Annual Review (AR) - Summary Sheet
This Summary Sheet captures the headlines on programme performance, agreed actions and learning over the
course of the review period. It should be attached to all subsequent reviews to build a complete picture of actions
and learning throughout the life of the programme.
Title: Strengthening Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness in Ghana (STAR-Ghana)
Programme Value: STAR-Ghana’s total budget comprises
a £23.38m grants budget, £5m management budget and
£0.7m TA budget.
Programme Code:
Start Date: November
2010
Summary of Programme Performance
2012
2013
Year
A
A+
Programme Score
Low
Low
Risk Rating
Review Date: July 2014
End Date: April 2015
2014
A+
Low
Summary of progress and lessons learnt since last review
STAR-Ghana is a five-year multi-donor pooled funding mechanism financed by DFID, DANIDA, USAID
and EU, which aims to increase the influence of civil society and Parliament in the governance of public
goods and service delivery, with the ultimate goal of improving the accountability and responsiveness of
Ghana’s government, traditional authorities and the private sector. There have been three external
assessments of STAR in the last year: the Mid-Term Review (MTR); the Independent commission on Aid
Effectiveness (ICAI) and European Union’s Results Oriented Monitoring (EU-ROM). This AR considered
the performance of STAR Ghana principally against the recommendations of the MTR.
Our assessment is that progress has generally exceeded expectations.
- A learning culture has taken root in the organisation,
- The Steering Committee (SC) has ably led the process of formulating a successor programme.
- The logframe has been revised with a distinct output for engagement with the media, though
progress against milestones for this output has been weak, pointing to a need for a deeper mediaspecific political economy analysis (PEA) in any successor Programme.
- The work with Parliament has improved significantly and is one of the notable successes of the year.
Whilst the project has maintained its A+ performance rating at ‘Output’ level, there remain challenges
rooted in the political economy of governance which are likely to compromise the fulfilment of the higher
‘Outcome’ goal of the project: “increased CS and parliamentary influence in governance and delivery of
public goods and services”.
At the Outcome level 2 out of 3 Indicators have been achieved.
At the Output level – which is the primary focus of this review - there has been solid progress towards
the cumulative targets for the project despite the difficult national political and economic context alluded
to above.
Summary of recommendations for the next year
With only 4 months remaining of the project the recommendations are mainly lessons and guidance for
similar and future interventions. Within this context, four recommendations/lessons are presented.
a) Maintain momentum and strategic focus for the remainder of the programme, especially on options
related to engagement in economic governance and with Parliament; b) theory of change – future
interventions need to have tighter, realistic and focused objectives; c) get the politics right, the need for
sharper political economy analysis (incl. civil society’s appetite for engagement) and d) the need to better
understand and engage effectively in corruption and economic governance issues.
1
A. Introduction and Context (1 page)
DevTracker Link to Business Case:
DevTracker Link to Log frame:
QUEST No. 2542620
QUEST No. 4486705
Outline of the programme
STAR-Ghana builds on previous programmes such as the Rights and Voice Initiative (RAVI) (20042010); the Ghana Research and Advocacy Programme (G-rap) (2005-2011); KASA (2008-2010); and
the Civil Society Governance Fund (CSGF) (2004-2010). Following on from the achievements and
experience of these four earlier funding mechanisms, STAR-Ghana’s focus has been on
institutionalising; strengthening and improving further the role that CSOs and Parliament play in
influencing the way government does business. It does this by:
- Providing grants to partners in civil society and parliament to support initiatives aligned with STAR’s
objectives;
- Providing technical assistance to GPs, to strengthen their capacity and effectiveness in pursuit of
these objectives
- Facilitating learning and collaborative linkages between and within its key stakeholders i.e. civil
society (including the media) and Parliament.
The expected impact of STAR-Ghana is “to increase the accountability and responsiveness of
government, traditional authorities, and private enterprises” to Ghanaian citizens.
The expected outcome is “increased Civil Society and parliamentary influence in governance of public
goods and service delivery”. STAR-Ghana’s desired outputs are:
Output 1: Capability of GPs to hold government to account sustainably enhanced
Output 2: Legislative bodies and GPs engagement with government cycles enhanced
Output 3: Quality evidence available to inform government policy and practice
Output 4: Media coverage of development issues enhanced
Output 5: Effectiveness of supported parliamentary Committees enhanced
STAR Ghana’s performance towards these goals over the last year needs to be considered both in the
light of historic conditions within which the programme is located, and the changing and immediate
context of the last year.


Deepening democracy. Ghana has achieved significant progress in consolidating democracy
since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1992. It is ranked 7th on the Mo Ibrahim’s African
Index of Good Governance. The opposition party’s peaceful acceptance in August 2013, of the
judicial process to resolve a potentially violent dispute over the results of the 2012 general
election confirmed this trend towards peaceful resolution of political conflicts and faith in the rule
of law. However, there remain significant deficits in accountability institutions, signalled by
popular protests, and evidenced by street demonstrations and strikes in the last 12 months.
These demands have ‘largely been led by sections of the middle class and organised labour whose
demands included an end to worsening inequality, corruption scandals and increasingly unreliable
power’1. Politically and conceptually these demands are framed in calls for greater public
accountability and responsiveness by government institutions in the provision of basic services.
Macro-economic management. Ghana’s economy has performed poorly over the last year, with
government ascribing this to external factors (volatility in global financial markets since mid-2013
and a decline in international commodity prices (Ghana’s economy is based on the export of
gold, cocoa, oil and gas). The counter-view is that the poor performance of the economy is due to
mismanagement (a bloated public service; inefficiencies in the public sector) and increasing
1
‘Ghana’s plea to IMF a sad recognition of the perils of prosperity’ http://www.theguardian.com/globaldevelopment/2014/aug/08/ghana-imf-oil-inflation-currency
2

corruption (including allegations of excessive expenditure by the government in winning the last
election). These arguments aside, the impact on the public has been inflation; a rise in the cost of
living, driven by a 16% depreciation of the Cedi against the USD in 2013 and a further 40% drop
between January and August 20142.
