This study examines the conditions that enable civil society organizations (CSOs) to influence po... more This study examines the conditions that enable civil society organizations (CSOs) to influence political parties during election campaigns. Drawing on desk reviews and the experiences of CSOs during the 2012 elections in Ghana and Sierra Leone, the study found that, for CSOs to have their demands incorporated into party programmes, qualities such as political neutrality, evidence-based data gathering, and consistency in judgments are critical. Furthermore, applying methods such as lobbying and strategic use of media were found to be very effective in engaging political actors. The study recommends that CSOs should be innovative in their strategies with political parties, in order to inject fresh momentum in the way political parties respond to CSOs
A preeminent feature of the post 1990 World is the role been played by Nongovernmental Organizati... more A preeminent feature of the post 1990 World is the role been played by Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) in the emerging global public space. NGOs have become very important actors on the global scene; contributing to, and sometimes determining the form and content of global public policy. Indeed, ala globalization, they are today able to provide institutional infrastructure, knowledge, and material resources for citizens to engage local governments and global policy-making institutions. This role of NGOs in the global public space has not only redefined the matrix of global governance institutions, but also of the ideas of global citizenship. What has accounted for the rise in the role of NGOs in the global public space? How have /are they contributing to refining global public policies? And what are the emerging institutional challenges facing the NGO sector? It is these questions that are reflected upon in this study. INTRODUCTION. A growing significant feature of today's global politics and governance, is the preeminent role played by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO). These organizations have today
Despite series of reforms designed to improve the basic education system in Ghana, the quality of... more Despite series of reforms designed to improve the basic education system in Ghana, the quality of education remains low. This chapter uses a political settlement analysis to explore why this is the case. Focusing on the issue of teacher accountability and performance, we argue that a key reform—decentralization—remains a highly contested process. The current system generates insufficient incentives for effective forms of policy implementation and accountability to emerge at scale. The evidence suggest that improving educational quality depends on reform-minded coalitions made up of state and non-state actors, and a stable political settlement at the district level. We conclude that where good practice is experienced, it is as a result of efforts by these coalitions to devise and enforce local-level solutions to local problems.
In Ghana in the wake of government shortfalls, civil society has played a strong role in financin... more In Ghana in the wake of government shortfalls, civil society has played a strong role in financing, researching and designing processes and projects for service delivery, unlike many of its African peers. This case study explores the role of civil society tools in showcasing sanitation services at district level, including the I Am Aware initiative (IAA) and the more synthesised District League Table (DLT), promoted through an NGO, the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana). The latter is a tool that provides an overall assessment of social development, ranking all districts across the country. The chapter examines how different stakeholders have used the DLT as evidence for enhancing performance in the sanitation sector. It highlights strengthened evidence use in assessing sanitation performance at the local level: citizens putting pressure on district assemblies for improving performance in sanitation; strengthening avenues for citizen-level engagement, creating a source of pressure at district level; civil society using the evidence for their own project planning; and motivating district assemblies to improve performance.
Background: This article shares lessons from four case studies, documenting experiences of eviden... more Background: This article shares lessons from four case studies, documenting experiences of evidence use in different public policies in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).Objectives: Most literature on evidence use in Africa focuses either on one form of evidence, that is, evaluations, systematic reviews or on the systems governments develop to support evidence use. However, the use of evidence in policy is complex and requires systems, processes, tools and information to flow between different stakeholders. In this article, we demonstrate how relationships between knowledge generators and users were built and maintained in the case studies, and how these relationships were critical for evidence use.Method: The case studies were amongst eight case studies carried out for the book entitled ‘Using Evidence in Policy and Practice: Lessons from Africa’. Ethnographic case studies drawn from both secondary and primary research, including ...
For the past two decades, Ghana has been undergoing democratic transformation – a kind which is r... more For the past two decades, Ghana has been undergoing democratic transformation – a kind which is restoring her earlier immediate post independence promise. This study, from a historical institutionalist perspective, examines the quality of this recent democratic transformation which has been observed in Ghana in the period between 1993 and 2008. The study sought answers to the following questions: have consolidating multi-party democracy answered Ghana’s search for governance that enables the state to foster development? What are the continuing challenges to governance and development in Ghana? And lastly, is Ghana an emerging democratic developmental state in the African sub-region? The study finds that, in spite of the notable challenging deficits in her democratic development: Ghana has made encouraging, considerable progress in democratization. This progress the study finds engendered a governance framework which enabled the state to make encouraging progress in fostering economi...
The transition to democracy in Ghana marked a struggle to consolidate a democratic political fram... more The transition to democracy in Ghana marked a struggle to consolidate a democratic political framework that will deepen democratic governance as the basis for enhancing sustainable economic growth and human development. Against this background, this paper examines the extent to which, Ghana’s democratic governments have responded to the challenges of economic policy reform, economic growth, and sustainable development in an environment of continuing economic and social challenges. This paper’s principal contention is that, in spite of the continuing economic policy reform and development challenges in Ghana: the restoration of multi-party democracy has enhanced governance that has fostered improve economic policy management; resulting in recent steady, encouraging economic growth that has enabled the state to leverage progress in poverty reduction and human development. In short, under improve democratic governance, Ghana has shown encouraging rate of growth and development.
Collaborative methodologies cannot only strengthen the rigor of political science research; they ... more Collaborative methodologies cannot only strengthen the rigor of political science research; they also can offer the possibility of decolonizing knowledge production. Historically, research conducted byWestern researchers in Africa and many regions of the Global South has perpetuated neocolonial power dynamics and reaffirmed inequalities (Ndlovu-Gatsheni 2018; Zeleza 2009). Often supported by substantial grants, political scientists from the Global North frequently arrived with the entire project specified, or even publicly preregistered, and solicited help from local translators or enumerators to accelerate the “extraction of data” from local respondents or subjects. Many of the dominant methodologies in political science elevate researchers to a position of great power and control as compared to the “researched” (MacLean 2013; Riley, Schouten, and Cahill 2003). In contrast, collaborative methodologies are premised on greater involvement of local scholars and participants in amore inductive and iterative approach to research (Yom 2015). Drawing on a recent project, this article analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of our collaborative methodology. We explain how including a broader range of perspectives from scholars and citizens of the Global South improved the case selection and strengthened the conceptualization and measurement of key concepts. In addition to enhancing critical aspects of research design, collaborative methodologies enabled us to begin to decolonize knowledge production. However, we also reveal multiple structural barriers that limit the realization of decolonization. In the following sections, we explore the concept of collaboration in research methodology and describe how we applied this approach. We then show how including diverse perspectives enabled us to develop a theoretically rigorous, feasible, and ethical selection of communities and focus group participants. Next, we demonstrate how integrating insights from study participants fostered a more nuanced understanding of the local salience of “climate change” and a revised conceptualization of political participation. We then examine both the potential of and the limits to decolonization, offering strategies to overcome the obstacles. We conclude with a commitment to expanding collaborative initiatives well beyond the Global South.
This paper is intended to act as a conceptual bridge between the historical treatment of politics... more This paper is intended to act as a conceptual bridge between the historical treatment of politics and development in Ghana (see CDD-Ghana, 2013a) and ESID's forthcoming primary investigations into the politics of particular sectors (e.g. education, oil) and domains (e.g. gender relations, spatial inequality). A Dynamic Mapping of the Political Settlement in Ghana 2 This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Aid from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. However, the views expressed and information contained in it are not necessarily those of or endorsed by DFID, which can accept no responsibility for such views or information or for any reliance placed on them.
Despite a series of reforms designed to improve the education system in Ghana, the quality of edu... more Despite a series of reforms designed to improve the education system in Ghana, the quality of education remains low. This paper uses a political settlements analysis to explore why this is the case. Focusing on the issue of teacher accountability and performance, we argue that a key reform-decentralisation-remains a highly contested process. The current system generates insufficient incentives, from either a top-down or bottom-up direction, for effective forms of policy implementation and accountability to emerge at scale. In practice, educational quality differs significantly between districts. An explanation for the variation observed is the significant negative impact that intense party political competition can have in reducing the capacity of local actors to cooperate and to facilitate difficult reforms. The evidence suggests that improving educational quality depends on reform-minded coalitions made up of state and non-state actors at both district and school levels, and a stable political settlement at the district level. We conclude that where good practice is observed, it is as a result of efforts by these coalitions to devise and enforce local-level solutions to local problems.
In this policy brief, we examine the impact of the quality of democratic governance on inclusive ... more In this policy brief, we examine the impact of the quality of democratic governance on inclusive development outcomes in Ghana. The research question that informs this study is: what forms of democratic politics and bureaucratic capacity are conducive to producing pro-poor inclusive developmental outcomes? We suggest in this paper that Ghana has managed to institutionalize democracy and an improved governance that has fostered sustained positive economic growth. However, while the country has addressed poverty and emerging social vulnerabilities, through economic growth and social protection policies and programmes, institutional and bureaucratic challenges still remain in the governance of the emerging pro-poor inclusive development agenda.
