STAR-Ghana Foundation has organized a capacity building training on Policy Brief writing for staff. The training sought to educate and equip the targeted staff with the fundamentals of good policy briefs and critical skills for tailoring policy documents to achieve the intended result.
The two-day training focused on understanding the basics of developing good policy briefs. It also highlighted the importance of clearly defining gaps and recommending workable solutions. The meeting noted, that applying the rule of accuracy, brevity and clarity helps to structure writing and focus on the essential action point in a policy brief. Participants were taken through the rudiments and types of policy briefs, how to structure it, how to give it the needed punch and who to influence among other crucial areas of consideration.
Moreso, the content of the presentation triggered questions and conversations bothering on what a more preferred structure for is achieving the intended purpose of the policy brief. Also, concerns over exercising the responsibility of spearheading policy conversations and or using focal persons to champion a course of action were rife among the participants who later sort clarity from the facilitator.
In his opening remarks, Executive Director of the Foundation, Alhaji Amidu Ibrahim-Tanko emphasized the importance of the training to the core functions of the organization. He maintained, for the Foundation to be able to use its work influence change, one of the critical tools it needs is a good policy brief. “This training is fundamental to the success of STAR-Ghana Foundation”, the Executive Director reiterated. According to him, “whether we’re talking about Peace and Security, our work in the North, Girls’ Education, Sustainability of the Civil Society sector, or Youth Development; this issue of how we use the evidence from our work to engage policy makers to influence policy making and implementation is paramount”.
The two-day training facilitated by Dr Dede, also involved practical exercises on summarizing an existing policy brief and redeveloping same with current information. The exercise culminated into a mock presentation to an inhouse panel by the two groups derived from the participants.
The renowned development practitioner, writer, and Policy specialist later tasked the participants to complete their assignments by updating the policy brief.
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GfC Alliance Gathering 2023: Key Takeaways from STAR-Ghana Foundation
By Eunice Racheal Agbyendazi
The Giving for Change (GfC) Alliance gathered in the beautiful Kenyan city of Kisumu in August for its annual gathering.
The annual gathering is an important calendar event. It is the one platform that brings together all eight countries, across Africa, Asia, Southern America, and the Netherlands to exchange experiences in the quest to introduce and embed community philanthropy as a critical approach and tool for sustaining civil society and promoting civic space.
GfC Alliance getting ready for a field trip
This year, 2023, marked the mid-point in the five-year initiative, and so, the gathering was not only to celebrate the progress made but also to reflect, and re-strategize for the next two and a half years.
I and my colleague, Feruzah represented STAR-Ghana Foundation. Join us as we recount our experiences and reflections from the gathering.
We arrived in Kisumu on Sunday, August 20, 2023. We did not feel alone on our journey! We traveled with other participants including Samar from Dalia Association in Palestine, Jonathas from the Comua Network in Brazil, and Sawadago from the ABF, Burkina Faso. Our first reaction as we exited the airport was “What a beautiful city”! It was sunny with a cool breeze. Kisumu in many ways reminded me of my recent trip to the Rwandan capital Kigali. As soon as we sat in the car that picked us up at the airport, the driver asked us to put on our seat belts. He introduced himself after which he listened politely as we introduced ourselves.
Now, to our European friends, it sounds strange to be reminded to wear your seat belts, right? Well, in Ghana, it is not commonplace to have every driver and passenger wear their seat belts although required by law. In fact, for most people, the only motivation to wear seat belts is the presence of the police on the road. Similarly in Kigali, the vehicle would not move until everyone put their seat belts on. Also, the streets looked clean, and because it was a Sunday the roads were quiet. That evening I missed the group trip to the sunset beach where they enjoyed fresh tilapia from the popular Lake Victoria. I later learned that in Kisumu, tilapia is served in two ways-wet tilapia, which comes in tomato sauce and dry tilapia, which is without tomato sauce!
Our host, the Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF), did well by giving us the chance to familiarize with their work. On Monday, we had field trips concurrently to KCDF GfC partners in Kisumu. I went to Nyalenda and Feruzah to the Kisumu Community of Practice (CoP). In Nyalenda, we participated in the Nyalenda Young Turks community dialogue on sexual gender-based violence. The Nyalenda Young Turks is a budding community-based organisation made up of young people in the area who are committed to creating a Nyalenda where girls and women are safe and thriving.
