by James F. Bednar, MCC Resident Country Director
The consultative process involved in the development of Ghana’s Millenniium Challenge Account (MCA) compact took into account the key principles of country ownership and civil society participation as outlined in the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) standard for developing a grant proposal. Over 1,200 direct participants representing more than 150 civil society, private sector and government entities took part in these consultations from May 2004 to June 2005.
The Government of Ghana held these consultations across the length and breadth of the country. More than 30 consultative meetings were held, with an average participation of about 40 stakeholders. A variety of stakeholders who took part in these consultations included policy makers, agricultural industry players, farmers, farmer-based organizations, exporters, industry associations, environmental groups and organizations, gender organizations, the media, and other civil society organizations. The consultative processes consisted of presentations, open discussions, group work, plenary discussions, and question-and-answer sessions.
The consultation process leading to the development of Ghana’s compact engaged stakeholders at both the national and local levels. Additionally, there were functional consultations as well as industry-level meetings and workshops. Other stakeholders—the print and electronic media, women, and the legislature—were given the opportunity to offer feedback and received briefings on the process. This strategy was adopted so that the process could cover and represent inputs from a larger cross section of stakeholders.
As planned activities took shape, the Government of Ghana and MCC would jointly study their feasibility and agree to implementation approaches. When these approaches were determined, further stakeholder consultations were held to ensure that interested parties were kept continuously informed. The outcome of this process is that Ghana’s press now actively monitors and reports on compact performance, as demonstrated by the numerous articles printed on the topic every month.