This study examines the conditions that enable civil society organizations (CSOs) to influence po... more This study examines the conditions that enable civil society organizations (CSOs) to influence political parties during election campaigns. Drawing on desk reviews and the experiences of CSOs during the 2012 elections in Ghana and Sierra Leone, the study found that, for CSOs to have their demands incorporated into party programmes, qualities such as political neutrality, evidence-based data gathering, and consistency in judgments are critical. Furthermore, applying methods such as lobbying and strategic use of media were found to be very effective in engaging political actors. The study recommends that CSOs should be innovative in their strategies with political parties, in order to inject fresh momentum in the way political parties respond to CSOs
A preeminent feature of the post 1990 World is the role been played by Nongovernmental Organizati... more A preeminent feature of the post 1990 World is the role been played by Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) in the emerging global public space. NGOs have become very important actors on the global scene; contributing to, and sometimes determining the form and content of global public policy. Indeed, ala globalization, they are today able to provide institutional infrastructure, knowledge, and material resources for citizens to engage local governments and global policy-making institutions. This role of NGOs in the global public space has not only redefined the matrix of global governance institutions, but also of the ideas of global citizenship. What has accounted for the rise in the role of NGOs in the global public space? How have /are they contributing to refining global public policies? And what are the emerging institutional challenges facing the NGO sector? It is these questions that are reflected upon in this study. INTRODUCTION. A growing significant feature of today's global politics and governance, is the preeminent role played by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO). These organizations have today
Despite series of reforms designed to improve the basic education system in Ghana, the quality of... more Despite series of reforms designed to improve the basic education system in Ghana, the quality of education remains low. This chapter uses a political settlement analysis to explore why this is the case. Focusing on the issue of teacher accountability and performance, we argue that a key reform—decentralization—remains a highly contested process. The current system generates insufficient incentives for effective forms of policy implementation and accountability to emerge at scale. The evidence suggest that improving educational quality depends on reform-minded coalitions made up of state and non-state actors, and a stable political settlement at the district level. We conclude that where good practice is experienced, it is as a result of efforts by these coalitions to devise and enforce local-level solutions to local problems.
In Ghana in the wake of government shortfalls, civil society has played a strong role in financin... more In Ghana in the wake of government shortfalls, civil society has played a strong role in financing, researching and designing processes and projects for service delivery, unlike many of its African peers. This case study explores the role of civil society tools in showcasing sanitation services at district level, including the I Am Aware initiative (IAA) and the more synthesised District League Table (DLT), promoted through an NGO, the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana). The latter is a tool that provides an overall assessment of social development, ranking all districts across the country. The chapter examines how different stakeholders have used the DLT as evidence for enhancing performance in the sanitation sector. It highlights strengthened evidence use in assessing sanitation performance at the local level: citizens putting pressure on district assemblies for improving performance in sanitation; strengthening avenues for citizen-level engagement, creating a source of pressure at district level; civil society using the evidence for their own project planning; and motivating district assemblies to improve performance.
Background: This article shares lessons from four case studies, documenting experiences of eviden... more Background: This article shares lessons from four case studies, documenting experiences of evidence use in different public policies in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).Objectives: Most literature on evidence use in Africa focuses either on one form of evidence, that is, evaluations, systematic reviews or on the systems governments develop to support evidence use. However, the use of evidence in policy is complex and requires systems, processes, tools and information to flow between different stakeholders. In this article, we demonstrate how relationships between knowledge generators and users were built and maintained in the case studies, and how these relationships were critical for evidence use.Method: The case studies were amongst eight case studies carried out for the book entitled ‘Using Evidence in Policy and Practice: Lessons from Africa’. Ethnographic case studies drawn from both secondary and primary research, including ...
For the past two decades, Ghana has been undergoing democratic transformation – a kind which is r... more For the past two decades, Ghana has been undergoing democratic transformation – a kind which is restoring her earlier immediate post independence promise. This study, from a historical institutionalist perspective, examines the quality of this recent democratic transformation which has been observed in Ghana in the period between 1993 and 2008. The study sought answers to the following questions: have consolidating multi-party democracy answered Ghana’s search for governance that enables the state to foster development? What are the continuing challenges to governance and development in Ghana? And lastly, is Ghana an emerging democratic developmental state in the African sub-region? The study finds that, in spite of the notable challenging deficits in her democratic development: Ghana has made encouraging, considerable progress in democratization. This progress the study finds engendered a governance framework which enabled the state to make encouraging progress in fostering economi...
