The recent approval of the highest-ever allocation from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to basic education by Parliament signals a significant advancement in educational investment under the current government. The allocation of GH₵800 million, representing 20 percent of the total GETFund formula for 2024, marks a substantial increase from the 12 percent allocated in 2023, highlighting the government's heightened recognition of the pressing need for infrastructure development at the basic education level.
A breakdown shows GH₵370 million for new and ongoing basic school projects, GH₵270 million for procurement, and GH₵100 million for furniture, underscoring a comprehensive approach towards addressing the challenges faced by the basic education sector. This progress is a significant step forward, following years of advocacy efforts led by STAR-Ghana Foundation through its partnership with Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), and collaborations with civil society organizations (CSOs), including the Ghana National Education Campaign (GNECC), CSOs Platform on SDGs and Africa Education Watch.
The Foundation in an appreciation letter to parliament expressed gratitude to Chairman and members of the Education Committee for their “unwavering support to equitable and quality access to education”.
A critical aspect of STAR-Ghana Foundation's engagement involved fruitful interactions with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education and consistent dialogue with the Minister of Education, ensuring that the voices of stakeholders were heard and considered in the decision-making process. This collaborative approach facilitated productive discussions, which ultimately led to the approval of this historic allocation for basic education.
The prioritization of investment in basic education aligns with Ghana's commitment to achieving equitable access and improving learning outcomes for all children. Despite the progress made, challenges persist, as evidenced by the 2021 National Standardized Test Results revealing deficiencies in English and Mathematics proficiency among Primary Four (P4) students. These challenges underscore the urgent need for sustained investment in infrastructure and teaching materials at the basic level, a sentiment echoed by CSOs working in the education sector.
Moving forward, continued advocacy efforts and collaboration between stakeholders, including government agencies and CSOs, will be crucial in ensuring the effective utilization of allocated funds and driving meaningful progress in improving educational outcomes for Ghana's children.
Related projects
Stakeholders push for more investments to improve girl’s education
Speakers at a STAR-Ghana Foundation forum have called for increased investments in education to improve access to education for all.
The call is coming on the back of concerns that poverty and cost-related (hidden) challenges remain foremost on the list of barriers that confront girls’ continuous access to education.
Therefore, the unique needs of girls should be factored into education financing to enable girls to enroll, remain and complete their education.
The forum was held under the theme ‘Increasing Inclusive Access to Continuous Quality Education for Girls.”
In a scoping review of the challenges to girls’ education, Projects Manager at STAR-Ghana Foundation, Dr Ernestina Tetteh, cited as an example, the public outcry over prospectus for senior high school (SHS) education indicates that the Free SHS policy is not as inclusive as purposed to be.
“If accompanying FSHS is an estimated cost of GH₵3000 to GH₵4000 to buy prospectus then some people will still be left out. So, those costs that we see behind ‘free’ does not make it inclusive and ensure that girls also have access to, remain and complete education,” she said.
According to Dr Tetteh, there is low budgetary allocation for specific interventions that benefit girls’ education.
For instance, until the year 2020, complementary basic education, an important strategy in reducing the growing number of ‘out of school children’ especially girls, was solely donor funded. In the 2023 budget, an allocation of GH₵2.1 million has been made for complimentary education, while the Ministry of Education’s Strategic Plan 2018-2030 commits only 1 percent (%) of its Basic Education Budget to supporting Complementary Basic Education programme.
Budget execution
The Executive Director, Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, noted the financing architecture of Ghana’s education system does not prioritise basic education but secondary education.
This, he said gives girls at the secondary level more support to remain in school and complete than at the basic level.
“If you look at the envelope of the Ministry of Education, there is compensation (salaries), and discretionary budget that is unrestricted and could be touched. An analysis of the education budget shows that only about five per cent (5%) of the discretionary budget comes to basic education, it was previously 19 percent, and it has been coming down yearly.”
He added that the way public resources are deployed to finance education determines the extent to which the delivery of education will be possible and will include the needs of the vulnerable.
“Until we can pursue government to prioritise gender-responsive budgeting, we will talk and talk and will not see any improvement,” he said.
The Head of Programmes at STAR-Ghana Foundation, Eunice Racheal Agbenyadzi, beyond advocating for increased budget allocation, civil society should also be interested in actual disbursement, which has shown to be poor (more than 10% variance between allocated and disbursed).
“We need collective influencing on education budget to see increases in the areas of capital expenditure, and goods and services, but also to follow disbursements. We need stronger coalition as civil society to demand this,” she said.