Delays in government payments. There have been persistent concerns over delays in
government subventions to statutory bodies and ministries (notably to Education and Health
sectors) and other decentralized structures, which have accentuated geographic and social
inequalities, and the quality of and access to public services.
These conditions make for increasing contestation between government, and civil society over the
nature of governance, and highlight the critical importance of STAR-Ghana in enabling this discourse to
occur constructively.
Financial overview at time of review
Commitments: 99% of the grants budget had been committed by April 2014. The Grants sub-committee
will be meeting in August 2014 to commit the balance of 1% for strategic short duration projects.
Disbursements: 82% of the committed grants budget funds disbursed by end July 2014.
Unspent funds at time of review: $6.4m of committed grant budget yet to be disbursed as at July
2014. Of this, $5.9m is expected to be disbursed between August 2014 and October 2014, leaving a
balance of approx. $0.5m.
Amount of likely recovered funds: STAR expects recovering unspent funds by GPs in the region of
approx. $2m -$2.5m. So unspent grants budget at end of the programme will be approx. $3m out of total
grants budget of $37.2m, i.e. 9% unspent from disbursed commitments.
B: PERFORMANCE AND CONCLUSIONS (1-2 pages)
Annual outcome assessment
Whilst the programme has made good progress at Output level, some of the assumptions underpinning
Outputs 1, 2, 3 and 5 have not held good and therefore likely to slow the programme’s progress towards
achieving its stated Outcome of “Increased civil society and parliamentary3 influence in governance of
public goods and service delivery”.
Nevertheless, targets for two out of the three Outcome indicators have been met and there is good
progress on the last. With projects for all the thematic calls either being implemented or completed, and
given the significant improvements in STAR’s engagement with Parliament, it is anticipated that all the
targets will be met by the end of the project cycle.
Overall output score and description
Overall output score: A+
Overall output description
The 5 Outputs are structured to contribute to programme Outcomes. Outputs 1 and 3 aim to increase CS
internal organisational capacity to influence as well as improve the quality of evidence for influencing
purposes. Output 2 aims to strengthen GPs engagement with parliament whilst Output 5 focuses on
2
“The cedi dropped up to 40% against the US dollar this year, making it the world’s worst-performing currency alongside
copper-rich Zambia’s kwacha. From tinned tomatoes to tractor tyres, prices have doubled and occasionally tripled over 24
months”.http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/aug/08/ghana-imf-oil-inflation-currency
3
Parliament is defined and understood for STAR Ghana to mean elected bodies, both District Assembly and Parliament.
3
strengthening parliament as an institution. Output 4 supports the media improve its coverage of
development. Overall, they are mutually reinforcing Outputs, which combine to contribute to achieving
programme Outcome if the underlying assumptions at Output level hold good.
All 5 Outputs met expectations with Outputs 2, 3 and 5 moderately exceeding expectations.
In the case of Output 2, milestone targets were significantly surpassed in 3 out of 4 indicators with
increased interaction between GPs and Parliament producing governance dividends especially in the
areas of Oil and Gas, Education and Health. Civil Society (CS) engagement with parliament is impacting
on how parliament conducts its business. A case in point is the issue of corruption in parliament, which
was raised during a meeting between CS representatives and the recently appointed majority leader.
Whilst there is no evidence to suggest that the issue has been addressed, placing these sensitive
allegations in the public domain has compelled Parliament to respond orally to public perceptions of
corruption in the House.
In the case of Output 3, milestones were surpassed in 2 out of 3 indicators with evidence generated on
policy issues and practices increasing by 83% from 41 in year 2 to 75 in year 3 – and successfully
affecting policy decisions. This evidence generated by CSOs has been in diverse forms, from printpublications to audio–video documentaries: examples include, the Ghana National Association of the
Deaf (GNAD) produced an audio-documentary on the challenges faced by deaf persons in accessing
health facilities and care, and the African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP’s) Gas policy paper submitted
to the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum some of whose recommendations have been accepted into the
gas pricing policy and the new Petroleum Exploration and Production (ExP) bill, respectively.
In the case of Output 5, all milestones have been surpassed. There is evidence of greater openness
and willingness of parliament to develop more structured relations inside the House, between
committees and the Leadership in terms of resource allocation based on clear workplans, and
accounting for and reporting on work done (systems introduced by STAR-Ghana); and between
parliament and CSOs.
STAR-Ghana has significantly influenced Parliamentary work culture. The project is working with 10 out
of 21 parliamentary committees and the leadership of Parliament (Majority and Minority leaders) and the
committee themselves report significant improvements in performance, which they attribute to STARGhana’s support. Notable examples include:
-
-
-
A strengthened Finance Committee has carried out budgetary hearings on several Ministries
Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in particular the Ministry of Finance and its related agencies, the
Ghana Revenue Authority, Office of Government Machinery and the National Development Planning
Commission.
The Committee on Mines and Energy has made significant inputs into policies, agreements and
budget proposals of the Ministry of Energy & Petroleum and the Mines sub-sector of the Ministry of
Lands & Natural Resources and its allied agencies.
The Special Budget Committee improved its scrutiny role vis-à-vis the constitutional mandate of the
Independent Governance Institutions (IGIs). The committee has increased its influence on the
programmes and activities of IGIs, contributing to greater transparency of the work of IGIs such as
the Electoral Commission. As a consequence, it has advocated for an increase in the budgets for
IGIs such as the National Media Commission, the Audit Service and the Electoral Commission.
There is a structural challenge: given the high turnover of MPs in every parliamentary cycle4 and the
ensuing loss of active institutional memory and competences amongst elected members, any
parliamentary strengthening programme is bound to be constrained in its efforts to sharpen the
qualitative impact of parliamentary inputs in the face of the residual and abiding strength of the
Executives policy formulation and legislation drafting machinery.
4
Over a third of MPs are replaced at every General Election. This is likely to remain the case if the prevailing political culture
remains extant: a term in Parliament is seen as a mechanism of patronage and largesse used by political parties to reward
party loyalists, rather than a long term compact between constituents and individual MPs.
