some CBE classes implemented

by SfL. On this occation, the Minister expressed the government’s commitment towards complementary basic education.

Through the CBE Alliance School for Life plays a lead role in an Education Sector Working Group for Northern Region, established in 2014 in collaboration with the Regional Coordinating Council and the

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GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

Regional Directorate of Education. This provides a platform for civil society to hold duty bearers in education accountable for delivery on their plans and strategies. During 2015, the working group has monitored educational performance of all 26 districts in Northern Region and provided feedback for improvements in their strategies and delivery of education.

Based on this an education stakeholders forum was organised to identify emerging quality education issues from the districts based on reports by the Education Sector Working Group. Further, the working group plays a role in collecting and presenting data on the status of education in the region to push for improvements in the performance at district and regional level. Inputs from this level are taken to the Education Sector Annual Review at national level, where School for Life is an active participant.

GOVERNANCE Led by GDCA, a survey was conducted in 2014 in collaboration with other CSO partners; Centre for Democratic Development, LogNet, RUMNET, Send Ghana - and the Institute of Local Government Studies on the Model Standing Orders, a set of guidelines for the local government system. The research examined the level of awareness, knowledge and compliance with the Model Standing Orders in a sample of 25 districts in all of Ghana’s regions. The primary objective was to track the extent of Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies’ compliance with key provisions in the Standing Orders that regulate the conduct of District Assembly meetings.

It also assessed the degree of stakeholders’ knowledge and awareness on key provisions in the Model Standing Orders. Findings included low awareness about the different types of meetings among assembly members, inadequate notice about meetings and limited access to minutes.

During 2015, the findings and recommendations from the survey were published and distributed to policy makers, politicians, mass media and civil society organisations to promote focus and public debate, and advocate for a more accountable and well-functioning local government system. A formal launch of the report took place in 2015 and received nationwide media coverage. The launch

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

provided a platform for Municipal, Metropolitan and District Assemblies to reflect on best practices and challenges to promote social accountability through active participation of the citizenry in local governance.

The launch helped to create public focus on the issue; and the study provides documentation, which serves as evidence for advocacy and engagement on proper application of the Standing Orders in order to strengthen democratic participation and improve the functioning of the local government system. The Northern Regional Minister has been engaged and has recognised the importance of the issue as well as pledged his support in working towards proper implementation of the Standing Orders. The advocacy work continues in 2016 based on reviewed strategies and implementation plans.

FOOD SECURITY AND LIVELIHOODS During the second half of 2015, GV and GDCA through its subsidiary organisation Community Life Improvement Programme, CLIP, became part of the PARSAO programme covering 7 countries in West Africa. The programme is led by the French NGO Acting for Life, and the objective is to strengthen the resilience of agro-pastoral systems in West Africa and promote sustainable economic development of the livestock sector.

Advocacy at local, national and West Africa level plays a key role in the programme. A main message is that if conditions for agro-pastoral systems are improved, there is high potential for economic development and increased local supply of animal protein in West Africa. This will rely on a policy framework to facilitate the development of the value chain including creation of corridors for peaceful movement of livestock, and provision of facilities such as livestock markets, watering and grazing points along the corridors. Acting for Life has worked with this in some of the programme countries before, and change is beginning to happen in the form of establishment of demarcated corridors for the pastoralists and decrease in tension between farmers and pastoralists in Togo and Burkina Faso, for example.

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GDCA is responsible for the Ghana part of the programme, focusing on Northern Region and Upper East, together with CIKOD that operates in the Upper West region. GV supports GDCA in fulfilling its role in the partnership and in strategising on rolling it out in Ghana. The issue of pastoralists (Fulanis in the case of Ghana) moving with cattle gives rise to tension and violent clashes between farming communities and the pastoralists. The programme is therefore very relevant for Ghana; and the country is seen as an important link as livestock from the Sahel region will often want to move into Ghana to feed during the prolonged dry season in the Sahel region and to reach the coastal region to meet a demand for animal produce.

In 2015 GDCA identified the principal transit routes in the Upper East and Northern Region as well as main areas of commercial activity in relation to livestock, and linked up with the relevant District Authorities in the affected districts to start building understanding about the programme. The districts will play an important role in facilitating agreements on livestock corridors and facilities, together with landowners and other stakeholders. At national level the Ghanaian partners established contact with relevant duty bearers in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the KASA coalition of civil society organisations on natural resources and environment and other relevant stakeholders. High ranking MOFA representatives from Ghana participated in the opening workshop, which took place in Ouagadougou in September 2015. At the opening of the workshop the most senior MOFA representative spoke with focus on the problems with the pastoralists. Later on in the workshop his inputs reflected a beginning recognition of their contribution to the economy and a more nuanced take on the issues. The first phase of PARSAO runs for 3 years until mid-2018. The context is monitored carefully in order to navigate cautiously in the tense environment.

Youth Youth Empowerment for Life (YEfL) as a developing organisation is building up a network of relevant actors relating to its main focus areas. These are social, economic and political empowerment of youth to play a constructive role in developing Ghana

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and their own lives as active citizens. This implies improving their potential for a meaningful adult existence including employment opportunities as well as knowledge, skills and space to participate in the public debate and in influencing policy processes.

Ghanaian youth even in rural marginalised areas are demanding better opportunities and are striving to develop their potential in today’s globalised world. Empowerment of the youth to improve their livelihoods and influence is intended and expected to give them reasons to build their future in Ghana rather than attempt to migrate to Europe based on a misconception that this would offer them better opportunities.

The organisation monitors policy developments relating to employment opportunities closely and is very much aware of positioning itself to speak on behalf of youth in Northern Ghana. The last few years has seen quite some turbulence in relation to policies and programmes on youth employment due to a major corruption scandal. YEfL has been following this closely and supported youth to navigate in the sometimes rather chaotic situations they have been exposed to due to the malfunctioning of these programmes.

In 2015 a Youth Employment Act was adopted without much involvement of youth organisations. YEfL has identified gaps in this legislation in relation to youth representation on committees to be formed at regional and national level under the act and has engaged the Northern Region Director of the Youth Employment Authority on this issue. Further, YEfL disseminated the act during 2015 to create awareness on it among youth.

At international level, YEfL is actively represented in the African Youth Panel and holds the position of vice-chair. During 2015, YEfL won a call to carry out the MYWORLD survey in Ghana, a global campaign for citizen involvement in prioritising the areas to be covered by the sustainable development goals. YEfL led online and offline campaigns for Ghanaian Youth to vote for their priority areas. It is assessed that Ghana’s votes were increased by over 10,000 through YEfL’s campaign.

In September 2015, YEfL as the sitting vice chair of

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

the African Youth Panel presented results of the survey in Ghana and Africa at the UN in New York, highlighting the voices of African Youth and their position on the SDGs. Following the event in New York, CASA AFRICA - a Spanish institution - invited YEfL to talk on youth challenges and unemployment in Africa as a result of YEfL’s contribution to the SDGs processes. Ghana Friends has facilitated YEfL’s involvement in the African Youth Panel and is cooperating closely with YEfL to strengthen its organisational and technical capacity in relation to monitoring, analysing and influencing policy processes as well as mobilising youth at all levels to voice their concerns and perspectives on youth development.

2.4 ALIGNMENT AND HARMONISATION 2.4.1 ALIGNMENT AND HARMONISATION WITH PARTNERS Alignment and harmonisation continue to be important principles in our work. GV works to align with a partner’s already existing formats, systems and procedures to the extent that they comply with our requirements. If that is not the case, we collaborate with partners to develop the systems in a way that respects their ownership. We also support our organisational partners to develop coherent and solid strategies to achieve their long-term objectives. Our close relationship with our organisational partners is a major advantage in that connection.

