A three (3) day workshop on Social Inclusion (SI) has been held for the STAR-Ghana Programme Management Team (PMT) in Accra. The purpose of the workshop was to increase the understanding, confidence and effectiveness in SI programming among the PMT.

In August 2017, STAR-Ghana conducted a Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) audit in which the operationalization of the principle of ‘GESI at the heart of STAR-Ghana’ was critiqued. Generally, while there was considerable evidence in support of STAR-Ghana’s advancement of GESI in the different arms, a few pointers were highlighted for improvement.

At a PMT validation meeting, some recommendations were made. Key among them was the need to clarify STAR-Ghana’s expectations of staff in relation to GESI and supporting them to meet same. To ensure that the PMT understand and implement these effectively, a Social Inclusion (SI) Tool Kit was developed with support from Social Development Direct (SDD), a consortium partner of the STAR-Ghana Programme.

The PMT reviewed the SI Tool Kit and among others shared practical, easy-to use tools for SI, and practised the embedding of GESI in different work streams within the STAR-Ghana programme. The Team was privileged to have Mr Alex Bankole Williams of the University of Ghana Assistive Tecnology Lab, and Member of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD). Mr Williams highlighted key protocols that need to be observed in programming to achieve optimum inclusion.

Participants at the event included the STAR-Ghana PMT, a representative of SDD and Staff of Christian Aid Ghana Country office.