The Ghana Democracy and Governance of the U.S. Agency for International Development:
Strengthened Democratic and Decentralized Governance through Civic Involvement.
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Program Overview | Success Stories
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The Democratic Governance program focused on activities to strengthen Ghana's legislative branch and worked to empower communities to influence policy decisions of various local governments in 2002. USAID provided $1.102 million to enhance democratic governance at the national and grassroots levels of the country.
At the national level, USAID's legislative program focused on building Parliament's institutional capacity, increasing stakeholder input on policy and legislation, and empowering selected Parliamentary Committees. In trying to build Parliament's institutional capacity, USAID supported Parliament's efforts to develop a new and functional Parliamentary drafting unit, strengthened the Parliamentary Research Center's (PRC) ability to provide high quality research for individual Members of Parliament and committees, and assisted in the development of an extensive and interactive web site that will provide easy access to documents such as pending legislation, Parliamentary rules and orders, and the agendas.
Parliamentarians can now access alternate viewpoints via the Internet to enrich the quality of their debate and support their statements with facts and figures. They are also able to communicate with colleagues across the globe as well as constituents. USAID's inputs such as computers and in-service training have contributed to a better quality and up-to-date reports, and access to alternate data. The Center was also able to handle over 300 research requests from parliamentarians within the year.
USAID was influential in assisting interest groups to make inputs into bills or have legislative instruments withdrawn by Government for further refinement. The Legal Resource Center (LRC), a USAID partner, created awareness as well as facilitated public input into separate bills laid before Parliament. The LRC mobilized relevant interest groups in order to facilitate their understanding and appreciation of the bill. As a result of this intervention, civil society organizations (CSOs) were able to make input into the bill or regulation through a memorandum to Parliament. The groups, in some cases, appeared before the relevant parliamentary committees. Bills of recent interest have been the Local Government Services Bill and the National Health Insurance Bill. In the case of the National Health Insurance Bill, LRC's efforts along side other health partners and CSOs have pushed Parliament to expand the scope of their considerations. This delayed the passage of the bill for nationwide public hearings to be held to address demands for greater consultations.
In addition, four bills currently before Parliament have been amended and received civic input. Three private member motions were also introduced during the first two meetings of Parliament. The domestic violence bill that provides provisions to protect persons against domestic violence was initiated by a locally supported NGO. The bill, which was sponsored by private members from the country's two major political parties, has been co-opted by the Government. This mature civil society advocacy is a growing force in Ghana.
USAID's Parliamentary Support Program has worked closely with five committees to explore ways to empower these committees to increase their oversight functions and strengthen their capacity to consider legislation put before them. The committees include the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, the Committee on Government Assurances, the Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs, the Committee on Local Government and Rural Development, and the Committee on the Judiciary. As a result of the support, the Committee on the Judiciary conducted public hearings on "corruption in the judiciary" in the ten regional capitals of the country. This provided the public an avenue to express their concerns about corruption in the judiciary and it further demonstrated how Parliament could be used to get across the concerns of Ghanaian citizens.
At the local government level, USAID has worked in all the ten regions of the country to improve civic input into decision making since 1997. The Mission's primary partner in local government and civil society advocacy work, Cooperative League of the United States of America (CLUSA), expanded its project activities in 2002 from 239 to 476 community service organizations. As a result, a large number of citizens have become involved in community affairs, attended local government town hall meetings, and formed civic unions to advocate for their communal interests. In the process, they have learned how to develop a common vision for their respective groups, organize themselves, advocate their interests and hold local government officials accountable.
CLUSA has also organized workshops for candidates who stood for District Assembly elections, and conducted sensitization programs for the electorate in 64 local government electoral areas in four districts. The activities were carried out in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education and the Electoral Commission for elections in 2002. Elections into the assembly, the highest political authority in the district with deliberative, legislative and executive powers, are held every four years throughout the country. In all, 155 candidates and the electorate in 21 communities benefited from the program. CLUSA also organized workshops in nine out of its ten program districts for a total of 142 women leaders and 50 assemblywomen to help them take a more active part in local public affairs.
Other noteworthy activities for public participation in local government affairs included USAID's technical assistance to districts to organize public hearings of their annual budgets. Over 300 participants including community leaders, farmers, toll and ratepayers, students and District Assembly officials discussed the budget at each of the hearings. Civic unions were also supported to organize public forums in three districts on access to quality services and resources. More than 692 people participated in the fora in which senior regional and district officials of utility service providers responded to questions related to corruption among service providers, irregularities in the provision of services, inconsistencies in billing, and efforts being made to streamline billing in compound houses. During the sessions, participants provided suggestions as to how the service providers and District Assembly officials could improve their performance, thus increasing civic input into policy making at the local level.
USAID's Education for Democracy and Development Initiative (EDDI) program achieved significant results in the implementation of information technology projects to key governance institutions and NGOs. The headquarters of Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) was linked to each of its regional offices, and a website was developed. The network has enhanced the Commission's ability to serve as a resource center on human rights and anti-corruption education, and provide a valuable link to the numerous CSOs involved in human rights education at the local level. It has also enabled the Commission to effectively carry out its constitutionally mandated responsibilities of monitoring, reporting, cataloguing and acting on violations of human rights and freedoms, abuse of power, and corruption.
Again, the Electoral Commission's 10 regional offices have been provided with computers and internet connectivity. This has enhanced internal flow of information and communication with other institutions. It has also facilitated the Commission's civic education activities to the rural and urban citizens. USAID also supported the Commission to organize regional public fora in six of the ten regions to enable Ghanaians to openly discuss issues related to possible electoral reform at the district level.
Under the EDDI program, two public places of learning with one serving the needs of the physically challenged have also been established to provide computer training and internet access at affordable cost to individuals and communities. This brings to six the number of public centers the Mission has supported. The earlier four centers had an average monthly patronage of 1,331 internet sessions. At the center in Kumasi, Ghana's second largest city, 208 people including 100 females received computer training, and 3,744 others visited the center to browse the internet and send e-mails.
Democracy and Governance Activities in 2003
USAID expanded activities of local government and civil society and strengthened legislative programs in 2003. At the local level, the GAIT program increased from ten to 20 districts, focusing on the promotion of citizens' participation in local government and transparency in local government administration.
In the legislative program, USAID signed an agreement with Parliament to replicate legislative bills and past laws on CD-ROM. Other activities at the national level included building the capacity of key parliamentary committees such as the Judiciary and Health committees, and facilitating public input into specific legislative bills and instruments.
The Mission also continued to support the country's electoral process towards the 2004 presidential and parliamentary elections. In addition, the Mission assisted the Electoral Commission to re-evaluate the country's legal and institutional framework for district and national elections, and continued to support its Information Technology program to governance institutions and NGOs.
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