In 2015 GV and partners have focused on harmonisation of the financial system and procedures to lessen the financial and administrative burden.

The previous financial system was complex, as it was based on inputs from various administrative units, and lacked central coordination. As an example, each of the four administrative units would make their own request for transfer of funds. As part of the redesign of the system, it was decided to take full advantage of the programme set-up and the existence of a central programme unit to create a more simple and effective system. A Budget Control

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

format was developed as a key instrument to control financial flows.

The efforts to harmonise began to pay off from the beginning. Among other things, the number of funds transfers from Denmark to Ghana has significantly reduced and it has become easier to handle fluctuations in exchange rates. The positive effects also extend to the field level in Ghana, where staff at district level now has easier access to funds, which has reduced bottlenecks in implementation.

The efforts to redesign the financial system and procedures have also led to other improvements, not least the existence of a strong financial team with members of each of the administrative units and lead by a finance officer at programme level. The team has an effective division of labour, which saves transaction costs, and it is able to give effective support to the district offices. It was also noted that the relationship between programme and finance staff was stronger than before, which has improved communication and hence budget follow up and effective utilisation of funds. In addition, there is a better flow of information between GV and partners.

The fact that GV and partners have engaged one firm to audit the entire programme since 2014 is also a major advantage, which allows for better dialogue and more systematic follow up on remarks and recommendations from the auditor.

Support to develop and revise organisational strategies is an important element of the capacity building of GDCA and YEfL. In 2015 both organisations have been supported to revise their strategic documents (see section 2.7). The strategic documents set out clear objectives for the organisations, rooted in their interests and needs, to which GV and other donors can align and co-fund.

2.4.2 ALIGNMENT WITH RELEVANT POLICIES AND DEVELOPMENT GOALS The E4L programme is aligned with key Danish and Ghanaian policies and it is a priority for the partners to keep abreast with policies and national development plans and to contribute to their fulfilment.

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One of these policies is the ‘Denmark-Ghana partnership policy 2014-2018’, which takes point of departure in the positive transformation that Ghana has undergone, characterised by growth and democratic consolidation. The policy sets the frame for a major shift in the bilateral relations between Ghana and Denmark towards a new strategic partnership focused on political and commercial cooperation.

of development interventions at all levels through the capacity building of its partners. Partners are supported to have the capacity to engage with relevant civil society actors and government entities and advised on how to achieve maximum effect. There are many networking opportunities and potential partnerships in Ghana, and GV supports partners to choose strategically where to invest time and funds.

At the same time, the partnership policy acknowledges the serious challenges that remain in Ghana, such as inequalities based on income, access to service delivery and economic opportunities, education, gender and geography. Our work with local partners in E4L is designed to address these challenges and to support a strong civil society as a way of consolidating democratic gains and ensuring a continued positive development.

Partners seek to leverage their influence and experience through membership of a series of relevant networks and coalitions. Many of these networks focus on education such as the Northern Network for Education Development (NNED) chaired by GDCA, Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) and the CBE Alliance.

Ghana’s ‘Shared Growth and Development Agenda, 2014- 2017’ spells out its ambitious goals and outlines a number of thematic areas, which are closely related to E4L’s thematic areas. Under the thematic area of Human Development, Employment and Productivity the document specifically refers to provision of quality education, youth development and food security as strategic intervention areas. It is emphasised that the acquisition and application of knowledge and skills in solving problems in society have remained essential aspects of national development efforts.

The E4L programme is also aligned to the 2030 Agenda, comprised of 17 sustainable development goals, which was approved by world leaders in 2015 and will guide policy and funding for international development for the next 14 years. Ghana Friends and partners contribute directly to goal 2 (food security), goal 4 (education), goal 5 (gender equality) goal 8 (growth and employment) and goal 13 (climate) through our thematic work. Goals number 10 (equality), 16 (peace, justice and institutions) as well as number 17 (partnerships) are all important elements of our vision and approach.

2.4.3 PARTNER/PROGRAMME LEVEL ALIGNMENT, HARMONISATION AND COORDINATION GV works to ensure collaboration and harmonisation

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SfL was instrumental in setting up the CBE Alliance and continues to play a leading role in coordinating the Alliance to advocate for financing of the policy for complementary basic education, among other things. SfL represents the alliance when dealing with the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service and plays a lead role in an Education Sector Working Group for Northern Region. This was established in 2014 and is a collaboration between the Regional Coordinating Council and the Regional Directorate of Education as well as civil society organisations and other stakeholders in education.

SfL also plays an active role in the Education Sector Annual Review at national level.

In 2015 YEfL became partners with RUMNET and HOPIN Academy in the implementation of the Youth Speak Up project. YEfL also worked with IBIS and Sagnarigu District Assembly on a pilot project to promote youth representation and civic engagement.

This collaboration has developed into a full project that will also run in 2016.

GDCA is also playing an important role in a collaboration with the Institute of Local Government Studies, Centre for Democratic Development, RUMNET and the Local Governance Network (LoGNet) to disseminate the findings of the research on the functionality of local government (see section 2.3). CLIP continues to collaborate with the WASH alliance, working with water, sanitation and hygiene, and has started a partnership with the French NGO Acting for Life

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

on the implementation of the PARSAO project. GV plays a backstopping function in this project (see section 2.3). Further, GDCA plays an active role in the Star-Ghana civil society programme, and has held a position in the Steering Committee.

2.5 HUMAN RIGHTS BASED APPROACH Promoting human rights is deeply engrained in Ghana Friends’ strategy and therefore also in the strategic approach to working with development.

This is reflected in the logic design of the E4L III programme in that civil society groups and organisations are supported to develop organisational and technical capacity so that they are able to influence democratic processes and advance their interests and rights. The work takes place at local level as well as through the cooperation with and capacity building of Ghanaian partner organisations who are working to improve citizens’ access to rights based development at regional and national level. The work and achievements related to a human rights based approach are covered below under the respective thematic areas.

GOVERNANCE Civil society internal governance Promoting good governance is mainstreamed in all E4L III work, and the PANT principles (Participation, Accountability, Non-discrimination and Transparency) are fundamental to Ghana Friends and partners approach to working with the civil society groups in relation to governance across all thematic areas. At all levels where the programme works to strengthen civil society governance from groups to organisation, communities, alliances and networks - participation, accountability, non-discrimination and transparency reflect basic values, which support good governance.

The principles are inter-linked, and are addressed by supporting the civil society groups to acquire and apply concrete knowledge and skills. As described in section 2.2, the civil society groups are benefiting from strengthened organisational capacity. The

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

development and implementation of gender sensitive constitutions and strategic plans in participatory group processes, as well as increased transparency and accountability in relation to decision-making and handling of funds are examples of how the PANT principles have been an integrated part of strengthening the civil society groups in 2015.

Improved internal governance enhances the legitimacy of the civil society groups and organisations E4L works with. This, in turn, is expected to strengthen the voice and potential influence of civil society vis-a-vis the duty bearers. As the groups gradually strengthen their internal governance and become more effective they begin to serve as role models for other groups. The district teams are facilitating this in order to create a cascading effect.

Influencing the public governance system In relation to E4L’s goals in terms of influencing the public governance system and increasing its effectiveness, civil society groups and organisations acquire knowledge and skills on the roles and responsibilities of the government system including their rights as engrained in the country’ constitution and legislation. Representatives from approx. 45 % of the groups across the different thematic areas of the programme have acquired knowledge about the structures of the local government system. This has given them an understanding of the operations and functions of the District Assembly system, roles and responsibilities of duty bearers and citizens and the scope for citizen involvement if the system were functioning as intended. One aspect of this is the different levels of the decentralised system, with area councils supposed to be included in local development planning and internal revenue generation, for example. The training included representatives from a cross-section of the civil society groups E4L works with and was organised at area council level.