Community dialogue in Nyalenda
Regrettably, I missed a second group trip to the Kisumu Zoo on Monday evening as I tried to catch up with work after resuming from leave.
The Alliance meeting started on Tuesday, by which time everyone had arrived. Upon entering the conference room that morning, I saw fellow participants exchanging pleasantries and I joined.
It is worth noting that the GfC Alliance is not only a group of organizations working together. It is also a community of individuals from all race, age and sex who connect at personal levels and care for each other. It was indeed a pleasure to reconnect with friends from the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF), Wilde Garzen, and the African Philanthropy Network (APN), and to make new connections with others from KCDF, Uganda NGO Forum, and Macai Foundation. I also for the first time interacted with Meryl, a representative of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was attending the partners meeting for the very first time.
From Tuesday through to Friday, we re-engaged on the ethos of Shift The Power and how we are ‘living’ it. This is a usual practice of the Alliance. We always remind ourselves, at least we become ‘preachers and not doers’.
This was followed by presentations of highlights from each of the 8 countries and was an important element as we listened to the GfC story from different angles. We also engaged on the mid-term evaluation. The analysis and findings corroborated country highlights. The findings from the mid-term evaluation both encouraged and challenged us. We received a pat on our backs for growing a critical mass of individuals and communities that are mobilizing support for addressing community challenges and enabling communities to claim their rights from duty bearers. We were also challenged to define and connect strategies across the three domains to better leverage GfC’s contribution to systems change.
Our key takeaways from the 2023 Alliance Meeting
• Build social capital around your work to make an impact. From the community dialogue, it appeared that the Nyalenda Young Turks commands the respect of the community stakeholders. Their work is extremely valued by the stakeholders. In the dialogue, we saw the representation of all the stakeholders that matter in Nyalenda, from the Council, the traditional leader, the University, and local artists to the Health and Education directorates of Nyalenda. There was also a representation from the Courts. From the accounts of the stakeholders, when Nyalenda Young Turks was being formed, they consulted them and asked about the kind of contribution they required of them. The Young Turks also ensured that the stakeholders are assigned specific roles on their projects. Indeed, all the stakeholders as they spoke of their work with the organization, used ‘we’, to indicate their sense of belonging and ownership of the mission of the organization. What does this mean for us? Money is important but it is not the only thing
that matters to achieve social action and change. The goodwill of people to work with you, listen to you, take actions upon your recommendation among others are equally important and those are the values social capital contributes.
• Everyone can solve a problem. How do you start? Identify a gap and start small to fill it. The history of Nyalenda goes to affirm that solutions to community problems are in the community and everyone is capable of solving a problem. The Nyalenda Young Turks was formed at the onset of COVID-19. This was also the period where communities had to learn to do many things for themselves as external funders had paused work. Their motivation was how they could promote young people’s participation in addressing the information gaps on COVID-19 in the communities, whilst laying the foundation for young people themselves to confront one of their greatest challenges-sexual violence and abuse. Young people were recruited as volunteers and trained to become COVID-19 prevention ambassadors and they have maintained this way of working with young people on many other initiatives. Like Nyalenda Young Turks, many community-based organizations are formed out of the need to offer a solution to a problem. What this tells us is that the solutions to development problems are within the communities and not outside them. As social change facilitators, our role is to recognize communities' capabilities and potential and build on them!
• We need others to carry out OUR vision. Nyalenda Young Turks recounts that their partnership with KCDF has enabled them to expand their work and reach more people within their communities. They acknowledge that the support from KCDF, in terms of funding and mentoring has enabled them to capitalize on their social capital to influence the implementation of the Nyalenda Council’s SGBV policy, which is leading to increased reports of violence and abuse, and the need for support for survivors. They also recognized that the guidance from external research has helped them to engage in a more evidence-based influence and share their stories more confidently. What this tells us is that having a vision alone is not enough. It takes ideas and resources from many others to realize it. But it is also important to build good partnerships that enable you to stay true to that vision.
Participants in a dance
All work and no fun they say is counterproductive. It was not only about work. We also learned about self-care and the need to take care of ourselves while contributing our efforts to change the world. Lately, self-care and personal well-being have become part of the agenda for meetings, including sessions on them. Ensuring self-care is crucial for maintaining physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Here are some self-care tips you should try;
• Establish clear boundaries between work and personal life,
• Set realistic goals.
• Define specific work hours and avoid checking emails or taking work-related calls outside of those times,
• Learn to say no sometimes to additional work.
