3rd Quarter Edition Issue # 2014/02

5 Town Hall and 4 SPEFA

Meetings Organised Across
8 MMAs in Q3
I
n quarter 2, total percentage of women who participated
in SPEFA forums across the various MMAs was 20% as
against an 80% male participation. However, quarter 3
saw a 15% increase in women participation bringing the
figure to 35% of total participation at SPEFA Forums. The
Bekwai Municipal Assembly registered a 50% women
participation-the highest percentage of women participation
since the commencement of SPEFA.
Similar to the case of SPEFA Forum participation, percentage
of women who participated in town hall meetings increased
from 16% in quarter 2 to 25% in quarter 3. As earlier indicated
this has been due to the special attention paid to the
participation of women and other marginalized groups such
as People Living With Disabilities at all SPEFA events.
This is partly due to the NCU's tracking of participation and
collaborating with partner CSOs to pay more attention to the
participation of women across the board. Such strategies are
being pursued to ensure that the views and concerns of
women and other concerned stakeholders at the community
level are also captured in the decision making and
development management process. The NCU in the coming
quarters intends to intensify its efforts at further increasing
w o m e n s
participation as
well as other
ma r g i na l i s ed
groups such as
Peopl e Li vi ng
With Disabilities.
T
he third quarter of SPEFA implementation was occupied
mainly with the organisation of SPEFA forums and town hall
meetings as well as the monitoring of implementation
activities.
A total of four SPEFA forums were organised by 4 CSOs in the third
quarter across 4 MMAs ( Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly,
Bekwai Municipal Assembly, Tema Municipal Assembly and Yendi
Municipal Assembly). In the Bekwai Municipal Assembly, two
forums were organised- one to cover the Adumase and Essumeja
zonal council and another for the Dadiase zonal council. In Yendi,
the event coincided with a bi-annual field visit by a mission from
the World Bank and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural
Development (MLGRD). This gave the delegation the opportunity
to witness the nature of SPEFA forums first hand.
Quarter 3 in addition witnessed five town hall meetings organized
through the collaborative efforts of SPEFA partner CSOs and their
respective MMAs. Town hall meetings play a very vital role in the
implementation of SPEFA. This is because it provides a platform for
citizens (rights holders) to engage duty bearers on developmental
issues in their area.
The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Nzema East Municipal
Assembly, Ga South Municipal, Cape Coast Municipal and Tema
Municipal assemblies organised their town hall meetings within
the quarter. Average attendance at town hall meetings within the
quarter was 163. It was observed that partner CSOs were generally
more effective in collaborating well with their respective MMAs to
organise town hall meetings which afforded MMA officials the
opportunity to educate participants on MMA processes and also
address concerns of citizens on developmental issues..
The events were organised with the full participation of the key
staff and selected Assembly Members of the respective MMAs,
community based organizations (CBOs) and traditional leaders.
The NCU commends the CSOs and MMAs for their efforts at making
social accountability an integral part of local governance. It is
expected that collaborative efforts between SPEFA stakeholders
will further be strengthened for more effective project
i mpl ementati on i n the
coming quarters.
Newsletter
SPEFA Events Record Marginal Increases In Women Particiation in Q3
NCU Conducts Field Visits to Monitor
Implementation
After completion of Quarter three of
SPEFA implementation in February,
2014, the National Coordinating Unit of
SPEFA organized the quarterly review
meeting on the 27th of March, 2014 at
the East Gate Hotel. The meeting
brought together twenty three (23)
participants comprising members of the
NCU, representatives of the Social
Accountability Unit of the MLGRD as
well as representatives of 9 partner
CSOs.
Mrs Sarah Agbey, the SPEFA project
manager made a presentation on the
status of SPEFA implementation. The
presentation highlighted the project's
goals and objectives as well as its
i mp l e me n t a t i o n f r a me wo r k .
Participants were also reminded of the
expected outputs of the project.
The NCU took advantage of the
gathering to provide training in report
writing. The training which was
facilitated by Mr. Immanuel Tettey,
SPEFA Project Assistant with the NCU,
introduced participants to report
writing, indicating its purposes for
communicating ideas and information,
influencing decision making, prompting
action and persuading readers or
intended recipient(s). The training also
gave participants insight into various
forms of reports such as routine reports,
oc c as i onal r epor t s , s pec i al l y
commissioned reports and progress
reports.
Focus group discussions were held after
grouping participant into 4. This was
meant to outline emerging issues from
their various MMAs.
The event ended with a peer experience
sharing led by Peoples Dialogue and
CEDEP.
n line with activities outlined in SPEFA's inception report and
I
monitoring and evaluation strategies, field trips were taken to
venues of some SPEFA forums and town hall meetings. The
intention was to gain firsthand information on how the events
were being organized and also to ascertain the extent to which
the concepts and principles of social accountability are being
adhered to at the MMA level. The trips thus help to access CSO
activities at the local level and identification of lapses in the
implementation process.
During these visits, some stakeholders such as the partner CSO,
other present CSOs and CBOs as well as some local leaders are
given questionnaires to fill to help make informed assessments to
pave the way for improvements going forward. Responses
received are then collated and the outcomes fed into a
monitoring report. These reports are subsequently submitted to
the NCU to facilitate informed decision making for future
activities.
World Bank Mission
Inspects
SPEFA Implementation
Key Activities for
Quarter 4
Introduction of 24 additional MMAs;

Quarterly Review meetings with
CSOs;
Refresher Sessions and Orientation
f or Exi st i ng and New CSOs
respectively;
Quarterly field monitoring of CSOs
activities relating to SPEFA in the first
year.
The National Coordinating Unit SNV Office, No. 161, 10 Maseru Rd, East Legon Residential Area
+233 30 7012440 - 2
I
n the last month of quarter 3, A 3-man
mission from the World Bank were present
to observes the implementation of the
Local Government Capaci ty Support
Programme. As part of this, a number of
meetings were orgnised at the beginning of
the mission to bring the team up to speed on
implementation so far.
The project manager of SPEFA made a
presentation on the progress of the SPEFA
project.
The mission also went on field visits across
various programme implementation areas to
get first-hand information on happenings. In
Yendi, their visit coincided with the YMAs
SPEFA Forum.
The mission also afforded stakeholders the
opportunity to
s h a r e
experiences for
more eff ect i ve
implementation.
NCU - CSOs
Q3 Review Meeting
Held @ East Gate Hotel