Subsequently the respective area councils are beginning to engage the DAs to be recognised and involved in local governance, and to press for implementation of development activities planned for their areas. As a next step in the capacity development of the groups to engage with the local governance system, they will be trained in 2016 on social auditing in order to assess and address issues related to the

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quality of public services.

The programme is operating in a part of the country where the capacity of the DAs is generally quite weak both in terms of poor funding and thus inability to deliver services; and in terms of weak governance and leadership resources. This naturally affects the possibilities of achieving major change and calls for high commitment and persistence from the partners and the civil society groups. The rights based agenda is, however, also pursued by the E4L partners at regional and national level to draw attention to the inequality between the southern and the northern parts of Ghana on all major development parameters, which means that there is a deficit in fulfilling the rights of citizens in the northern parts of the country. This issue of inequality is included in the E4L advocacy strategies and is pushed in all relevant platforms where the partners participate.

The functionality of the DA system in terms of assembly meetings has been the topic of a survey conducted by GDCA in cooperation with a number of other partners. The findings indicate lapses in application of the Model Standing Orders, which are meant to guide how assembly meetings are conducted. This leads to reduced participation, transparency and accountability, and the evidence from the survey is being disseminated and used to advocate for improvements in the DA meeting procedures.

The advocacy began in 2015 and is being continued in 2016 (see also section 2.3, sub-section on governance).

Ghana Friends and the local partners have during recent years explored the topic of corruption, and closely followed the introduction of measures to fight corruption and increase transparency and accountability in the local government system. In 2015 the E4L partner Ghana Developing Communities Association, GDCA worked with the groups in the programme on awareness and understanding of major corruption issues in Ghana. This has resulted in a number of groups applying to join a national anticorruption campaign, the Citizens Movement against Corruption (CMaC), which addresses corruption issues at the national level

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Further, groups with particular concern for such human rights issues as domestic violence, child marriage and bad widowhood rights have gained additional understanding on how to push issues of rights violations and are engaging District Officers of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). The programme is seeking to address repressive socio-cultural practices.

EDUCATION The civil society groups with an education focus have acquired knowledge about the rights citizens of Ghana are supposed to enjoy in relation to education as laid out in the constitution and legislation; and the roles and responsibilities of the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service, the District Assemblies, parents and other stakeholders. Gaining an understanding of the rights and the legislative framework as well as the actors involved in rolling it out has given the groups insights which they are using in their engagement with duty bearers. As described in section 2.2, this is beginning to bring results at the level of rights holders in the form of improved educational infrastructure, increased number of teachers and improved education governance, for example.

Ghana Friends and GDCA, especially through the organisation School for Life, are very active in advocacy and networking to promote children’s right to quality education. School for Life is the lead organisation in an alliance made up of a large number of organisations that promote access to basic quality education for all children in Ghana, the Complementary Basic Education Alliance. During recent years this has resulted in approval of a national policy on complementary basic education (CBE) which acknowledges the need to ensure that all children enjoy their right to education, even if this calls for initiatives which complement the standard education system. The Ghana Education Service has also allocated human resources to facilitate implementation of the policy. So far, the actual funding has mainly been from major development partners in education such as DFID, USAID and UNICEF. The CBE Alliance is advocating for Ghana to allocate funding to continue the initiative, as indications are that there will still be a considerable number of out of school children who are unable to enjoy their right to education when the external funding is due to expire

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

in 2018. GDCA and School for Life, supported by Ghana Friends, have been persistent in keeping up the pressure for the wider application of the School for Life model due to its effectiveness in integrating out of school children in the education system. It has been a struggle drawn out over several years; and the involvement of major development partners in education and the adoption of the CBE policy are results of this long-term commitment to ensuring children’s right to education. The work will continue with the aim that complementary initiatives can continue to be in place as long as it is relevant as a bridge to education for out of school children.

During 2015, Ghana Friends has participated in a capacity building initiative under Globalt Fokus. Four Danish NGOs: IBIS-OXFAM, Danish Teachers’ Association, AXIS and Ghana Friends have cooperated to explore issues related to teachers’ education and performance in developing countries, focusing on different aspects of frame conditions relating to the teaching profession. This has resulted in compilation of materials and a catalogue of approaches NGOs can work with to improve the fulfilment of children’s right to quality education. Learning from this initiative will be shared with School for Life and their partners during a monitoring and capacity building visit by GV’s School for Life committee in 2016.

2.6 INNOVATION In Empowerment for Life I and II emphasis was put on promoting and trying out new methods, strategies and collaborations.

This has encouraged a culture of innovation, and the partners have been mutually supportive in promoting and testing new ideas, and the focus has continued in E4L III and the current framework modality.

Keeping in mind the size of the organisation and the programme, GV’s strategy is to work with the partners on innovations at a level, which allows careful documentation and learning, while at the same time rolling out good practices with high probability for impact. Innovation is to be understood as initiatives which test ideas, methods, approaches etc. that are new to GV and partners, although not necessarily brand new in the wider sphere of development.

The different innovation initiatives are activities are described on the following pages.

FOOD SECURITY & LIVELIHOODS In relation to food security & livelihood, farmers groups and women groups have acquired knowledge about the roles and responsibilities of Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), and the rights they are supposed to enjoy, such as access to agricultural extension services, productive resources and projects and programmes managed by MOFA or other responsible institutions. Again, concrete results of this are elaborated in section 2.2.

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Entrepreneurship, Innovation and cocreation In 2015 GV initiated a new collaboration with researcher Leila Schmidt from VIA University, Horsens. This collaboration comes from the shared objective of promoting and qualifying entrepreneurship and innovation trainings on a global scale.

Through the E4L programme, GV has worked with entrepreneurship for the past six years and has trained approximately 300 youths in entrepreneurship. Many methods have been tested and lessons learnt have been documented.

Together with the Danish researcher, GV and the Ghanaian partners are now working on developing a new model (see below) for future entrepreneurship trainings. In 2015 the researcher and GV undertook an explorative research mission to identify the main constraints for young entrepreneurs in Northern Ghana.

These findings were used to develop the research area: What are the main constraints for young Ghanaian entrepreneurs and how can these constraints be turned into opportunities?

The previous trainings in entrepreneurship have all followed a manual that was based on developing a traditional business plan, which the participants were to implement after the training. The training methodology was quite causal and not easy to adapt to individual needs and objectives. Therefore, the new training modules will focus on causation and effectuation where focus is on being able to identify ones means and learn how to be an enterprising individual.

And then they will receive coaching, support and knowledge depending on their needs, from the local staff as they go through the process of setting up their businesses. The modules will be developed in a co-creation process between the researcher, GV, the local staff and the youth entrepreneurs. Both the researcher and GV/ partners will document the development and the impact of the processes.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP MODEL

MY MEANS - Bird in Hand - Who am I? - What do I know?

- Who do I know?

MY ATTITUDE - Being an Entrepeneur - Advantages and Disadvantages - Traits of a Succesful Entrepeneur - Pilot in the Plane - The Lemonade Principle - Waiting for the Rain

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MY INTERACTION

MY VALUE

- Mastermind Groups (3-4 persons) - Mentorships - Bring in Other Peoples Means - Patchwork Quilts

- How to Create Value?

- Disharmonies in the Society or in Your Life - How can I create value with My Means?

MY CONSTRAINTS

MY Opportunity

- Awareness of Constraints - How to overcome Constraints?