The transition to democracy in Ghana marked a struggle to consolidate a democratic political fram... more The transition to democracy in Ghana marked a struggle to consolidate a democratic political framework that will deepen democratic governance as the basis for enhancing sustainable economic growth and human development. Against this background, this paper examines the extent to which, Ghana’s democratic governments have responded to the challenges of economic policy reform, economic growth, and sustainable development in an environment of continuing economic and social challenges. This paper’s principal contention is that, in spite of the continuing economic policy reform and development challenges in Ghana: the restoration of multi-party democracy has enhanced governance that has fostered improve economic policy management; resulting in recent steady, encouraging economic growth that has enabled the state to leverage progress in poverty reduction and human development. In short, under improve democratic governance, Ghana has shown encouraging rate of growth and development.
Collaborative methodologies cannot only strengthen the rigor of political science research; they ... more Collaborative methodologies cannot only strengthen the rigor of political science research; they also can offer the possibility of decolonizing knowledge production. Historically, research conducted byWestern researchers in Africa and many regions of the Global South has perpetuated neocolonial power dynamics and reaffirmed inequalities (Ndlovu-Gatsheni 2018; Zeleza 2009). Often supported by substantial grants, political scientists from the Global North frequently arrived with the entire project specified, or even publicly preregistered, and solicited help from local translators or enumerators to accelerate the “extraction of data” from local respondents or subjects. Many of the dominant methodologies in political science elevate researchers to a position of great power and control as compared to the “researched” (MacLean 2013; Riley, Schouten, and Cahill 2003). In contrast, collaborative methodologies are premised on greater involvement of local scholars and participants in amore inductive and iterative approach to research (Yom 2015). Drawing on a recent project, this article analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of our collaborative methodology. We explain how including a broader range of perspectives from scholars and citizens of the Global South improved the case selection and strengthened the conceptualization and measurement of key concepts. In addition to enhancing critical aspects of research design, collaborative methodologies enabled us to begin to decolonize knowledge production. However, we also reveal multiple structural barriers that limit the realization of decolonization. In the following sections, we explore the concept of collaboration in research methodology and describe how we applied this approach. We then show how including diverse perspectives enabled us to develop a theoretically rigorous, feasible, and ethical selection of communities and focus group participants. Next, we demonstrate how integrating insights from study participants fostered a more nuanced understanding of the local salience of “climate change” and a revised conceptualization of political participation. We then examine both the potential of and the limits to decolonization, offering strategies to overcome the obstacles. We conclude with a commitment to expanding collaborative initiatives well beyond the Global South.
This paper is intended to act as a conceptual bridge between the historical treatment of politics... more This paper is intended to act as a conceptual bridge between the historical treatment of politics and development in Ghana (see CDD-Ghana, 2013a) and ESID's forthcoming primary investigations into the politics of particular sectors (e.g. education, oil) and domains (e.g. gender relations, spatial inequality). A Dynamic Mapping of the Political Settlement in Ghana 2 This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Aid from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of developing countries. However, the views expressed and information contained in it are not necessarily those of or endorsed by DFID, which can accept no responsibility for such views or information or for any reliance placed on them.
Despite a series of reforms designed to improve the education system in Ghana, the quality of edu... more Despite a series of reforms designed to improve the education system in Ghana, the quality of education remains low. This paper uses a political settlements analysis to explore why this is the case. Focusing on the issue of teacher accountability and performance, we argue that a key reform-decentralisation-remains a highly contested process. The current system generates insufficient incentives, from either a top-down or bottom-up direction, for effective forms of policy implementation and accountability to emerge at scale. In practice, educational quality differs significantly between districts. An explanation for the variation observed is the significant negative impact that intense party political competition can have in reducing the capacity of local actors to cooperate and to facilitate difficult reforms. The evidence suggests that improving educational quality depends on reform-minded coalitions made up of state and non-state actors at both district and school levels, and a stable political settlement at the district level. We conclude that where good practice is observed, it is as a result of efforts by these coalitions to devise and enforce local-level solutions to local problems.
In this policy brief, we examine the impact of the quality of democratic governance on inclusive ... more In this policy brief, we examine the impact of the quality of democratic governance on inclusive development outcomes in Ghana. The research question that informs this study is: what forms of democratic politics and bureaucratic capacity are conducive to producing pro-poor inclusive developmental outcomes? We suggest in this paper that Ghana has managed to institutionalize democracy and an improved governance that has fostered sustained positive economic growth. However, while the country has addressed poverty and emerging social vulnerabilities, through economic growth and social protection policies and programmes, institutional and bureaucratic challenges still remain in the governance of the emerging pro-poor inclusive development agenda.
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