4
Key Lessons
1) The need to facilitate collaboration between CSOs and create opportunities (real and virtual) for
conversations and connections to occur: Despite visible and regular popular protests this year
against government’s poor performance in delivering public goods (e.g. roads) and services (health
insurance and education) there has been little evidence of joined-up CSO action, especially on
politically sensitive issues. Although thematic conventions and learning events are a regular feature
of STAR-Ghana’s GPs, these events have not translated into formal structures of overarching
national coordination. This is largely because the forces pulling CSOs towards their independent
autonomous existence are much stronger than those pushing them towards sustained and regular
joined up action within a nationally coordinated framework. Consequently, the CS landscape is still
characterised by major national CSOs preferring to work independently on their particular cause.
There is need for a national interlocutor with the legitimacy and resources to facilitate dialogue and
action across diverse stakeholders on major national issues.
2) Finessing supply side responsiveness: Government institutions have generally been slow to
respond to calls from citizens for better services, primarily due to the dominant culture of the
centralisation of power, in politics and by extension in the Executive, and possibly also because of
resource constraints. This point to a need to understand the supply side better, to disaggregate the
elements of the institutional landscape and see where there may be less resistance; perhaps even a
willingness to engage actively with CS to improve governance and responsiveness in distinct areas –
at the national and sub-national levels.
3) Deeper capacity building. High attrition rates among CSO staff means that Capacity Building (CB)
support to these organisations needs to look beyond the provision of training and coaching support in
technical areas and focus more on the strengthening the governance and management systems of
organisations. Strong organisations are able to seek and use the knowledge and competencies they
need. In addition, the strengthening of organisations should consolidate on-going leadership
development support to CSOs given that a number of influential CSOs are beginning to make the
transition from founder-led organisations to the next generation leaders.
4) Professional bodies. STAR’s attempts to engage with professional associations have largely been
unsuccessful. Of the six associations STAR has explored working with, it is only with the Institute of
Chartered Accountants (ICA) that a joint project has been developed. For the others it would appear
that their concern is exclusively with the welfare of their fee-paying members. A political economy
analysis of this subsector may have provided insights on how to improve engagement with these
bodies.
5) ‘Managed’ projects. Open calls and short windows of six weeks for the submission of proposals by
CSOs, has generally resulted in proposals, which, while technically sound, are not contextually
grounded and lack coherence with other relevant on going or planned initiatives in the environment.
The results have been projects that struggle to demonstrate strategic impact. There is considerable
merit in an alternative model – already being piloted by the PMT – where it plays a more direct role
through the process: from identifying and pre-selecting interventions and ideas from CSOs, for
consideration by the SC, and thereafter working with shortlisted organisations over 4-6 months to
design projects leading to more strategic and sustainable projects.
6) Learning events. The success of thematic conventions and learning events, locally and regionally5,
to share lessons among CSOs and sector stakeholders, suggests knowledge management could
become one of STAR’s core functions. The PMT should consider this issue in its end of programme
report, and the Steering Committee should test the appetite for this idea more widely when it consults
CS over the design of STAR 2.
7) ToC and underlying assumptions. There is a need for regular, perspicacious critiques of the
underlying theory of change and related assumptions if the programme is to sustain and enhance its
dynamism and contextual effectiveness. Annual reviews and annual updated PEA should help in this
5
At the regional level, last year, Coffey International organized a Civil Society Learning Forum as a follow up to the Pan
African Empowerment and Accountability Learning event that took place in Kenya in June 2012. The Forum brought together
9 donor funded programmes from across Africa: AcT (Tanzania), DAP (Kenya), MASC (Mozambique), SAVI (Nigeria), M4D
(Nigeria), Tilitonse (Malawi), STAR-Ghana, ENCISS (Sierra Leone), FSC (DRC) that work with civil society organisations to
strengthen empowerment and accountability, with the aim of sharing lessons and successful approaches for delivery.
5
regard, and the messages from these reflection points should be used to challenge and test the bids
and individual projects proposed by GPs to ensure that the weakness in the link between outputs
and outcome is not an inherent flaw built into the discrete, disaggregated components of the
portfolio.
Key actions
Key actions taken this year include:
-
Greater, structured engagement with parliament
The engagement and use of SA and TA, to provide sharper contextual analysis to project support
and programming of thematic areas
A broader and deeper capacity building programme with GPs, covering systems development and
leadership development
Has the logframe been updated since the last review?
Yes. Following recommendations from the Mid-term review and lessons learned around the
programme’s performance, the revisions outlined below were finalized and accepted by DFID in May
2014:
 Output statements and/or milestones for Outputs 1, 2, 3 and 4 were revised.
 A new output statement and milestones was formulated for Media.
C: DETAILED OUTPUT SCORING (1 page per output)
Output Title
Capability of GPs to hold government to account sustainably enhanced
Output number per LF
1
Output Score
A
Risk:
Low
Impact weighting (%):
20%
Risk revised since last AR?
N
Impact weighting % revised
since last AR?
N
Indicator(s)
1.1 GPs’ overall capability
1.2 GPs’ technical skills and
capabilities in government
accountability and transparency
processes
1.3 GP’s capability in priority
areas (M&E, financial
management, GESI and internal
governance
1.4 % of GP step change
milestones achieved
1.5 STAR-Ghana GPs shared
vision for long term sustainability
Milestones
3.5
3.5
Progress
3.1
3.9
3.2
M&E: 2.4
FM: 3.0
GESI: 2.8
IG: 3.0
50%
3.3.
M&E: 2.8
FM: 3.6
GESI: 3.5
IG: 3.4
64%
Strategies and action plans
finalised.
STAR Ghana has begun a
process to understand and
frame this discussion on ‘long
term civil society sustainability’
through a series of engagements
with civil society leaders.
Key Points
Three out of five of the Output targets have been achieved with the remaining 2 on track.
-
CB: The PMT has tailored its capacity building approach to meet two challenges: attrition in CSOs
and a lack of contingent planning and OD. Attempts have been made to address both. With respect
6
to the latter, community based organizations (CBOs) have been assigned mentors whilst national
CSOs receive targeted on-site coaching support at appropriate points in their project cycle. Capacity
building in policy advocacy has been a key area of support with revisions to the content and structure
of advocacy training emphasising the importance of understanding of the policy context. Progress
assessments using the Organisational Assessment Tool (OAT) indicate significant increases in
knowledge and skills. However, the target set for improving GPs overall capability has yet to be fully
met. On the positive side, quality assurance and audit reports for the year show good improvement in
the areas of financial management.