- Ideation - Finding Your Opportunity (with your means)

- Affordable Loss - SWOT matrix (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)

MY WAY - The Next 5 Steps to take (small steps with full control)

- Social Change

Qualifying MY opportunity - Ask Stakeholders - Ask Costumers - Take Action

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

Youth journalism and social media promoting change in Northern Ghana GV’s new project Youth Speak Up, which is a cooperation with GV, Danmarks indsamling and E4L, was launched in 2015. The objective of the project is that: Youth in Northern Ghana use media platforms in new and creative ways to address injustices, mobilise young people, and advocate for their rights. It has a three-pronged strategy where youth groups are trained as community journalists who produce weekly radio programmes on youth issues that are broadcast on five stations in Northern Ghana.

In addition, the youth groups are trained in using social media to enhance the effects of the radio programmes and thus advance the issues that the youth are dealing with, and to increase social mobilisation of youth in political, social and economic issues influencing themselves and their communities.

This approach has not been tried out before in the context of Northern Ghana. But already 9 months into the project major changes are happening both to the youth participating in the project as well as issues in their communities (see section 2.2 on Youth Speak Up results).

The impact and effectiveness of the project is being documented by both the local partners, GV and through collaboration with Roskilde University. In 2015 two students did field research that contributes to the research and documentation of the project.

support from public and private actors to expand their operations. Examples of this are farmer groups who are expanding the different types of livestock they breed and engaging with providers of tractor services and farm inputs to expand their fields. At the same time interested groups are supported to gain increased access to capital through VSLA groups, who will be supported to link to financial institutions when they are mature for that.

Through the E4L work with agribusiness it has become clear that a natural next step is to build capacity in working with value chains, and to support the groups more strategically in being conscious and analytical about how they feed into a value chain.

Many women groups are engaged in income generating activities such as growing soy beans, and are assessed to have potentials for increased income if they are supported to develop their capacity to play a proactive role in the value chain. Research on how to work with this started in 2015 and is on-going in 2016.

The participation in the PARSAO project (described in section 2.3) presents an opportunity for working with the livestock value chain from the local level of agro-pastoralists and all the actors involved in livestock production and marketing, to national and international levels. It is new and very valuable to GDCA and GV to be directly involved in a field, where there is such a complex interplay of state, civil society and private business interests.

Business perspective and value chains In E4L III, GV and partners have increased focus on improving income and livelihoods of relevant groups, especially farmers, youth and women groups through agribusiness in addition to entrepreneurship mentioned above. This involves helping the groups develop a more business-oriented mind-set. Further, the groups are supported with technical skills to improve their produce in order to make it more marketable or to link to actors at other stages of the value chain that can add value to their products; and they are supported to build linkages to buyers of their products. This has already resulted in groups becoming more aware of possible ways of developing their business potential, and actively seeking

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E4L

Kakoshi Gari Processors enter value chain Kakoshi is a small farming community East Gonja District. The citizens of Kakoshi are mainly engaged in farming activities and produce staples such as yam, cassava, maize and vegetables for consumption and the local market. In Kakoshi, E4L works with the womens’ group Dawale Gari Processors Association (DGPAK). The group has 31 members and they have been processing cassava into Gari. During interactions with the E4L district team and their organisational capacity assessment, their main constraint was identified as lack of market outlets inside and outside the district and high competition from other local processors.

Madam Ibrahim Zenabu (the leader of the group) explans;” We are mothers desirous of giving our children the best of education we can. We have tried many ventures, which proved counterproductive. We are now into this business, which is also failing us. What else can we do? Come see the stock pile of our produce without buyers and markets to sell them.”

The E4L team started in collaboration with the group to scout for new market opportunities for the group. This resulted in the identification of educational institutions in the West Mamprusi District of Northern Ghana, who had a demand for Gari that could not be covered by the local market.

With the support from E4L the women’s group were now linked to these institutions and within 3 months the schools had collected 50 bags of Gari at the cost of 5000 Ghana cedis (appr. 9000 DKK). Supporting farmer groups to establish market links is a crucial part of E4L’s work as it strengthens their organisational capacity, increases their revenue and sustainability. This leads to increased household incomes, that can support the women in sending their children to school, for example.

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GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

New types of partnerships During 2015 GV has worked with the two local partners, GDCA and YEfL, to expand our experience in working with different types of partnerships. The PARSAO programme involves 15 partners in 7 countries in West Africa, with each partner contributing to the overall goal achievement. This represents a complexity, which is new to GV and GDCA, and at the same time a learning opportunity; which helps us develop capacity both in a new technical area related to food security & livelihoods, and in working with different partner and donor relations.

The Youth Speak Up project is a partnership between Ghana Friends and YEfL, with two other local organisations sub-contracted by YEfL to deliver specific aspects of the project.

Both of these new approaches to partnership are in line with the goals outlined in Ghana Friends’ partnership strategy. Supporting Ghana Friends’ partners to enter into new partnerships is part of the capacity building aimed at increasing the partners’ ability to diversify and strengthen their sustainability. During the first year Ghana Friends has played an active role in supporting the coordination in these larger, more complex partnerships, and in ensuring that administrative guidelines and other partner requirements are clear and are observed. This has been a learning exercise for Ghana Friends in facilitating cooperation between other partners, in anticipating challenges, being proactive and communicating clearly.

2.7 PARTNERSHIP AND CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT OF PARTNERS Our approach to partnership is guided by the Ghana Friends partnership strategy approved in 2015.

The partnership strategy distinguishes between organisational partnership and other more targeted and time-bound types of partnership. Historically Ghana Friends has not worked with a large number of partners, but rather focused on deep long-term partnerships with a few local organisations. The partnership strategy is a reflection of a new way of thinking about partnerships in Ghana Friends, which

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

has been underway for some years. In the strategy it is an objective to broaden the relationship with Ghanaian civil society organisations, and to reduce dependency of any one partnership.

2.7.1 ORGANISATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS Ghana Friends has two so called organisational partnerships with Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) and Youth Empowerment for Life (YEfL). This type of partnership is characterised by being close long-term partnerships with high level of mutuality and commitment. It involves joint cooperation on programme and project activities coupled with capacity development.

An organisational self-assessment, undertaken in preparation for the frame application in 2014 with support from GV, forms the basis for capacity development of GDCA and YEfL. The data from the assessment was used to develop organisational capacity development plans to build the strategic, organisational and operational capacity of the organisations. Implementation of the plans is on-going, as described below.

Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) Ghana Friends has been partners with GDCA for more than thirty years and the history and development of the two organisations are closely interlinked.

GDCA has grown from being a project organisation to a full-fledged membership based civil society organisation. The two partners have grown up together and the partnership has been through various stages to the present stage, which can be characterised as mature. Both partners have over the years committed a lot of time and energy to the partnership, especially in difficult times. The investment in GDCA has paid off. GDCA is now a legitimate and well-established civil society organisation that is able to attract funding from various donors and the relationship between GV and GDCA is relatively smooth.

Nevertheless, GDCA also faces a number of challenges. Among other things, GDCA is vulnerable to shifts in donor trends and its financial situation is fragile. The organisation is complex, as an umbrella

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organisation for a number of subsidiaries. It will continue to be a priority for GV to support GDCA to tackle these challenges and become more financially and organisationally sustainable.

In 2015 the main organisational activity in GDCA was the development of a new strategy covering five years, 2015 - 2019. The organisational capacity assessment from 2013 formed an important input in the problem analysis for the strategy. The process involved a number of internal and external stakeholders such as Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, Decentralised Departments and other CSOs who contributed in terms of reflections and identification of opportunities.