• Maintain strong relationships with friends and family members who can provide emotional support and companionship,
• Regularly disconnect from electronic devices and screens to avoid overexposure and give your eyes and mind a break.
• Learn to know when to ask for help! some strategies to help you prioritize self-care!
‘Vulnerable groups key to achieve sustainable development’
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Development Studies (UDS), Prof. Seidu Al-Hasaan, has said that no persons should be excluded in the quest to achieve sustainable development because of their vulnerability.
He said that the vulnerable such as persons with disabilities, the aged, women, and children among others, all form part of the society and so, it was important to mobilise all of them to be part of the development process.
“We must recognise that our own society, country, is vulnerable because it is exposed to so many risks such as economic crisis, global wars, internal wranglings and conflicts. We must develop very robust systems to withstand such shocks while ensuring that we don’t leave anyone behind because of their vulnerabilities,” he said during an engagement with some civil society organisations (CSOs) in Tamale in the northern region.
Speaking on the principles of active citizenship (AC) to achieve sustainable development, he said that AC required that citizens get involved in their communities and democracy at all levels.
Some participants in the launch
He cited awareness of vulnerabilities, good organisation and innovation as some of the tenets of AC for sustainable development.
“How best are we organizing ourselves as a country in ensuring law and order to ensure the resources that we have we manage them efficiently? Innovation is the only way that can put us on the path of sustainable development”.
“What I see in an active citizen is patriotism, nation building, protection of state property, discipline, obedience, honesty, reliability, and selflessness,” he outlined.
Tamale launch
The engagement formed part of activities to mark the 5th anniversary of STAR-Ghana Foundation, a national centre for promoting active citizenship and local philanthropy for sustainable development.
The Foundation was set up as part of efforts to find a space, and a mechanism that will enable a better coordination of development efforts, and to ask the fundamental questions about the state of affairs.
Again, it was to find a space that will help hold the hands of very young organisations and support them to grow to take their places.
Read more: STAR-Ghana Foundation Active Citizenship Strategy launched
One of such spaces over the years is the Northern Development Forum, that looked at civil society coordination.
The Executive Director of the Foundation, Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, explained that Northern Ghana epitomizes the rationale for setting up the Foundation, with majority of the partners and organisations the Foundation has worked with are based in Northern Ghana.
“The second major active citizenship lecture took place in Tamale, which showed the centrality of northern Ghana in the whole set up of the foundation. It was Northern Ghana that informed the need to have a Foundation that will nurture civil society, help to promote active citizenship, and help to promote inclusive development,” he recalled.
Alhaji Amidu said although five years is a relatively short time looking at the development challenges facing the country.
Therefore, the engagement with partners is to reflect and account on the journey so far.
“The kind of transition of the STAR-Ghana Programme into a Foundation is unique. To take something that was established by donors and turn it into a Ghanaian-owned and a Ghanaian-led entity focusing on national issues.”
“There are three of such in Africa, and so it requires that at every stage, we should pause to reflect,” he said.
Read more: STAR Ghana Foundation calls for active citizenship
On his part, the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu, expressed gratitude to the Foundation for the support and collaboration that have helped build the capacity of the Regional Security and Peace Council, promoting peace and tranquility in the region.
The Board Chairman of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), Dr. Sulemana Abdulai, said the work of the Foundation has helped strengthen the capacity of parliamentarians and other policy makers.
“We should not see the Foundation as a source of funding but as a partner in promoting responsible citizenship for national development,” he said.
STAR-Ghana Foundation at 5 - Commits to deepening work around rights to services, strengthening of civil society, peace, security, inclusive and accountable governance.
Somewhere in Ghana, a country known for its vibrant democracy, culture and rich history, a Foundation was birthed out of the STAR Ghana Programme.
Driven by the vehicle of Convening inclusive dialogues, catalysing active citizenship, Coordinating, and supporting strategic partnerships and Learning, STAR-Ghana Foundation continues to work diligently in supporting civil society to engage with government and drive forward a development agenda that leaves no one behind through Local Philanthropy and Active Citizenship for meaningful change.
Staff of the Foundation during the launch
For Five years, the Foundation has been making significant difference in shaping national policy and promote development in education, rights, and security, among other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
On Tuesday 22nd August, STAR-Ghana Foundation launched a series of activities to commemorate its fifth anniversary at a ceremony in Accra. The anniversary is being celebrated on the theme; “5 years of Promoting Active Citizenship and Local Philanthropy for Inclusive Development.”
