CSPP Regional Workshop

ODI's Civil Society Partnership Programme (CSPP) held a West Africa regional workshop in Accra, Ghana on 14th and 15th March 2005 in collaboration with Participatory Development Associates (PDA), Ghana. The two-day event included a national seminar on the afternoon of the second day. The workshop and seminar provided a forum for representatives from policy research institutes, non-governmental agencies and donors to discuss the opportunities and challenges for civil society organisations (CSOs) to use evidence to inform policy, learn about the latest worldwide research and practice in this area, share experiences about ongoing activities and identify opportunities for collaborative work. See the Regional Consultation index for more information on the consultation process.

Tony Dogbe, Co-Director of PDA, opened the regional workshop, and invited participants to introduce themselves and their work. The twenty Ghanaian CSOs and one Nigerian CSO (Nigerian participation was unfortunately limited due to logistical problems) represented a wide range of interests, including community empowerment and development, indigenous knowledge, community legal support, and advocacy on government policy and budgets, nutrition, gender issues and natural resources management. Participants had experience in policy advocacy, practical community work, research, training and facilitation, and media.

John Young described ODI, the Research and Policy in Development Programme (RAPID) and the purpose of the CSSP (powerpoint presentation 200kb). Abdul Basset Aziz Bamba of the Legal Resource Centre (LRC) then presented a case study from Ghana (powerpoint presentation 125kb) showing how LRC used legal and policy analysis, evidence, the threat of legal action in a pilot community study to influence the implementation of a municipal authority's waste disposal service, and set up a community composting scheme.

After a briefing by Cecilia Luttrell (ODI) on Research-Based Evidence, CSOs and Policy Processes (powerpoint presentation 119kb), participants divided into groups to identify factors that had helped to achieve policy changes in their own work. The key factors identified included: fostering ownership of issues and increasing CSOs' ability to leverage change through alliances, partnerships and coalitions; access to influential people; mobilisation of public opinion; grassroots engagement with the issues; knowledge of the policy and legal framework and citizen's rights; effective communication and media strategies; the credibility of the groups involved; use of evidence from pilot studies, existing documents, pure research and observation; availability of funds for pilot studies and research.

During the afternoon, John Young of ODI presented the Research and Policy in Development Programme (RAPID) Context, Evidence and Links Framework (powerpoint 954kb), and an outline of available tools for policy influence (powerpoint 1.2mb). He also presented a case study showing how a 'para-vet' network in Kenya had influenced national veterinary policy (see presentation of examples (powerpoint 238kb)).

The following day, the workshop participants used the RAPID analytical framework to identify several opportunities for influencing the second phase of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) (see presentation (powerpoint 151kb)). The GPRSII document has been drafted and is currently undergoing consultation. Amongst external factors, participants noted the powerful influence of the World Bank and donors in shaping Ghana's approach to poverty reduction, but saw opportunities for influencing the GPRSII by tapping into other perspectives within the World Bank, and certain donors' interests in working with Ghanaian CSOs on advocacy and rights. International networks of CSOs could also be influential. The maturing political system in Ghana and the emergence of democratic institutions such as parliamentary select committees also offered CSOs opportunities to influence the political context shaping the GPRSII. More evidence was needed to overcome the incomplete understanding of principles and instruments involved in the GPRSII, and on the best approach to reducing poverty, as well as on what is actually happening in the communities. Among links, participants felt that the more sophisticated approaches to campaigning emerging among CSOs in Ghana were a new opportunity. On the other hand, the diminishing role of traditional authorities, which have been replaced by 'modern' institutions which do not represent the interests of affected communities, and the incomplete consultation carried out to produce the GPRS document, have limited the evidence getting into the policy process.

The final session of the workshop focussed on participants' recommendations on how ODI-CSPP can support CSO work in Ghana and Nigeria. These comprised three main areas of support:

Networking: Enhancing networking at national level through creating a forum for institutions working to influence policy, and at international level through enhanced communications with advocacy groups, researchers and universities in other parts of the world.
Information: Providing information on general development issues (ODI information and information from elsewhere) and on tools to facilitate policy influence, as well as helping CSOs get their information out to the national and international arena.
Capacity building: Helping CSOs increase their capacity to influence policy through training in the policy process, how to gather and present credible evidence and evidence-based public advocacy and lobbying. Participants also requested ODI to partner Ghanaian and Nigerian in specific projects and help them find funds.

Alice Sena Lamptey (Association of African Universities) closed the workshop, thanking ODI for an excellent, highly focused and very practical event. She encouraged participants to mainstream what they had learned within their organisations and networks.

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