The strategy provides the overall vision and definition of organisational purpose for GDCA and all of its subsidiary units. GDCA has chosen to work with four strategic areas: 1) Organisational development and strategic positioning and engagement; 2) Strong civil society actively promoting participation in local governance and participation of marginalised groups in decision-making; 3) Improved livelihoods, food & water security, environment and climate change resilience and 4) Inclusive access to improved quality education.

In terms of diversifying funding, GDCA entered into a contract to cover 2 districts under the Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms (GSAM), a five-year project funded by USAID under which GDCA is partnering with IBIS to join 26 other CSOs nationwide in implementing the project in 100 Districts, in addition to the PARSAO project mentioned in section 2.3. The SfL contract with DFID was extended for another year, and the cooperation with UNICEF expanded to cover additional districts.

Youth Empowerment for Life (YEfL) Ghana Friends started working with youth empowerment in 2005 by supporting a group of young people organising a youth forum in Dalun. This group of young people eventually started an organisation called Youth Empowerment for Life (YEfL), which became our programme partner in 2010. The partnership came off to a good start and YEfL’s work was characterised by a lot of enthusiasm and energy.

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At the same time YEfL’s workload and responsibilities grew quite rapidly and the organisation has had difficulties catching up with this development. In 2015 it became clear that YEfL needed some extra support of its organisational development and operational capacity in addition to the agreed capacity development plan. YEfL’s challenges have mainly been related to the governance structure and the administration of funds, whereas the implementation of programme activities has been satisfactory.

However, conflicts in the organisation escalated and the situation began to affect the overall performance of the organisation.

On that background Ghana Friends decided to fund a consultancy with the objective of identifying and addressing the causes of conflict in YEfL. The consultancy was a useful process, which involved all YEfL staff and board members and allowed them to analyse their organisational culture and understand their respective roles and responsibilities better. One of the main conclusions of the consultancy was the need to improve the performance of the YEfL board. It was agreed to reconsider the election procedure and put more emphasis on the need to recruit board members with the required skills. The recommendations of the consultancy will be implemented in 2016 and onwards. Some activities started already in 2015, as an example the YEfL board manual was reviewed and further developed.

Unfortunately it was discovered that YEfL had mismanaged E4L funds in 2015. The financial records of an annual youth forum were incomplete, among other things. Mistrust and poor communication between the YEfL board and management did not help matters. The mismanagement of funds involved the programme manager, the accountant and the Youth Speak coordinator. The accountant was laid off in 2015 and the programme manager and Youth Speak Up coordinator were finally laid off in 2016 after a lengthy investigation of the case. The incidence was reported to Danida, who reported it to the National Audit office. The case has now been closed without any loss of funds.

It has also been a challenge for YEfL to make an organisational budget that balances income and

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

expenditure. An organisational budget was developed in 2015 with support from the GV secretariat and E4L controller. The budget revealed a deficit in 2016 and 2017. GV has committed itself to help YEfL to create a balanced budget. This also includes financial support from GV’s own funds. Follow up to common agreements will be a focus area of YEfL/ GV cooperation in 2016.

OPERATIONAL CAPACITY In 2015 a lot of resources were invested in staff training to strengthen the operational capacity of the partners and the E4L programme within the following areas:

The commitment to help and support partners - also in difficult times - is a hallmark of an organisational partnership. This type of support is quite demanding for Ghana Friends in terms of resources. This is particularly true in the case of conflict or mismanagement where the need for intervention is unexpected and hence unplanned for. The demanding nature of organisational partnerships, combined with the 26 % reduction of the E4L Danida grant, has led GV to decide not to take on one more organisational partner in 2017.

•

Despite the difficulties YEfL has encountered in 2015, the organisation has been able to develop its capacity in key areas. The focus on YEfL’s governance structure and financial management has led to intense efforts to strengthen their capacity in these areas and this already started to pay off in 2015. The board has understood and acknowledged their role in financial management and steps have been taken to equip them with the skills to perform their duties. YEfL has become fully conversant with the E4L budget control sheet and the YEfL accountant is taking part in further developing the format as a member of the E4L finance team. Being a member of the E4L finance team is a learning opportunity, which strengthens YEfL’s financial management.

In terms of strengthening financial sustainability, YEfL has prepared a proposal and been selected to implement a pilot project on youth governance with funding from IBIS. In 2016 YEfL will participate in a full-fledged IBIS project on the same topic.

YEfL has reviewed its strategic plan and, as a part of this, a youth volunteer strategy has been developed to strengthen the organisation.

2.7.2 STRENGTHENING OF PARTNERS

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

• •

• • • • •

Organisational capacity building Facilitation and community entry skills, participatory tools and methods Baseline data collection and pre-testing of instruments Implementation planning Constitution development, group dynamics and strategic planning Advocacy Leadership and management skills Monitoring

2.7.3 OTHER TYPES OF PARTNERSHIPS IN GHANA Ghana Friends has been involved in a number of partnerships in 2015, as part of the strategy to have a broader range of partnerships.

Ghana Friends has continued to work with Rural Media Network (RUMNET) and HOPIN Academy in the implementation of the Youth Speak Up project, financed by Danmarks Indsamling 2015. RUMNET and HOPIN are characterised as YEfL’s sub-partners rather than GV’s operational partners, in line with the objective to strengthen our partners to enter into new partnerships. The partnerships are time-bound for delivery of specified outputs/results.

RUMNET and HOPIN have been selected as partners because of their specific competencies, skills and experience in the areas of social media and radio.

These partnerships have assured the technical quality of the Youth Speak project and as such boosted the E4L programme in specific areas. It is part of the partnership strategy to draw on the resources of other organisations in Ghana to widen our scope, instead of relying on existing strengths in YEfL and GDCA or trying to build the capacity in-house.

In September 2015 a new partnership with the French NGO ‘Acting for Life’ took off through the start of the PARSAO project (‘strengthening the resilience of Agro-Pastoral Systems in West Africa’). In Ghana

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‘Acting for Life’ partners with GDCA, CIKOD and GV to implement the project in the three Northern Regions. GDCA is responsible for implementation in Upper East and Northern Region based on their in-depth knowledge of local communities and their power structures, among other things. Ghana Friends is in close contact with ‘Acting for Life’ and performs a backstopping function by following up on implementation and the collaboration between the two Ghanaian partners. The new partnership has many benefits to Ghana Friends and GDCA in terms of synergy, learning and sustainability.

2.7.4 PARTNERSHIPS IN DENMARK In Denmark GV has engaged in a number of partnerships relevant to our strategic objectives.

We have continued the fruitful partnership with IBIS, AXIS and the Danish Teachers Union as members of the education group under Globalt Fokus. In 2015 the partners have collaborated on the capacity building project ‘Frame conditions for the good teacher’, which focused on NGO possibilities for supporting quality education. The results of the project have been shared with SfL and the SfL committee is planning a workshop with stakeholders in Ghana on quality education in 2016.

Danish education institutions continue to be a strategic target group for GV in terms of fundraising and development education. In 2015 GV further developed a concept for collaboration with Hald Ege Efterskole and as a part of this, we supported the planning of a visit to the programme area by the entire school (180 students and teachers) in 2016.

Ghana Friends has also formed strong partnerships with VIA University College in Horsens as well as Roskilde University (RUC). In collaboration with a researcher from VIA University College, we are developing our work with young entrepreneurs and getting a better understanding of how to promote entrepreneurship. Roskilde University is a partner in the Youth Speak Up project, a researcher from the university has been involved in the formulation of the project and students are involved in a research and documentation component.

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2.8 MUTUAL LEARNING WITHIN PARTNERSHIPS

There is a strong element of learning in all the partnerships that GV is involved in. This is particularly true for the long-term organisational partnerships.

