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First Community Engagement under METOGU!! Project takes off

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Penplusbytes under its project Metogu!! (keeping the pressure on) embarked on a series of focus group discussions across the southern part of Ghana to gauge citizens perception on how well the current government is fighting corruption in relation to promises it made during the 2016 elections period.

In all, over 140 persons were engaged in the Focus Group Discussions on anti-corruption promises made by the NPP government in its manifesto and during the elections campaign period. The FGD served as an opportunity to dive deep into what the various anti-corruption promises meant to achieve, what indicators marked success or failure on the part of the government and also gather citizens voices on the best approach to adopt by government and accountability institutions to eliminate the canker of of corruption in the Ghanaian society.

Twelve persons per district (three districts in each region) from diverse groups including the ruling political party officials, those in opposition, traditional leaders, religious leaders, media persons, Assembly members and district assembly officials were selected and participated in the discussions in four regions of the country (Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western and Volta regions).

The week long activity which took place concurrently at all project districts is one of the two main community engagement activities under the project which primarily comprises the administration of an adapted community scorecard to measure government’s progress in delivering its anti-corruption promises and a community survey.

Prior to this, moderators from the project districts were selected and trained using a well-developed Moderator’s manual which equipped them with the necessary skills required in administering the community scorecard. They were also taken through the key elements of the project (aim, objectives, target and expected outcome) as well as the do’s and don’ts of their task.

Transcribed reports from the discussions and data collected from the survey will be analysed and put together into a brief to be validated by stakeholders and publicised subsequently.

Penplusbytes with support from STAAC (Strengthening Transparency and Accountability Against Corruption) is implementing the 2-year METOGU! (Keeping the pressure on) project aimed at creating awareness amongst citizens on government interventions to fight corruption and creating pathways for citizens to hold government to account to deliver on their promises.

The project is expected to support citizen’s engagement with government and make government accountable to its pledges made during campaign period. The next phase of the project will engage citizens from the Northern part of Ghana.

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Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and driving oversight for effective utilisation of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources.