Ghana

Impact Evaluation of the G-SAM Project in Ghana: Midline Report

USAID/Ghana’s Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms program (G-SAM) focuses on the district level of governance in Ghana, the Metropolitan, Municipal, or District Assemblies (MMDAs) democratically elected by residents. The following two activities are currently ongoing:
• Performance audits: The central government collects revenue and shares it with MMDA governments based on a revenue sharing formula. Prior to G-SAM, the Ghana Audit Service (GAS) conducted only a financial audit to ensure that this money was properly spent. Over the course of 2015 and with G-SAM funding, the GAS engaged in performance audits of 50 districts. In these audits the auditors went well beyond checking for receipts for purchases to assess the nature of project planning and contracting, the quality of service delivery outcomes and development
project outputs. This information has been used to develop citizen scorecards that were presented at district assemblies in April and May 2016; the scorecards are now being presented and discussed in public forums across the 50 districts.
• Civil society-led information campaign: Citizens struggle to hold their MMDA officials accountable, partially because they have very limited information about MMDA-level government budgets and activities. As such, a civil society-led effort under contract to CARE International and a coalition of Ghanaian CSOs has been conducting social audits on district capital projects and education and health service quality. This information will be used to develop citizen scorecards that will be presented and discussed in public forums over the course of the summer of 2016.
THE MIDLINE RESEARCH DESIGN
The G-SAM research design involves random assignment of 150 districts into one of three groups: a treatment group that has now received central government performance audits; a second treatment group that is now receiving civil-society led social audit; or a control group that will not receive either intervention. Given delays in the civil society organization (CSO)-led programming, this midline report only covers the 50 GAS performance audit districts and the 50 control districts. Moreover, while the baseline report provided data on citizen attitudes toward district governance and capital projects, the midline was carried out before any of the major citizen outreach efforts that will occur in both treatment arms in Summer 2016. The data collection only occurred among district administrators and politicians with the goal of determining if the GAS audits unto themselves, and without any significant citizen outreach, have had any effect on the planning, contracting and implementation of district capital projects.
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Cocoa Sustainability Initiative III

The Cocoa Sustainability Initiative phase 3 (CSI III) is a three-year partnership between General Mills Foundation and CARE International that will be implemented over the period December 2020 to November 2023. The project seeks to improve the food and nutrition security of over 3,500 cocoa farmers and their families in 20 communities in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District in the Central Region of Ghana by promoting sustainable agriculture, climate resilience, inclusive agriculture systems, women’s empowerment and improved nutrition practices. Building on the success of CSI phase I and II, CSI III addresses a range of interconnected issues, from low agricultural productivity and income to gender equality and voice to inclusive governance, child protection, nutrition and climate change resilience. The aim of the study was to provide baseline values for project indicators to help track the progress and impact of the project during and after implementation. Drawing on face-to-face interviews, a mixed method approach with critical gender lens was employed in data collection and analysis. Specifically, data were collected through a household survey (N=225) and Focus Group Discussions with men and women (N=10). A summary of key findings and recommendations are presented below. [71 pages] Read More...

Endline Survey of Cocoa Sustainability Initiative (CSI) II

This report is on the consultancy assignment to conduct an end line survey of Cocoa Sustainability Initiative (CSI II), a partnership between CARE International and General Mills Foundation (GMI). A team of consultants from GIMPA Consultancy and Innovation Directorate (GCID), conducted the survey within the period of four weeks in December 2020 across twenty communities in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District.

The project is targeted at improving the livelihoods of individuals in cocoa-growing communities and optimizing cocoa production through climate change adaptation. The initiative which started in 2017 and ended in August, 2020 is aimed at promoting gender equity, building farmer resilience to mitigate the impact of climate change and strengthen local capacity to initiate and own the process of development in cocoa-growing communities.

Some major significant change stories include increased yields, high adoption of good agricultural practices, improved access to financial service and improved financial decision making by women. [66 Pages] Read More...