The forum
The forum was organised by STAR-Ghana Foundation and partners under the Gender Rights and Empowerment Programme (G-REP) with funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK government.
The FCDO on G-REP seeks to contribute to increasing girls’ education, promoting women’s voices, political participation and addressing issues of violence and abuse against women and girls.
Fact sheet
Situation of girls’ education in Ghana
- Ghana has reached gender parity in enrolment, but regional disparities exist, particularly as junior and secondary high levels.
- Girls are still underrepresented in some subjects particularly Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
- Water, sanitation and hygiene related challenges are still persistent
- Girls in school pregnancy causing drop-out among girls is still high
- High number of out of schoolgirls (289,456) ActionAid (2020); 244,731 girls aged 6-14 (GSS 2022)
- Lack of gender disaggregated education data poses a challenge for adequate planning towards the promotion of girls’ education.
Parliament’s Committee on Education pledges more engagement
Parliament’s Select Committee on Education has pledged to engage the Ministry of Education to convene a national conversation on education delivery as one of the ways of enhancing space for citizen-state dialogues on issues of importance to citizens.
This follows a strategic dialogue held between CSOs and the Education Committee of Parliament. The meeting, convened by STAR-Ghana Foundation brought together CSOs including the African Education Watch, Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition, International Child Development Programme, and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, to dialogue with Parliament’s Select Committee on Education on key issues in basic education. The meeting discussed “Memorandum of Issues in the Basic Education Sector” put together by the Foundation and and its partners.
In his opening remarks, Executive Director of STAR-Ghana Foundation, Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, acknowledged parliament’s work with the Foundation, stressing the importance of the relationship between the two.
“For us, your presence is a testimony of the importance you attach to working with us, which is to help improve the quality of education and make it accessible to all students of this country, regardless of your social status” he said.
He added, “We believe that strengthening the nexus between civil society, Parliament, and duty bearers is critical to any improvement in the country.”
According to him, STAR-Ghana Foundation, has previously under the program supported and worked with Parliament around strengthening the oversight responsibility of the house to ensure its effectiveness as well as brokering the relationship between Parliament and civil society.
He added that the Foundation’s work with Parliament has been narrowed down to three committees, namely the Education Committee, Health Committee and Gender Committee. Ibrahim-Tanko argued that critical to any nation’s development are the issues of quality health, education, and the empowerment of those who are disadvantaged.
On behalf of Civil Society, Head of Programmes for STAR-Ghana Foundation, Eunice Racheal Agbenyadzi, presented the “Memorandum of Issues in the Basic Education Sector” put together by the Foundation and and its partners (Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition).
She commended the committee for its work on the issue of textbooks for the new curriculum, arrears on school feeding and feeding grants for special schools, education financing in the medium-term expenditure framework.
Her presentation focused on key issues in the memorandum that led the meeting to deliberate on the other issues and proffer recommendations on how the committee can collaborate with civil society to find solutions.
For his part, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, reiterated the share decline in the rate of discretionary financial allocations to basic education compared to that of the senior high school allocations.
The poor financing of basic education has adverse effect on the management of teaching and learning, contributing to the poor learning outcomes recorded in the public basic school.
The Committee emphasized the need for targeted data on out-of-school children to supplement civil society information. This data will serve as a basis to hold duty bearers accountable and inform policy decisions to address access gaps.
Vincent Assafoah, a member of the Committee, said although government expressed commitment to introduce a systematic decision-making process for grant allocation increments, clarity is needed on the frequency of these increments and whether they can be indexed to inflation.
Concerns were raised regarding the allocation of resources, particularly in providing laptops over essential needs like desks. Suggestions were made to redirect funds towards critical areas such as textbooks provision and teacher accommodation.
The Committee and CSOs resolved to collaborate to influence the Ministry of Education to adopt a user policy/manual for education assets acquired by the government for learners/schools to ensure stewardship.
CSSF Partners inception meeting - Shifting the Power for collective impact
Since last year, STAR-Ghana Foundation and the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) have been implementing an eight-year Civil Society Strengthening Programme – Shifting the Power (CSSP – #StP) which seeks to enhance the effectiveness, responsiveness, and resilience of Civil Society Actors (CSAs).
With funding from Comic Relief and the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), there are three main grant components under the CSSP-#StP): the Catalyst fund, Civil Society Strengthening Fund (CSSF) and Resource Matching fund.
The CSSF aims to partner civil society organisations (CSOs) and movements for the implementation of their strategic directions and missions through flexible and restricted funding.