Members of the Governing Council of the Foundation, subscribers, partners, the media, and stakeholders turned out for the 5th anniversary launch.
Dr. Esther Ofei-Aboagye, Chair of the Governing Council
Convinced that it has made progress in establishing itself as a viable organisation and relevant player in the Ghanaian civil society space within five years, STAR-Ghana Foundation is therefore positioning itself to strengthen work around four thematic areas which are rights to services, strengthening of civil society, peace and security, as well as inclusive and accountable governance.
The organisation transitioned into a Foundation in November 2018, from a 10-year multi-donor funded STAR Ghana Programme, which focused on the strengthening of Parliament and civil society for increased transparency, accountability, and responsiveness in governance at local and national levels.
Activities lined up to mark the 5th anniversary from now to November 2023, include media engagements, a mini launch in Tamale in the Northern region, a speaker’s breakfast forum, a stakeholder dialogue, the launch of a volunteerism programme and a soiree. The anniversary celebration will be climaxed with an annual general meeting.
Beth Cadman (left), Development Director, FCDO and Kathleen Addy, Chairperson, NCCE
Launch
Speaking at the launch in Accra, the Executive Director of STAR-Ghana Foundation, Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, said the significance of the milestone lies in the lessons the Foundation’s journey holds for the strengthening and sustainability of the civil society sector in Ghana in particular, and Africa in general given that its transition is the first of its kind in Ghana and the 3rd in Anglophone Africa.
He noted that the Foundation’s response to issues such as poverty, exclusion, civic space threats and climate emergency which have shaped the journey persist and give a sense of the work that needs to be done.
“We are coordinating the northern Ghana security forum that brings together the regional coordinating council, the communities, the traditional authorities. The second is that the Foundation is a centre for active citizenship, so, we have started promoting volunteerism. Currently, we are working to enable people who want to volunteer to support community groups. We are also going to provide support to civil society organisations who want to launch volunteerism initiatives at the level so that citizens get connected to the spirit of volunteerism that gave us our independence,” he said.
He added, “We are also looking at local philanthropy and how we can support communities to generate the resources that they need for their development.”
Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, Executive Director, STAR-Ghana Foundation
Deepening collaboration
In a statement, the Chairperson of the Governing Council of the Foundation, Dr. Esther Ofei- Aboagye, said the Foundation remains committed in ensuring Ghana achieves democratic, inclusive, and sustainable society considering the sub-regional tensions.
She said that in pursuit of its three C’s and L mantra, namely as a convener, catalyst, and coordinator of actions towards systemic and transformational change, the Foundation sees the need to explore wherever it can build winning coalitions to foster the systemic shifts that are necessary to build the Ghana expected.
“Fortunately, some of the new assistance we are getting may allow us to venture in these directions and broaden our perspectives on systems change approaches. We have undertaken an institutional review and strengthening exercise, with a view to charting the course for the way into the future and embodying this in our new Strategic Plan for 2024 to 2029,” she said.
Dr. Ofei-Aboagye encouraged citizens to actively take interest in ensuring improvement in social, economic and governance architecture of the country.
She said the Foundation has found new partners and strengthened old relationships going forward.
Some dignitaries at the launch
“The Foundation will continue to work and collaborate with key government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and independent institutes like Parliament, National Council for Civic Education (NCCE), the Electoral Commission (EC), and Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and donor partners.
She reiterated the need to have stronger civil society organisations and well-informed citizens as the sub-region faces political instability.
Prof. Akilagpa Sawyerr, a subscriber of the Foundation, urged the Foundation not to rest on its oars in developing the country.
The renowned academic said the Foundation was formed based on the idea and process of developing the country and urged them to continue their commitment to tackling evolving socio-economic concerns that plague Ghana’s developmental agenda.
The Development Director at the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), Beth Cadman, highlighted ongoing challenges in Ghana including concerns about civil society contraction and corruption control.
She encouraged STAR-Ghana Foundation to continue its efforts to address these issues.
“As you celebrate the incredible achievements you are right to look to the future. You have built the platform upon which you continue to help civil society not only survive but thrive.
“You have created a network of contacts that allow you to contribute a national debate on building a stronger Ghana. You have developed a strong and enduring model that will continue for five years and beyond,” she said.