The strong relations and continuity allow partners to work closely together to explore new topics and learn from our experiences.

Below are mentioned some of the main areas of mutual learning within partnerships in 2015.

A new exciting mutual learning opportunity came about in 2015, when lecturer from Via University College in Horsens, Leila Kæmsgaard Pagh, visited YEfL. Leila is also a voluntary member of the GV youth committee. The purpose of the visit was to assess the lessons and experiences of YEfL’s work with entrepreneurship and to develop a research proposal. VIA University College has granted Leila a two-year research project on YEfL entrepreneurship training, which will be carried out in collaboration with YEfL and GV in 2015-2017. The research will give us a research-based understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing youth engaging in entrepreneurship and qualify our work. The collaboration is also an opportunity for YEfL and GV to co-create a new approach to working with entrepreneurship.

A revision and upgrading of the M&E system was a priority in 2015 for GV and its partners, as part of the transition to a new programme. This effort has led to a new M&E manual, which was finalised with assistance from a Danish consultant. The consultant’s visit in September 2015 was a learning opportunity for all involved. She was able to pinpoint M&E areas in need of upgrading, such a tools to measure outcome and impact, and suggest useful tools. One of these tools is outcome harvesting, which is a fairly simple but effective way of measuring outcome.

Implementation of the recommendations from the consultancy started in 2015 and is on-going. M&E is a part of each GV visit with a process of developing and assessing tools and approaches jointly and agreeing on next steps with staff.

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

An area of mutual learning has been a new way of working with fundraising. Fundraising is not a new area for GV’s partners; in fact GDCA especially has more experience than GV in working with other donors. However, it is a new area for all of the partners to develop and implement relatively small projects within the overall programme frame, which are highly flexible and cost-effective with funds raised from private donors or from foundations in Denmark.

It requires close collaboration with short notice to develop projects that are scalable, easy to implement and appeals to private donors. An example is the education campaign for funds from private donors and foundations, which GV ran in 2015. GV received almost 200.000 kr. for education, which was mostly used for SfL classes and teacher training. GV and SfL developed the concepts in collaboration, and GV relies on SfL to provide compelling stories to keep attracting funds.

mention easy access to honest consultation as one of the most appreciated features of the partnership.

The mutual commitment to long-term cooperation creates a culture of trust and confidence in the partnerships, which makes it possible to move forward together and deal with and learn from opportunities, challenges and points of disagreement.

The annual partnership meetings, named Programme Strategic Committee (PSC) meetings, provide an important opportunity for Danish and Ghanaian board members and management of partner organisation to meet and explore new topics.

Donor trends are a fixed topic on the agenda, which is also essential to keep partners updated and forecast co-financing opportunities. In 2015 the theme was networking, a presenter from STAR Ghana started a process of reflection on how to select the most relevant networks and maximise the benefits of being involved. These reflections are being carried forward in the strategic planning of partners.

This has been tested on numerous occasions in connection with adjusting to and adopting new trends in development such as developing capacity for rights based advocacy and strengthening organisational sustainability by diversifying funding possibilities and engaging in multi-donor interventions, for example. The closeness and continuous exchange of perspectives between GV and partners also brings the opportunity for seeking inspiration from and mirroring Danish organisational values and practices in terms of constituency building and democratic governance. The familiarity with each other’s cultures minimise conflicts and makes it easier to appreciate different perspectives.

2.9 ADDED VALUE IN THE CONTEXT OF MUTUAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Ghana Friends adds value and contributes to change processes according to needs and wishes expressed by the partners as well as our joint analyses based on capacity assessments and contextual developments. GV’s added value contributes to achieving objective 4 of the E4L III programme, which focuses on ‘the partner organisations having the institutional capacity to be strong and active players in civil society and promoting the interests and rights of civil society groups and organisations locally, nationally and internationally through advocacy, partnerships and networking’. During 2015 GV’s added value has especially focused on the topics described below.

Ghana Friends’ comparative advantages in terms of adding value relates to the close and long lasting links with a few partner organisations, dedicated volunteers and staff with a deep knowledge of Ghana and skills and competencies in relevant areas, as well as open and constructive relationships with staff and board members in Ghana. Partners

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

The partners single out the relationship with GV as having beneficial characteristics reaching beyond what they have with most other development partners, where the partnership is reduced to a contractual agreement and regular monitoring of this. The partnership with GV is appreciated for also involving technical support, capacity building, joint activities, and friendship. This, combined with the professional relationship bound by contractual agreements, creates a strong basis for mutually rewarding partnerships.

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Organisational restructuring for increased effectiveness Due to the start-up of E4L III with a new organisational set-up, 2015 has been a year characterised by major organisational changes of the partners. The objective has been to achieve: • • •

Stronger local impact through increased presence in the districts, Stronger strategic focus through the introduction of technical officers and advisors More effective financial and administrative systems

Planning the new organisational structures and describing the tasks of the teams and the staff positions were done in close cooperation between GV and the partners. GV supported the process with knowledge about organisational development and change management. This included reorganising staff for new positions in a transparent manner and composing the new teams so that they cater for all needed capacities. A focus area during GV’s monitoring visits in 2015 has been to assess the roll-out of the new set-up and identify gaps in cooperation and communication or bottlenecks because the new set-up was not fully understood or used effectively.

Such issues have then been discussed and solutions identified.

Organisational capacity assessment of civil society groups At the beginning of 2015 GV led in organising a workshop with the objective of developing a tool for organisational capacity assessment of the civil society groups and organisations that were to be the direct E4L III target group. An external consultant from Uganda, who is a specialist in civil society capacity development, facilitated the workshop. All district teams as well as Head Office staff involved in the programme at strategic and operational level participated together with GV’s two programme coordinators. It was a very engaging process through which the E4L team created the tool to be used for capacity assessment. The work was based on the participants joint analyses of civil society based on extensive experience from many years’ work in the field, and facilitated by the very competent consul-

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tant. The assessment tool was used for the capacity assessment to select the 300 groups the programme worked with in 2015. That assessment done in March 2015 forms the baseline in terms of organisational capacity of the groups and will be reapplied at the end of 2016 to measure progress. Creating the tool and thus developing a common understanding of the elements relevant to assess in relation to civil society capacity and the inherent issues was a very rewarding joint learning process.

Internal governance As mentioned in section 2.7, GV has worked intensively with YEfL during 2015 to address a conflict between the board and staff and strengthen the organisation’s internal governance. GV facilitated a dialogue in the organisation and supported in engaging an external consultant to undertake a review of the organisation and make a plan to address organisational issues, which led to the conflict.

Further, YEfL had an incident of mismanagement of funds where GV advised and supported them in dealing with the situation to handle it in a transparent and responsible manner. This included contracting an external audit, conducting interviews with involved staff, analysing the findings and taking the necessary decisions to close the case and improve procedures to prevent similar cases in the future.

New cooperative relationships for the partners During 2015, GV has supported both partners to enter into new partnerships. After initial negotiations between the French NGO Acting for Life and GV, GDCA partnered with Acting for Life on the PARSAO programme (see section 2.3). This means additional income for the organisation as well as expansion into a new area of work and possibilities for new contacts. GV and YEfL began cooperation on the Youth Speak Up project with funds from the Danmarks Indsamling. This also became an opportunity for YEfL to gain experience in managing a project where they cooperate with two sub-partners that deliver specific technical competencies on this project. GV has supported YEfL in this project management function.