CASH AND VOUCHER ASSISTANCE IN RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

In April 2020, CARE received a five million dollar grant from MARS to implement a multi-country program, including Cote d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Peru, Thailand, and Venezuela1, with the aim of reducing the negative impacts of COVID-19 on vulnerable populations, especially women and girls, using complementary and multimodal approaches. A key activity of this program was the provision of cash and voucher assistance (CVA) to vulnerable populations to meet their diverse basic needs. Program data indicated that CVA was implemented in Cote d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Thailand. Monitoring data from different countries showed that CVA was unconditional; with cash modality representing 95% of transfers. Key targets populations for CVA activities vary by country and include: vulnerable households (Cote d’Ivoire, and Haiti); migrants and refugees (Honduras, Ecuador, and Thailand); domestic workers (Guatemala and Ecuador); survivors of GBV and other forms of violence against women (Guatemala and Ecuador); and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer/questioning (LGBTQI+) individuals (Ecuador). Across all projects (or countries), participants reported numerous uses of CVA including purchase foods stuff, payment of health services, hygiene services, rental/housing, savings and livelihoods activities.
Given the nature and scale of this program as well as its organizational commitment to learning, CARE was keen to understand the extent to which the project supported and protected vulnerable populations against the loss or disruption of their livelihoods in a gender sensitive manner. The study seeks to provide open-source learnings for peer
companies and agencies on how CVA was utilized in this program with two major questions: (i) How gender sensitive was the process for CARE’s CVA? (ii) How gender sensitive was the intended outcome of CARE’s CVA?
This documentation report compiles lessons from across the projects implemented in the targeted countries and draws from the diversity of their experiences to provide some recommendations on more gender sensitive CVA in the future. Read More...

Emergency Response After Action Review for CARE Ghana’s Response to the 2019 Floods in Upper East Region Final Evaluation

Torrential rains in the Upper East region of Ghana occurred from the 2nd to the 15th of October 2019. The continuous rains led to flooding in all the fifteen (15) administrative districts/municipalities which resulted in the collapse of buildings, deaths and displacement of a sizeable percentage of the population . The most affected districts were; Builsa North, Kassena Nankana Municipal, Bongo, Kassena Nankana West, Builsa South, Tempane and Talensi .
CARE International in Ghana, collaborated with government agencies namely National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ghana Health Service (GHS) and Information Service Department in the region to respond to the emergency. Key interventions implemented as part of the emergency response were the distribution of food and non-food relief items, cash disbursements, Covid-19 risk communication to victims in four worst affected districts. The districts are; Bongo, Talensi Builsa North and Kassena Nankana Municipal. The relief items included; rice, oil, gari, sugar, Winimix, maize, beans, fish aqua tabs, sanitary pads, buckets bar soap and cloth. Additionally, cash to the tune of GHC 814.00 per flood affected household was disbursed through mobile money system and physical distribution to a total of 700 flood victims across the four districts in three tranches. The cash transfers were meant to enable beneficiaries rebuild after the disaster [12 pages]. Read More...

Ghana Strengthening Social Accountability Mechanism (GSAM) final

USAID/Ghana contracted Social Impact, Inc. to conduct an impact evaluation of USAID’s Ghana Strengthening Accountability Mechanisms (GSAM) program, which aims to increase accountability of local District Assemblies in Ghana. This randomized-controlled trial, impact evaluation tests the effect of two distinct efforts to increase accountability and improve service delivery outcomes at the district level. One-hundred and fifty of Ghana’s districts were matched and randomized into one of three groups: a top-down treatment group that received performance audits conducted by the central government Ghana Audit Service (GAS); a bottom-up treatment group that received civil-society organization (CSO) led scorecard campaigns; and a control group that did not receive either intervention.
Through surveys with citizens, local administrators, and local politicians and through a review of administrative data, we find that both CSO and GAS programming generally reduce citizen satisfaction with projects and services, but this is largely driven by districts that receive negative audit reports. That citizens are correctly attributing bad audit performance to poor-performing DAs is encouraging from the point of view of accountability. This progress with citizens has not, however, translated into many substantial changes in how administrators or politicians manage projects or project budgets. Neither GAS nor CSO programming improve transparency or corruption. GAS programming does reduce the incidence of partisan manipulation of public resources by politicians, and it also increases the perception of partisan manipulation among administrators. This is consistent with GAS sensitizing administrators to partisan manipulation and reducing its actual incidence among DA politicians.
CSO programming increases citizen-reported consultation on recent development, and administrators in CSO districts spend, on average, three hours more responding to constituents. Reasons that the intervention did not have a stronger impact on district officials includes (1) natural limits to the number of citizens reached by the intervention, (2) limited district government capacity and frequent turnover, and (3) local government dependence on federal budget transfers. Read More...