-
Grants and M&E: Key aspects of the grant making and M&E processes now include feedback
aimed at improving the capacity of the recipient / partner organisation. All grant applicants receive
the findings of due diligence reports, and support is offered to successful applicants to strengthen
their internal management systems to account better for the grants they receive. For the M&E
processes, GPs receive feedback on their quarterly reports. Monitoring visits provide onsite input into
GPs project strategies and quality assurers provide GPs with feedback on their findings and provide
technical guidance to improve upon implementation.
-
Facilitating learning – in partnership with supply side actors: The introduction of learning events
and Action Learning Sets with sector specialists and stakeholders from the supply side under the
Democratic Governance and Access to Justice have proven beneficial in improving GP capacities
outside the regular styles of CB service provision.
Summary of responses to issues raised in previous annual reviews (where relevant)
In response to the MTR recommendation the Output statement was revised from “Capability of GPs to
enable citizens to hold government to account sustainably enhanced” to “Capability of GPs to hold
government to account sustainably enhanced” to reflect the reality of the programme’s implementation
and achievement of results.
Milestones were however not revised since targets had not been exceeded.
Recommendations
We recommend that if a similar work is supported in future the accompanying assumptions in the
underlying ToC be tightened:
Output 1: Capability of GPs to enable citizens to hold government to account sustainably enhanced.
Implicit assumptions:
a. ‘Capability’ of GPs is understood to include leadership, and financial & management systems.
b. The assumption of GPs working together should be unpacked. ‘GPs working together’ assumes
that the incentives to collaborate for a collective normative goal (securing better governance) will
be sufficient to encourage CSOs will override the ‘natural’ survival forces of competitive between
CSOs for resources and individual recognition.
Output Title
Legislative bodies and GPs engagement with government cycles enhanced
Output number per LF
2
Output Score
A+
Risk:
Low6
Impact weighting (%):
40%
Risk revised since last AR?
N
Impact weighting % revised Y
since last AR?
6
Whilst low, revised risk register notes increasing difficulties in CSO engagements with government, which raises the need
for it to be tracked.
7
Indicator(s)
2.1 Number of men and women supported
to hold decisions makers and traditional
authorities at all levels of government to
account
2.2
Number
of
representations
&
submissions made by GPs to influence
decisions of legislative bodies and
technocrats around STAR-Ghana thematic
priorities
2.3 Outreach initiatives undertaken by
targeted parliamentary committees linked to
GPs work
2.4 Number of collaborations between
parliamentary structures and GPs that
demonstrate support towards citizens
issues
Milestones
543,808 (F:255,590)
Progress
610,487 (F: 300,926)
160
185
12
20
136
130
Key Points
Three out of four of the Output targets have been achieved. The enhanced engagement between GPs
and legislative bodies at national and district levels has been enabled in no small measure by the
programme’s support to the media and capacity building support on advocacy. GPs have begun to
expand and refine their engagement and advocacy approaches to demanding accountability from duty
bearers.
2.1 The convening of knowledge exchange and discussion fora between CSOs and duty bearers from
governance institutions at events such as Thematic Conventions and Parliament-CSO meetings have
led to the establishment of structured ongoing relations, joint working and dialogue on common
developmental issues. In particular, the CSO - Parliament exchanges have led to participation by GPs in
key sector meetings such as the Education Sector Annual Review and the Health Summit (leading
further to outreach initiatives between Parliamentary committees and Health and Education GPs); and
joint projects such as that of the Government Assurances Committee and Penplusbytes working together
in monitoring government commitments and undertakings. These engagements provide a foundation to
move the discussion one level up in the future: from building connections between CSOs and Parliament
& parts of the Executive, to critiquing the effectiveness of these relationships, and optimising the benefits
of these engagements.
However, these areas of contact have been opportunistic rather than systemic - fairly limited and
discrete, constrained by a pervasive culture in government of centralisation and executive control, rather
than proactive alertness to the needs of society and responsive to citizens (‘customer care’).
Notably, STAR has piloted two initiatives at the sub-national level by funding CSOs to engage with the
Upper West and Upper East Regional Coordinating Councils (RCC) and District Assemblies (DA) to
increase their openness and responsiveness to civil society. Lessons from this exercise will be useful for
future programming.
2.2 Recent examples of representations and submissions made include:
-
-
Oil and Gas: CSOs such as ACEP, Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL) and NETRIGHT
submitted inputs to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning during the review of the
Petroleum Revenue Management Bill. Issues raised included: (a) addressing gender gaps and
gender equity concerns in the Bill, (b) the redefinition of clauses and provisions on specifications
regarding transfer of funds into Ghana Petroleum Funds (GPFs), Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF),
Benchmark Revenue (BR) and Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA), (c) the introduction of
specific clauses that allow for transparency in petroleum benchmarking by non-state actors (an
independent committee) to undertake petroleum revenue projections.
Education: Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) made direct presentations to the
Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, GETFUND, Architectural and Engineering Services
Limited (AESL), the Ministry of Education, MMDAs and officials of the Ghana Education Service
8
-
-
-
(GES) in Brong Ahafo and the Northern region on its findings regarding the state of infrastructure in
public basic schools and linkages with access especially for girls, and for children with disability.
Voice-Ghana petitioned the Nkwanta South District Assembly, Nkwanta-GES and Volta Regional
Office of GES in Ho on the waiver of Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Dues and other Levies for
pupils with disabilities at basic school level.
Health: Representations were made to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health by West
Africa Aids Foundation (WAAF) on oversight and support to the Ministry of Health to ensure the
adherence to the Patient Charter particularly for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), whilst
Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) directly engaged them on proposals for legislation
to enforce sign language in public healthcare institutions.
Democratic Governance: Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) submitted a position paper to
the President of the Republic of Ghana for the inclusion of competent Persons With Disabilities
(PWDs) in the President’s 30% appointments for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies
(MMDAs).
Media: Tiger Eye has engaged in legal proceedings for action against corrupt practices at the Drivers
and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA).
2.3 and 2.4: Examples of outreach initiatives and GPs collaborations with parliamentary structures:
-
-
-
-
-
Health: SocioServe Ghana (SSG) supported the National Parliamentary Service to undertake and
engage with community members during a community outreach in East Akim District. During the
exercise, SSG assisted the Parliamentary Service to use community scorecards to survey and
generate feedback on communities’ perceptions on the quality and adequacy of health services.
Education: Ghana Blind Union worked with Ghana Education Service to draft and finalize an
Inclusive Education Policy.
Media: The Institute of Financial and Economic journalists (IFEJ) collaborated with Parliament and
the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to organize northern and southern sector stakeholder
budget fora/media-citizen encounters to enable CSOs, private sector players and citizens to interact
with members of parliament on specific issues in the 2013 annual budget statement before
parliamentary debate and approval.
Access to Justice: The African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA is working with the Judicial
Service (Accra and Sissala East) Commission of Human Right and Administrative Jus (CHRAJ)
(Sissala East, Tamale and Navrongo) Ghana Police Service (Sissala East), Ghana Prison Service
(Navrongo), Attorney General’s Department (Tamale) has set up Court Users Committees to improve
responsiveness of authorities to court users’ complaints;
Democratic Governance: Penplusbytes and the Government Assurances Committee of Parliament
have worked together to develop an online platform, which enables citizens to monitor the
implementation of promises and undertakings made by government structures in selective districts.
The Social Development and Improvement Agency (SODIA) collaborated with the Brong Ahafo
Regional Coordinating Unit to develop monitoring indicators for monitoring of the development of the
Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) of the various MDAs in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
Oil and Gas: The Integrated Action for Development Initiative (IADI) and Shama District Assembly
have initiated collaborative efforts to address challenges posed by oil and gas production on fishing
activities.
Summary of responses to issues raised in previous annual reviews (where relevant)
In response to the MTR recommendation the Output statement was redefined from “Parliamentary and
GP engagement around the government and private sector business cycles enhanced” to “Legislative
bodies and GPs engagement with government cycles enhanced”. This brought clarity to the
programme’s previous definition of parliament to represent the two types of elected democratic
institutions: the National Parliament and elected District Assemblies.
In lieu of the programme’s performance, milestones were revised upwards for 3 out of the 4 of the
indicators.
Recommendations
We recommend that if a similar work is supported in future then the accompanying assumptions are
tightened through revision:
9
Output 2 Legislative bodies and GPs engagement with government cycles enhanced
Implicit assumptions:
a) That vested within parliament, and external to parliament, do not successfully undermine the
effectiveness of CS work with parliament and government in pursuit of greater public
accountability.
b) That citizens’ voice is explicitly understood as citizen’s influence.
Output Title
Quality evidence7 available to inform government policy and practice
Output number per LF
3
Output Score
A+
Risk:
Low (delivered)
Impact weighting (%):
15%
Risk revised since last AR?
N
Impact weighting % revised
since last AR?
N
Indicator(s)
3.1 Number of GPs who
generate evidence on policy
issues and practice
3.2 Number of GPs that make
available evidence from their
work to policy makers and
implementers
3.3 Grant Partner evidence
considered in policy making and
implementation particularly
around Star-Ghana thematic
priorities
Milestones
64
Progress
75
45
50
27
26
Key Points
Two out of three of the Output targets have been achieved and exceeded. The third target too has
virtually been met, missing the milestone narrowly (26 out of 27).
The year has seen an increase in the number of GPs making quality, substantiated evidence8 available
to governance duty bearers. Part of this success can be attributed to the PMT’s effort at brokering
linkages and collaborations between and among GPs and duty bearers. Support from the media has
been valuable in reinforcing this objective. It has disseminated evidence to a wider audience through a
range of platforms - newspapers, TV, radio, online blogs, and digital social media, thereby heightening
public awareness and discussions on the evidence submitted by GPs’ and thus putting pressure on duty
bearers to respond to the issues.
Revisions made to the content and structure of advocacy training provided to GPs by STAR has also
helped. The revised approach has focused on two elements: training on PEA for GPs to understand the
policy and institutional context in which they are operating, and creating a facilitated space for fostering
collaboration between GPs and sympathetic governance duty bearers & parliamentarians. Examples of
this approach include: the learning event for the Access to Justice (A2J) GPs; the fora for Education and
Health GP-Parliamentary Select Committee engagements; and conventions for Education, Health and
Oil & Gas GPs.
Examples of Grant partner Evidence. (These examples are valid for Output 3.1 and 3.2)
Evidence could be case studies, research documentation, stories of change, media clippings etc.
GPs were supported to develop a reliable M&E study based on relevant base-line studies, and any evidence presented on
the performance of government was properly referenced against these robust base lines.
7
8
10
GP
GNAD
IFP
CEPIL
ACEP
NETRIGHT
WERENGO
Evidence Presented
Evidence Recipient
Health
Video documentary on challenges deaf people
face in accessing healthcare
Education
Research findings outlining fiscal factors
affecting quality basic education outcomes
Oil and Gas
Violations of the Petroleum Revenue
Management Act in the GoG 2013 Budget
Statement
Gaps in Ghana gas policy regulations and
policy propositions for addressing the gaps
Gender gaps in existing petroleum laws and
regulations, policies and related documents
covering the exploration, development and
production of oil and gas
Community concerns on the draft
Environmental Impact Study for finalizing the
proposed Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme oil field
projects
Community concerns on the implementation of
Environmental Impact Assessment report
recommendations
Access to Justice
Parliamentary Select Committee on
Health, Ridge Hospital, Komfo Anokye
Teaching Hospital, general public
Ministry of Education and Ghana
Education Service
Ministry of Finance and Economic
Planning
Ministry of Finance and Economic
Planning
Ministry of Finance and Economic
Planning
Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental Protection Agency
GBU
Analyses of barriers in accessing justice for
District Heads of Ghana Police,
blind persons & knowledge gaps of blind
DOVVSU, CHRAJ, Department of
persons on relevant Access to Justice Legal
Social Welfare
frameworks
Democratic Governance
CHRI
Gaps in RTI Bill
ACEP/CEPIL Analyses of the extent of unregulated
discretions in oil and gas legal frameworks
ABANTU
Gender gaps in Local Government
Consolidated Bill
SODIA
Analyses of levels of
participation/representation of Traditional
Authorities, socially excluded groups and
populations in local governance structures
(Yilo, Upper & Lower Manya)
GLOWA
Knowledge gaps and levels of participation of
marginalized groups in local governance
(North & South Dayi) & their access to propoor packages
YOWE
Analyses of levels of
participation/representation of Traditional
Authorities, socially excluded groups and
populations in local governance structures
(Yilo, Upper & Lower Manya)
Media
11
Parliamentary Committee on
Constitutional, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs
Parliament’s Committee on Subsidiary
Legislation
Ministry of Local Government and
Rural Development
Traditional Authorities, District
Assemblies and Regional Planning
Coordinating Unit
District Assemblies - North & South
Dayi
Yilo, Upper and Lower Manya MMDAs
GP
Creative
Storm
GBC
RITE FM
Gifts FM
Evidence Presented
Evidence Recipient
Inability of Kayayei's to access maternal
healthcare delivery in selected locations in
Accra, Madina and Kasoa
Infrastructure issues affecting teaching and
learning In Ho, Ashaiman and Obuasi
municipalities
The state of teacher attendance in ten (10)
low performing basic schools in the Yilo Krobo
Municipality
Low levels of citizen knowledge of revenue
management and its utilization for
Development Dormaa Municipality
Ghana Health Service Directorate,
Accra
Municipal Chief Executives of Ho
(Fafa Adiyira) and Ashaiman (Ibrahim
Baidoo)
Yilo District Director of Education
Dormaa Municipal Assembly
Summary of responses to issues raised in previous annual reviews (where relevant)
In response to the MTR recommendation the Output statement was redefined from “Quality evidence
available to inform policy and practice” to “Quality evidence available to inform government policy and
practice”. This revision was a more accurate reflection of programme’s interventions and results.
The last indicator under this Output; Indicator 3.4; “Media coverage of STAR-Ghana GPs’ evidence” was
relocated to the new output formulated for Media; Output 4
Given the programme’s earlier performance, milestones were revised upwards for all 3 indicators.
Lastly, in response to the recommendation to develop easily accessible online archives of data
generated by GPs, STAR-Ghana has worked with InvokEvoke, an IT firm, to develop an online
knowledge sharing platform for CSOs, Media and Parliament. The platform is currently being tested by
the PMT.
Output Title
Media coverage of development issues enhanced
Output number per LF
4
Output Score
B
Risk:
Low
Impact weighting (%):
10 %
Risk revised since last AR?
N
Impact weighting % revised
since last AR?
N
Indicator(s)
4.1 Media coverage of STARGhana GPs’ evidence
4.2 Coverage of STAR-Ghana’s
thematic areas by media
grantees
Milestones
150 (milestone revised upwards
after 2013 review)
0
Progress
112
0
A baseline survey has been
commissioned to establish a
benchmark for this Indicator, and is
expected to be completed shortly.
Key Points
Annual targets have not been met for this indicator but there has been progress towards the milestone
(nearly ¾ of the way there) and there are indications that the groundwork done so far which will enable
the project to achieve its targets by April 2015. Notably, STAR has facilitated Media-CSO collaboration,
and this appears to have shifted some Media GPs to move beyond providing superficial news-bites on
issues relating to public goods and services, to more analysis of development impact of these issues.
12
Summary of responses to issues raised in previous annual reviews (where relevant)
In response to the MTR recommendation an Output statement was formulated: “Output 4: Media
coverage of development issues enhanced”. This has allowed for the programme to measure this area of
the programmes interventions
Recommendation
Coverage of issues with a political tone remains weak. A PEA, covering diverse media forms should be
undertaken to understand the political foundations of media organs better. This study would help identify
effective modalities and partnerships between CSOs and Media GPs to enhance and amplify coverage
of the work supported by STAR in the thematic areas.
Output Title
Effectiveness of supported parliamentary committees enhanced
Output number per LF
5
Output Score
A+
Risk:
Medium to Low
Impact weighting (%):
15 %
Risk revised since last AR?
N
Impact weighting % revised
since last AR?
Y
Indicator(s)
5.1 % of agreed actions
implemented by Parliamentary
Service
5.2 % of agreed actions
implemented by Leadership
5.3 % of agreed actions
implemented by targeted
Committees
5.4 % of agreed actions by
targeted Committees involving
direct engagement with CSOs
and citizens
5.5 % of recommendations made
by targeted Committees to the
House
Milestones
70%
Progress
90%
80%
80%
60%
80%
60%
70%
0
0
Key Points
Four out of the five targets have been achieved, with three moderately exceeding targets.
Perhaps the key and shocking issue of note here, revealed in meetings of the review team with the
majority and minority leader, are the resource constraints facing parliament, and its dependence on
budget allocations determined solely by the Executive through the Ministry of Finance. In this context
STAR-Ghana’s assistance has been invaluable in building the technical capacity of selective committees
and in addressing long standing constraints to the House’s effectiveness. Among the measures
supported by STAR Ghana we note in particular:
-
Revisions to Parliamentary Standing Orders
Documentation of legacy documents to preserve institutional memory
Development of Rules of Engagement by the Government Assurance Committee to outline
procedures prior to public hearings
Bi-annual leadership forums which will give Leadership (the Speaker and the Majority and Minority
House Leaders) the opportunity to track and review the performance work plans of parliamentary
committees.
Summary of responses to issues raised in previous annual reviews (where relevant)
13
In response to the MTR recommendation, the Output statement was revised. This removed the implicit
message in the original statement that STAR Ghana’s support to Parliament is self-referential i.e.
emphasising STAR Ghana’s thematic areas. The proposed revised Output statement makes no mention
of STAR thematic priorities, thus respecting the sovereignty of Parliament to focus on issues which it
considers are of importance to the people of Ghana.
In lieu of the programme’s performance, milestones were revised upwards for all 3 indicators.
Recommendations
We note the openness of parliament to work with STAR-Ghana, both as a source of technical assistance
in its own right, and as an interlocutor facilitating parliament’s engagement with civil society. In the
circumstances we recommend that the momentum of STAR-Ghana’s work with parliament is maintained
in the remaining months of the project to April 2015.
D: VALUE FOR MONEY & FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE (1 page)
Key cost drivers and performance
The biggest driver is the direct Programme related expenses. This is made up of fees for the Ghana
based PMT and other direct programme expenses such as information sessions, Quality Assurance of
GPs projects, training and annual conventions, working with grantees to improve the quality of their
proposals and reporting and other routine capacity building activities, travel cost for monitoring, etc.
These are crucial to the quality of implementation. Considerable efforts have been made to improve
management efficiency.
VfM performance compared to the original VfM proposition in the business case
DFID’s original Project Memorandum format used for this programme places less emphasis on VfM than
the DFID Business Case model introduced in 2010. The programme’s Project Memorandum argues
value for money in its economic appraisal. It proposes that STAR will offer value for money, because it
will be more efficiently managed than smaller bilateral funds. It also proposes that its impact will have
high value, because even small percentage improvements will result in major benefits in high value
areas such as losses of oil revenue, the quality of government decision-making and teacher attendance.9
The concept of VFM continues to be a new one among CSOs in Ghana. In the year under review, the
PMT has built on the capacity building support that old grant partners’ had received; providing technical
support to GPs to incorporate VFM into the implementation of their projects. The work on VFM has
focused on building the capacity of new grant partners to ensure that there is a clearer understanding of
the concept and that GPs are able to mainstream VFM into the implementation of their projects; and
ensure they report on it quarterly. Building on the understanding gained the PMT explored an innovative
approach of empowering beneficiaries of development interventions to assess the value of such
interventions on their social and political lives. Consequently, the programme has developed a
methodology for measuring social value, which will inform and guide how future programmes like STARGhana measure social value, and will add to development thinking regarding VFM.
Assessment of whether the programme continues to represent value for money

Economy and Efficiency - STAR Ghana has worked hard at economy and efficiency to get best
value. At the project level, STAR has researched, benchmarked and adopted rates for key
expenses such as human resources; travel and transportation; overhead costs; activity expenses
for all GPs. In addition is the restructuring of the management budget to create space to bring on
board Strategic Advisers during the year; continuing to drive unnecessary costs out of GP
budgets; enhancing efficiency of grant making and reporting; and driving up GP core
competencies to deliver projects
9
Project Memorandum
14

Effectiveness - STAR-Ghana is mindful of the fact that to achieve the programme’s Outcome
and contribute towards achievement of its Goal, attention will have to be directed towards
ensuring effectiveness at both programme and GP levels. Consequently, in the period under
review, actions were carried targeting effectiveness. Key among them include:
a. Piloting sustainable approaches to enhance the collaboration between Parliament and GPs.
Improved synergies between these two actors will gain traction for GP advocacy actions while
ensuring that Parliament’s actions are more evidence-based;
b. In addition to the overall PEAs conducted to inform overall programme strategy, the PMT has
conducted thematic PEAs to inform the development of calls. The value of the PEAs has been to
ensure that programme funding and other support target the issues in each sector likely to lead to
sustainable and pro-poor outcomes.
c. The development of GP-led learning platforms and spaces is a key programme strategy and is
aimed at facilitating GPs’ access to new information and relationships. This will contribute to
enhancing the effectiveness of their projects.

Equity - Even though STAR has not used “Equity” as a measure of Value for Money, it is fully
integrated in STAR’s approach. For instance STAR reports geographical spread of grants. And
Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) had been mainstreamed within and is reflected in
the logframe.
Quality of financial management
Financial management has been robust. There is separation of duties to ensure effective through:
 A UK based Coffey International Fund Manager controlling fund flows and disbursements
 A Ghana-based cheque signatory external to Coffey
 Oversight of the STAR accounts by the UK based APC.
 DFID programme manager’s scrutiny on behalf of the DPs of STAR’s periodic financial reports.
There are external financial controls through the Grants Sub Committee (GsC) and the Audit SubCommittee (AsC). The programme is subject to an annual external audit where the ToR is approved by
the SC and the FC. The last annual audit of STAR-Ghana and its GPs carried out in June/July 2013
revealed significant improvements in the PMT and GPs’ financial management processes. Overall,
controls appear to be effective. The only significant area of weakness is the Finance and Compliance
department’s capacity to respond promptly to GP queries, chase late or incomplete reporting and
document remedial action.
Date of last narrative financial report
Date of last audited annual statement
08/07/2014
11/09/2013. 2014
Audit due 19th
September.
E: RISK (½ page)
Overall risk rating: Low
Overview of programme risk
Overall Risk is identified as medium in the original Project Memorandum; however the last two ARs have
rated the overall risk as low. Output risks remain low at this stage. Outcome risks are mixed, mainly due
to the fact that not all assumptions have held good. Fiduciary risks have been managed as well as in
previous years, but disbursement has been sub-optimal thus opening up unwarranted risk to the
programme’s credibility and momentum.
Fiduciary risk management
Internal systems for managing fiduciary risk have been installed and are working well. These systems
have benefitted from improvements following concerns raised by the first external audit. A second recent
audit found the revised systems are robust and effective. We commend the service provider for
increasing local content in the management of STAR Ghana, while ensuring that fiduciary risk
15
management remained sound through the changes which saw increasing responsibility for project
selection shifting to the steering committee and general management transferred to the in-country PMT.
Disbursement performance
There have been significant and persistent delays of grant payment to GPs through the year, particularly
in the last quarter of 2013 and again in the first quarter of 2014. There are also minor and continuing
cases of professional fee payment being delayed by up to 5 months to individual consultants engaged as
strategic / thematic advisors. These delays are inexcusable given that project pre-financing is a condition
of the management contract, and reimbursement of the expenditure by the contractor has typically been
settled within 5 days10 by donors, who have met their financing obligations. If these conditions persist
they have the potential to affect STAR-Ghana adversely; diminishing the project’s stock of goodwill and
credibility with CSOs and Service Providers, and weakening programme momentum.