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

Feedback from the partners on GV value addition In order to get the partners’ perspective on GV’s value addition to their work and to the partnership, GV has on a number of occasions during recent years asked for feedback in workshops with staff and board representatives, and through questionnaires and written feedback. When the partners were asked where they especially felt that GV had added value during 2015, the organisational development support was mentioned. Especially the introduction of technical advisors within the thematic areas is perceived as an important element of GV’s added value during 2015 as it has helped the organisations become more focused.

The partners also find that GV’s support in developing the M&E system in 2015 has been of great value.

It has been a joint process with inputs from the partners and feedback from GV. At a point GV suggested drawing in an external consultant to contribute with new learning and inspiration; and made the arrangements for this. It proved to be a useful input, and combined with GV’s support to develop approaches for outcome monitoring it means that the monitoring capacity has been significantly upgraded.

The partners were also asked whether there were areas where they would like GV to value in addition to what is happening now. In connection with the start-up of E4L III the partners have been introduced to community driven development and the communication for social change methodology. They have found this highly inspirational and are now beginning to see outcomes of this work. This very positive learning experience has made the partners very open towards working with other new methods and approaches.

At the same time, partners express a wish for more support from GV within the area of policy analyses and advocacy at national and international levels.

This is being addressed in 2016 where GV works with the partners to develop advocacy strategies and implementation plans for national level advocacy work.

Further, the partners rate GV’s support in relation to staff recruitment and development highly. During 2015, this has been relevant both in connection with the major restructuring and new set-up at the beginning of the year, and in addressing the staff reduction towards the end of the year due to the cut in funding.

Partners also indicate that they value the regular GV visits, which serve to monitor progress in implementation, assess the functionality of approaches and methods as well as organisational issues. GV’s support to and interaction with partners during visits generate ideas for progressively improving programme implementation through new approaches and initiatives; and sharpens strategic thinking, analysis and reflection. The visits have also added value by improving capacities of both staff and political bodies through targeted capacity building in such areas as M&E, strategic networking and co-financing; as well as improved administrative and financial systems.

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

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3. ASSUMPTIONS AND RISKS

and where inappropriate bottlenecks and lack of outreach from head office to districts were observed, this was addressed and monitored.

The E4L III programme design is based on a number of assumptions related to goal achievement within the thematic areas. The assumptions mainly focus on the environment being conducive in terms of stakeholders’ cooperation, for example, to achieve the expected change. During 2015 no changes have been observed in these assumptions.

2015 was the first year under the frame modality for Ghana Friends. In preparing for the transition the partners had been informed that it was safe to assume that this modality would mean a certain stability in funding. It was therefore quite a shock when the 26% cut in Danida funding was announced during the last quarter of 2015 with effect already from the beginning of 2016. The cuts meant additional restructuring to cater for exit from part of the operational area and reduce the number of head office staff. This was a lot to accommodate on top of the original restructuring; and created some uncertainty. GV and partners came together to agree on how to implement the cuts and manage the uncertainty.

Further, a set of risks and assumptions are monitored and assessed in relation to the partner cooperation and the operations of the programme; and the following issues have come up in relation to 2015: Human resources and operations In connection with the change from phase II to phase III a major restructuring took place with the establishment of district offices in six districts. Staff from the partners was seconded to work as mixed programme teams and to be stationed in the districts; and a cross-cutting team of technical officers and advisers at head office level would service the districts and the partner organisations. This affected virtually all staff in the partner organisations, at managerial, strategic, and operational level as well as administrative staff. Such a radical change does involve risks but after the first six months of 2015 a monitoring visit by GV showed that the restructuring was moving on well. GV believes that this is due to a number of factors: •

The reappointment of staff to new positions had been done in a completely transparent and fair process • Creation of the teams had been done in close cooperation by GV and partners, with careful assessment of strengths and weaknesses as well as other relevant dynamics • The staff had been through a series of introductory capacity development processes which promoted team building • The new layer of middle management for the district offices had been carefully selected • The partners management team and GV monitored the roll-out of the new structure closely.

Anticipated challenges were handled proactively;

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Some very competent staff have resigned since then; and GV and partners are trying to manage concerns about job insecurity. This will be done by a continued effort to make sure that there is high mobility within the E4L programme and investments in capacity building of staff. At the same time the partners were very concerned about the need to exit from districts at very short notice due to the cuts as this could affect their credibility. The exit included meetings with district authorities and other relevant stakeholders to explain the circumstances and try to link up relevant actors who may assist in filling gaps resulting from the exit. It was done to the best ability of the partners given the difficult circumstances, especially the short notice at which the cuts had to be effected.

Dependence on continued, predictable funding for sustainable interventions One major assumption - and risk - is continued and predictable funding. As GV operates with long-term development processes within a timeframe of minimum 5 years it is extremely important that funding modalities and amount of resources are somewhat stable, as all changes require restructuring and not least strategising of the intervention. Every time this is required valuable resources are lost, partnerships are jeopardised and beneficiaries experience hasty

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

exits.

This was also the result of the FL2016 cut, where GV and partners needed to restrategise and restructure the intervention within two months. As the cut required phase out of one operating district and downscaling of yet another, the planned activities with the CBOs and local stakeholders had to be changed from a continued effort to a quick phase out. This required additional funds to these districts, meaning that other planned activities were cancelled or postponed until 2016. Exiting from CBOs at this early stage of the programme questions whether or not they will be able to continue on their own afterwards. If they are not, then the costly start up investment in them will be lost.

Furthermore, ending collaborations with local government and other district stakeholders are always straining for the relations to GV’s local organisations, which they have spent years building up.

Political climate National elections will take place at the end of 2016, and the run up to this started in 2015. The same party has won the elections for two consecutive terms; and stakes are high with the winner-takes-all electoral system so tension easily builds up. This presents a risk due to misconception that the partners favour one political orientation. The partners are careful about remaining neutral and non-partisan in order to avoid any risk of politicising their activities and interventions. There is a code of conduct on this with guidelines to be observed by staff and boards.

The programme is engaged in promoting peaceful elections through support to civil society groups (peace clubs and youth groups, for example) to facilitate events, which promote open democratic processes and discussions in a peaceful atmosphere; as well as through cooperation with other civil society partners through the STAR Ghana facility to influence the climate in which elections are fought.

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4. development education 2015 GV, and not least its volunteer Information Committee, have carried out several campaigns and activities. The year focused on three main campaigns: 1: The photo exhibition Without Blinking, 2: The Slavery and Goldcoast campaign, and 3: the Tour Development.

The objective of the photo exhibition Without Blinking (udenatblinke.dk) was to illustrate and capture the lives and context of young people growing up in Northern Ghana, and their dreams, aspirations, hopes and fears. The photo exhibition consists of 26 photos and two short films. In 2015 it was exhibited at Kunstcenter Silkeborg Bad, Jernlageret in Horsens, Verdensspejl Festival in Aarhus, Silkeborg High School,and at the Ghana Seminar. A midterm evaluation of the activity has been carried out and it is estimated that the exhibition has reached approximately 85.000 people through the exhibition and their activities. Furthermore, approximately 50.000 people have been reached through GV’s media and press.

The Slavery and Goldcoast campaign took place during summer and fall of 2015 and followed the release of the Danish movie The Gold Coast. In collaboration with Ghanaian researchers materials and articles were developed and communicated through a campaign website which is part of the GV website.

The articles were also printed in the Ghana Håndslag magazine. Furthermore, GV hosted two screenings of the movie Gold Coast in Valby and Glamsbjerg, where filmmakers and volunteers attended. It also led to a GV being quoted on Politiken’s website.

The yearly participation in Couleur Café festival also contributed to more communication on the slavery theme.

The Tour Development Campaign was carried out at Verdensspejl Festival in Aarhus, where school classes were invited to attend a Tour Development.