Ultimately, the CSSF is hinged on the sustainability of partner organisations.
An inception meeting to discuss in detail the CSSP/StP, aim of the CSSF and expectations of the partnership ahead of a contractual agreement with partners was held in Kumasi from 27th to 28th February 2024.
It provided space for STAR-Ghana and WACSI to interact and build relationships with the CSSF partners, and foster peer connection among them.
A central theme of the meeting was the concept of ‘Shift the Power’ which resonated deeply with all participants.
Facilitated conversations centred on practical strategies for operationalizing the StP philosophy within the organisations and collaborations.
Read more: https://www.gbcghanaonline.com/news/civil-society-strengthening-programme-launched/2023/
Unequal aid architecture
Speaking at the meeting, the Head of Programmes at STAR-Ghana, Eunice R. Agbenyadzi, noted that the work of most CSOs is heavily dependent on external funding sources, with those locally funded in the minority.
Thus, affecting the flexibility of CSOs to undertake initiatives that are truly in sync with their mandate.
“So, there are shifting priorities because we are funded by donors. We go where the money is. When donors withdraw, our work crumbles. So, dependency affects our ability to stay true to our mandate, and our sustainability. That is what the CSSF programme seeks to address.”
Again, she said that civil society in the global south is under resourced in terms of its ability to attract long-term financing and is getting weaker because it is financially starved. Also, the percentage of core funding as part of grant making has dropped, and a lot of support civil society receives is project-based funding.
“Organisations are not being funded to build themselves and their systems to be able to continue implementing projects. Only seven percent of the fund dedicated to civil society support from Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries reach CSOs in the global south. A lot of that money is sitting with International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs). That is why Shift the Power has become a global slogan at the talk of humanitarian and aid financing.”
According to Eunice, the whole aid architecture; the distribution, the decision around who gets money for what, is unequal.
Read more: https://www.star-ghana.org/latest-news/609-in-search-of-shift-the-power-red-nose-day
Why Shift the Power
Eunice explained the CSSP comes under the umbrella of ‘Shifting the Power’ with a key task to move money directly to global south CSOs.
The programme, she said, is designed to address some main gaps in how civil society is being supported.
“There is focus on capacity and sustainability of local organisations. That is why we have not asked for project ideas but for strategic plans. A key part of the work we will do is on financial sustainability and not only social sustainability (how organisations are valued by their communities and constituents).”
“The way civil society is funded can have constraints on its capacity and ability. So, we will work with organisations to diversify their income sources to reduce the over reliance on donor funding,” she added.
CSO collaboration
Reflecting on the need to find mechanisms that can incentivise collaboration among CSOs to ensure that they make a sustainable impact on the problems that communities face, Ibrahim-Tanko Amidu, Executive Director of STAR-Ghana Foundation, said, “Competitive calls do not incentivise collaboration. There are silos of projects due to limitations with project calls that are focused on thematic areas that force organisations to specialise in areas where there is money or funding.”
“Grant-making organisations hardly do institutional funding calls with 99 percent of calls put out focused on targeted projects.
“So, moving away from providing core funding did a lot of damage to civil society. They were not responsive and lost a bit of their rootedness that make them able to intervene or interact on issues.”
“Donors and the mechanism through which they provide support begins to drive the agenda of what civil society should be doing. We forget that to achieve those thematic results we need an organisation that is sustainable, effective, efficient, and is rooted in the community.”
Alhaji Tanko urged all stakeholders in the development sector to move away from top-down approaches and put communities and social groups they serve at the centre of all that they do.
“We need to co-create with them, co-implement with them and be mutually accountable to each other. We need to pay equal attention to the vehicles (organisations) that we are going to use to achieve results -organisational strengthening is as important as the results we seek to achieve in the thematic areas.”
Watch more: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1976673826023964
The meeting
Through collaborative exercises, partners conveyed a collective vision for a more just and equitable society. Themes of resilience, sustainability, and financial sustainability emerged as guiding principles underscoring their shared commitment to advancing social justice and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities.
Watch more: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3618359848431877
Fact sheet
- 26 out of about 120 applicants were selected when the call for proposals in relation to the CSSF.
- The fund seeks to support organisations in the implementation of their strategic direction and mission.
- This support will prioritise organisations whose strategic objectives and thematic areas of focus align with the CSSP-#StP prioritized sectors: access to services (health and education); Gender justice; Climate change and livelihoods; and Enabling Peace and Security.
- It will also support organisational strengthening.