Accra, Ghana — – In West Africa, there are numerous examples of how citizens and civil society groups hold their government, private sector actors and development partners accountable. However, these initiatives are often not known beyond the borders of the country where they are implemented.
In February 2017, the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), Ford Foundation and the Open Society Initiative (OSIWA) organised a regional learning workshop on social accountability that attracted twenty-nine (29) civil society grant partners of Ford Foundation and OSIWA civil society activists from 9 West African countries to share experiences and lessons from pioneering social accountability initiatives in their respective countries.
The learning programme was organised to provide a practical platform for the civil society organisations (CSOs) to better understand the mechanisms that have been utilised in the region, to exact public accountability through the active participation of ordinary citizens and civic groups. The learning exchange consisted of experience-sharing panels and field visits to beneficiary communities.
A key product that emanated from the workshop was the development of a social accountability in West Africa guidebook that was designed to be utilised as a learning tool and a reference document to scale up existing initiatives.
Within this context of reinforcing civil society’s effective engagement in promoting social accountability in the region with key references from the West Africa guidebook, OSIWA, Hewlett Foundation and WACSI are organising a second phase of this learning programme to provide an opportunity for additional organisations to share their experiences. This will serve as a platform for the guidebook to be introduced and utilised by CSOs.
he shared learning workshop will be organised from 3 - 5 December, 2018 in Guinea Conakry. It will provide a platform for 45 CSOs in West Africa to share their experiences implementing social accountability initiatives in the region and highlight perspectives on the most effective strategy for utilising the guidebook.
For more information on the convening, contact capacitybuilding@wacsi.org
Contact: Charles Kojo Vandyck, Head, Capacity Development Unit
Telephone: +233 204 35 5792
Email: cvandyck@wacsi.org