Once identified in October 2013, DFID immediately required Coffey to address the problem and propose
how they would fulfil the terms of their contract. Intensive discussions over a number of weeks were
required to resolve the issue.
As follow-up, Coffey presently submits bi-weekly cash forecasts which are closely monitored by the DFID
programme manager and immediately draws Coffey’s attention to possible lapse in disbursement.
Transition considerations if a future programme is planned:
The STAR-Ghana Steering Committee has made significant progress since the MTR in developing a
framework outlining a vision and possible framework for future engagement. This process has drawn on
study visits to look at comparable projects in Bangladesh and Tanzania, and consultations with CSOs
across the country. Our accompanying narrative report offers suggestions to build on these ideas which
emphasise local ownership and proposes transitional and contracting arrangements aimed at ensuring
retention of institutional memory and programme momentum, so as to minimise the risks associated with
extended discontinuity between this and a successor project.
Outstanding actions from risk assessment
The speed of grant disbursement needs to be closely monitored in the 5 final months to the end of 2014,
and the SC and FC need to take a view in early 2015, based on projected spend, on how unspent
monies should be re-allocated. Our recommendation is that the default position should be that these
funds are assigned to the activities and studies proposed for the transition phase to STAR 2, unless
short, manageable, strategic opportunities are identified by the PMT.
F: COMMERCIAL CONSIDERATIONS (½ page)
Delivery against planned timeframe
The programme is on track. Grant disbursement stands at 82% of committed funds, which equates to
81% of the total grants budget. $515,205.00 of the cancelled grants has been reallocated. The PMT has
put measures in place to assess GPs spend. This information should inform the recommendation above.
Performance of partnership (s)
All donor partners have lived up to their contractual obligations. DFID continues to provide oversight and
technical assistance to the project through the DFID Senior Governance Advisor (SGA) and the Deputy
Programme Manager.
Coordination between the FC and SC has improved significantly over the last year, and we commend
both parties for this. The FC’s decision to delegate responsibility to the SC to lead the consultations and
design for a possible future phase has been vindicated.
10
DFID Ghana process payment the same day that an invoice is receive from the Contractor, and give a no objection advice
to the bankers (Crown Agent Bank) for payment to be effected. Payment is done within 5 days.
16
Asset monitoring and control
Since the last review, the programme’s assets register has been updated and passed a compliance
check from DFID in February 2014.
17
G: CONDITIONALITY (½ page)
Update on partnership principles (if relevant)
The partnership principles guide financial aid to government. Support through STAR in effect works to
incentivise Ghana government’s focus on the four partnership principles, commitment on human rights,
poverty reduction, financial accountability and domestic accountability.
Summary highlights by partnership principle:
Human rights: Access to justice call, including justice systems, prisoners’ rights, minority rights
Poverty reduction: National budget allocations in health and education
Financial accountability: Corruption, oil and gas work, health/education sector budget implementation.
Domestic accountability: Overall strengthening of citizens’ engagement, support/challenge to Parliament.
H: MONITORING & EVALUATION (½ page)
Evidence and evaluation
Since the last Annual Review, there has not been any significant evidence, which challenges the
programme design or rationale. The programme’s ToC, which was updated before the MTR, continues
to be relevant albeit with the need to tighten its internal logic and underlying assumptions - qualifications
raised in this review. However, the value to be gained by any revisions now is limited and any obvious
weakness will be addressed in future programming.
More recent evidence that is relevant to on-going work and future programming includes the following.
1. The ability and competence of government agencies to respond effectively to citizens is often
very limited, in large part due to capacity and finance issues.
2. Recognition of the role and influence that Traditional Authorities play; notably in the enactment of
GESI initiatives, policies and legislation.
3. The main evaluation that has been undertaken since the last review is the Election Adjudication
projects, which provides useful insight and analyses of civil society’s contribution to the outcome
of the contest of the 2012 Elections. The evaluation has been completed with a draft report
submitted to the PMT. The momentum gained during the 2012 Election has been maintained
sufficiently during the interim in addressing core issues around the whole election cycle, including
such matters as the activities of political parties and the influence of the Executive over the
Electoral Commission. Any future programme should prioritise the electoral process from early
2015 and through the transition phase to STAR 2.
4. The programme’s pilot with a Managed and Open/Competitive Call with the Democratic
Governance and Access to Justice portfolios have revealed the potential for ensuring joint
working and linkages between national level CSO actions with sub-national citizen actions.
Lessons from this pilot will be documented for future programming.
5. In addition, the use of STAR-Ghana’s convening power to bring together CSOs and key
stakeholders such as independent governance institutions (IGIs) as well as Parliament and the
Judiciary have proven useful in building relations and collaboration for achieving shared
development goals.
6. The Steering Committee’s consultations with broader civil society have confirmed the desire for a
successor programme based on three key principles: national & subnational scope; diversity of
CSOs; a mix of established CSOs and openness to new CSOs, thereby affirming the inherent
dynamism and vibrancy of civil society.
7. The STAR-Ghana programme has generated a body of research, evidence and learning which
provides a valuable source of information on good practices for future programmes; and it is
essential that this body of material is retained and available for the successor programme.
8. Good progress has been made in supporting interested CSOs to address their longer term
organisational and financial sustainability, including the recent launch of the Leadership
Programme. However, the scale of cultural, organisational and fiscal challenges facing these
CSOs requires long term support.
Monitoring process throughout the review period
The research methodology and process used during this review included:
-
Documentary research – consideration of project reports generated by STAR-Ghana
Following email trails pertaining to sensitive and potentially contentious issues
Interviews with FC and SC members
Workshops and individual meetings with GPs and SA / TA service providers
A ToC workshop, involving FC, SC and PMT members to review the assumptions of STAR to inform
the design of STAR 2,
Participating (as observers) in a joint parliamentary committee-CSO workshop on GESI
Interviews with the majority and minority leaders in parliament.
Regular consultations with the PMT to keep them informed of the direction of the review and
indications of findings
A presentation of preliminary findings and recommendations to the SC, FC and PMT, at the end of
the review