The tour focused on the 2015 goals and the new development goals. The children learned through a

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tour of 8 posts about these issues, had opportunities to ask questions and express which goals they would prioritise. The tour was arranged and carried out by GV volunteers and staff. The campaign also had its own website for school children: gv-kampagne.dk GV’s Teacher Exchange Programme (TEP) is a yearly activity where four Danish Teachers are exchanged with four Ghanaian teachers. Part of the program is to inform the Danish public on the experiences in the exchange as well as education issues in Ghana and the work of School for Life. It is estimated that TEP reached 700 children in the host schools and 2000 parents. TEP was mentioned in local media in Aarhus, Fyn and Viborg and TV2’s local station also sent a feature on the program.

GV’s media A regular feature is the magazine Ghana Handshake.

It was published three times last year and distributed to 500 members and donors. Furthermore, it is available on all GV media and Issuu in online editions.

GV’s email newsletter is distributed to more than 500 people and last year seven newsletters were published.

Ghanavenskab.dk The website is still a main platform for GV’s information activities. This goes for all activities and campaigns. Furthermore, two campaign sub-sites were launched in 2015 for Without Blinking and Tour Development. The website is undergoing a revision and the planning and strategy for the new website were carried out in 2015. The new website will be launched in 2016.

The website has also been complemented by a new “Support GV” universe, where online donations and sign up for membership etc. is possible.

Facebook GV’s Facebook page has been reprioritised and that has increased traffic, likes and interaction. A main objective of the Facebook page is to share success stories from GV’s programmes and create attention to GV’s current information activities. GV has also Facebook pages specifically for larger information campaigns that link with GV’s other media.

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

GHANA VENSKAB

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

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5. MAIN RESULTS FOR 2015 Performance in relation to yearly benchmarks for 2015 15 % of the CBOs carry out activities related to their group mission, vision and values As described in section 2.2, 2015 saw the start-up of the E4L III programme and thus cooperation with the 300 civil society groups and organisations described as CBOs in the agreed yearly benchmarks and results. The focus has been on organisational and technical capacity development; and a large proportion of the groups have been strengthened with new skills and knowledge as well as tools and commitment. The monitoring shows that 20% of the groups have identified new activities related to their mission, vision and values, which they are beginning to carry out.

5% of CBOs initiate community development initiatives The 300 civil society groups and organisations the E4L programme works with come from 115 communities. The strengthened capacity of the groups is beginning to result in development initiatives, which involve and affect the communities the groups belong to. The E4L district teams support the groups to facilitate community involvement in order to mobilise the wider community in addressing challenges and benefit from development opportunities.

The issues vary from community to community, but are often related to education, poor road infrastructure, or access to inputs for farming. During 2015, groups initiated community development initiatives across the different thematic areas, with the majority focusing on improvement of educational facilities.

Examples include communities themselves organising to provide accommodation for teachers, or establish provisional wing schools, as a starting point for engaging the educational authorities to fill gaps in their education delivery. The available monitoring data are not fully segregated on community development initiatives as against group initiatives,

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but based on the records from the outcome monitoring it is safe to say that at least 5% of the CBOs have initiated community development initiatives.

5% of CBOs carry out advocacy activities During 2015 main focus has been on organisational and technical capacity development of the groups, based on an assumption that capacity in these areas is necessary in order for the groups to engage in effective advocacy. The three dimensions of organisational and technical capacity as well as capacity to advocate and network are, however, closely interlinked; and the groups have started engaging authorities to a considerably larger extent than anticipated in this yearly benchmark. At least 7 % of the CBOs have in fact seen positive results of their advocacy activities in 2015, with a considerably higher number (estimated to be at least 15%) being engaged in advocacy activities across the different thematic areas the groups are addressing.

Partner organisations have developed and shared fundraising strategies GDCA and YEfL have developed fundraising strategies and have shared them at Board level where concrete steps for implementing the strategies were discussed.

GDCA has set up a fundraising committee and held a training workshop as part of the organisation’s capacity and structural development to diversify its funding sources. GDCA submitted ten project proposals in 2015, out of which four received funding during the year.

YEfL wrote six project proposals and won two of them.

Partner organisations have developed and implemented advocacy strategies The partners have engaged actively in advocacy during 2015, both through the work with civil society groups in the programme districts and at regional and national level, guided by the thematic strategies and with action plans related to each advocacy intervention area. SfL’s advocacy within education built on achievements from 2014 as described in section

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

GV’s RESULTS REPORT 2015

2.3, whereas CLIP embarked on a new area within food security & livelihoods with the PARSAO project focusing on the resilience of agro-pastoral systems and economic development of the livestock sector.

GDCA began advocacy on improved governance in relation to the District Assembly system, based on research undertaken in 2014.

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

The intention was to develop explicit advocacy strategies to guide implementation and make it more strategic; and steps were taken to initiate such a process in 2015. Due to HR and restructuring issues, it was decided to postpone it to the beginning of 2016.

The technical advisers for the respective thematic areas together with the M&E officer formed an advocacy and communications team; and in January 2016 this team was supported by GV to develop advocacy strategies and action plans on the thematic areas for 2016.

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2015

YEARLY BENCHMARKS/RESULTS 2015-2018 2016 2017

2018

2019

15 % of the CBOs implement and monitor their action plans

30 % of the CBOs implement and monitor their action plans

50 % of the CBOs implement and monitor their action plans

70 % of the CBOs implement and monitor their action plans

5 % of CBOs initiate community development initiatives.

25 % of CBOs initiate community development initiatives.

50 % of CBOs initiate community development initiatives

85 % of CBOs initiate community development initiatives.

5 % of CBOs carry out advocacy activities

15 % of CBOs carry out advocacy activities

40 % of CBOs carry out advocacy activities

60 % of CBOs carry out advocacy activities

50% of FS/L CBOs use improved agricultural practices and have increased production/yield

100 CBOs have organised/are actively engaged in savings and loans associations

50 % of FS/L CBO members have increased household income

70 % of FS/L CBO members have increased household income

At least 50 % of education CBOs are playing an active role in increasing enrolment and retention

50 % of education CBOs promote equal access to education for girls and boys

Target communities have increased primary school completion rate for girls by at least 10%

Target communities have increased primary school completion rate for girls by at least 30%

60 % of youth CBOs access information on district planning and monitor implementation of district plans

50% of youth CBOs use communication platforms (radio and social media) to inform the public and engage duty bearers in dialogue

40% of youth CBOs have capacity to monitor district performance and demand accountability

60% of youth CBOs have capacity to monitor district performance and demand accountability

Partner organisations have developed and shared fundraising strategies

Partner organisations have submitted at least 10 funding proposals

Partner organisations have entered into strategic alliances for submitting funding proposals

Partner organisations have won at least 4 new proposals

Partners have increased donor diversification and increased source of income/core funding (independent)

Partner organisations have developed and implemented advocacy strategies

Partner organisations’ staff has improved capacity in civil society programming and advocacy

Partner organisations have regular meetings with advocacy partners and participate in national alliances/networks.

Partner organisations source and conduct research on relevant topics and use it to inform their advocacy activities.

52 I Page

GV Strategic Update & Results Report 2015

ghana friends operates in these districts and adresses advocacy issues on national and international levels

AFRIKA GHANA NORTHERN REGION

KUMBUNGU

DISTRIKTER MED GV AKTIVITETER

KARAGA SABOBA

SAVELUGU

TAMALE HOVEDKONTOR DISTRIKTS KONTORER

MION TAMALE

Ghana Venskab Klosterport 4 C, 3. 8000 Ã…rhus C.

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