STAR-Ghana Foundation with support from WACSI, in July, organized an Agenda Setting Workshop. This was a two-day workshop held in Tamale from the 22-23 July for the Northern zone Communities of Practice (CoP) made up of 10 organizations, and in Koforidua from 27-28 July for the southern zone communities of practice made up of 12 organizations. The workshop was a platform to bring together CoPs to build relationships and a collective understanding on expectations under the Giving for Change Project.
STAR Ghana Foundation is implementing the Giving for Change Project over a five-year period with funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Giving for Change(GFC) project seeks to promote domestic resources mobilisation and philanthropy as a strategy for increasing local ownership of community development priorities and influencing civic action for inclusive development. The project is anchored on the recognition of the importance of domestic resources in increasing local ownership, unlocking agency, and strengthening communities' ability to claim entitlements from different actors, especially government.
The objective of the workshop was to co-create the learning agenda for CoP, strengthen relationships among members and develop a plan of action.
The CoP meeting provided a platform for participants to clarify expectations with regards to the tone set for the worksop.
The programs manager Eunice Agbenyadzi shared the objectives of the workshop, highlighting its importance by jointly defining what and how to buold community ownership and investment for sustainable social change and development. She indicated the need to view the communities as agents of change rather than beneficiaries. This would change the savior narrative and promote the inclusion of communities. Nonetheless, more work needs to be done on how we as development organizations communicate our work and how the communities buy-in and understand our work. This project should enable us look within and channel our resources towards development.
| Activities | Timelines |
|
Hold awareness/sensitization forum/events on local philanthropy (including media engagements and campaigns) |
September 2021 - July 2022 |
| Reflective meetings (Quarterly and Monthly in-person and virtual learning and sharing meetings) | August 2021 - July 2022 |
| Capacity building for CoPs in local resource mobilization, giving, philanthropy, networking and coalition building, Crowd Funding and Charity polices | August 2021 - January 2022 |
| Conduct monitoring and evaluation | August 2021 - July 2022 |
List Of Communities of Practice Member Organization
| Northern CoP | Southern CoP |
| CDA Ghana | Ark Development Organisation |
| PCBR-GARU | Voice Ghana |
| MORIGIT Women Foundation | CEWEFIA |
| Songtaba | Multimedia |
| YEFL | CELDAR |
| My hereafter project | ICDP |
| YOUDRIC | Kekeli Foundation |
| Tim/TAAG Africa | Socioserve |
| Girls shall Grow | The Light Foundation |
| COMI | Coastal TV |
| Ghana Philanthropy Forum | |
| Penplusbytes |