Projet régional de Dialogue pour la Transhumance apaisée en Afrique de l’Ouest (PRODIATA)

Le Projet régional de Dialogue pour la Transhumance apaisée en Afrique de l’Ouest (PRODIATA) est mis en oeuvre pour opérationnaliser la composante 2 du Programme Régional de Dialogue et d'Investissement pour le Pastoralisme et la transhumance au Sahel et dans les pays côtiers d’Afrique de l’Ouest (PREDIP). Le PREDIP est conçu dans une approche régionale avec un objectif général de renforcer la contribution du pastoralisme et de la transhumance transfrontalière à la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle, au développement socioéconomique équitable et à l’intégration régionale en Afrique de l’Ouest.
PRODIATA a pour objectif général de contribuer à long terme à faciliter une transhumance transfrontalière apaisée et à améliorer la nutrition des populations côtières et pastorales. L’objectif spécifique du projet est d’impliquer les acteurs locaux, nationaux et régionaux de la transhumance transfrontalière dans le dialogue et la bonne gouvernance des ressources et des espaces agro-sylvo-pastoraux en réduisant les risques de conflits et en améliorant la sécurité alimentaire. De façon spécifique, le projet viser à impliquer les acteurs locaux, nationaux et régionaux de la transhumance transfrontalière dans le dialogue et la bonne gouvernance des
ressources et des espaces agro-sylvo-pastoraux pour une réduction des risques de conflits et l’amélioration de la sécurité alimentaire. Read More...

Learning from Youth in West Africa in COVID-19

In July 2020, volunteers from the West Africa CARE Youth Network decided to learn more about what young women and men are experiencing in COVID-19, and how that should shape CARE’s response and our advocacy interests. This team interviewed 128 young people between the ages of 15 and 35 in 8 countries. 86 of the young people (67%) were young women. Volunteers used Whatsapp messages, phone calls, and recorded interviews to let young people tell their own stories. With a few guiding questions, and using ONA as a platform to structure and analyze the responses, the team has been able to see regional trends and individual stories that must shape humanitarian response to COVID-19 and recovery efforts in way that include young people—especially young women, meet their needs, and value their voices and leadership.

Interviewers had a set of questions from CARE’s Rapid Gender Analysis toolkit, where they asked young people about the biggest impact COVID-19 has in their lives, their biggest need right now, how they are responding to COVID-19, and what are their hopes for the future. Listening to their answers, interviewers categorized the responses based on a pre-set list of options also from the RGA toolkit.
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West Africa COVID-19 RGA May 2020

As of mid-April 2020, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa is relatively low. That said, there has only been limited testing in Africa, leading many experts to be concerned that Africa could still experience outbreaks on, or beyond, the scale experienced in other regions. Governments are imposing restrictions on movement to reduce the risk of potential outbreaks, and this is directly impacting the ability of humanitarian actors to provide necessary assistance. At the same time, some governments, notably the governments of Mali and Niger, are also expanding their safety nets to help people respond to COVID-19 and its impacts.
CARE’s Rapid Gender Analysis draws from CARE’s deep experience in the region, and from interviews with 266 people across 12 countries. It points to serious ongoing economic, health, and financial impacts that will be especially severe for women. It also paints a mixed picture of impact on women’s rights. Special concern is paid to encroaching limitations to women’s access to resources, as well as to their representation and participation in formal decision-making; increased incidents of gender-based violence. These worrying
observations are accompanied by hopeful examples of women leading the response to the COVID-19 crisis and finding ways to negotiate equitable relationships with men in their communities, as well as with their husbands/male partners at home. Read More...

BASELINE STUDY REPORT: AGRO-SOURCE: LAST-MILE AGRICULTURAL INPUT SUPPLY SYSTEMS

The Agro-Source project in Ghana is a two and half (2½) year project (July 2018 to December 2020). The overall goal of the Agro-Source project is to improve the productivity of 30,000 smallholder women farmers in five (5) districts i.e. Garu, Tempane, Bawku West, Lambussie-Karni and Nandom in the Upper East and West regions of Ghana through increased availability, access and use of good quality agricultural inputs by 2020.

The baseline study was to establish a benchmark against which to measure the progress and achievements of the project. It was to generate: information on the current status on the availability of quality agro-inputs in the target locations and information regarding smallholder women farmers’ access to and utilization of agro-inputs to improve their productivity.

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