Quarterly Digest

GHQ003 - November 2015

EDITORIAL COMMENT
The Sustainable Development Goals simply known as the #GlobalGoals have been the subject of discussion for some time
now. Civil Society (CS) groups, world leaders, international organisations are all urging governments to take strong actions
and commitment to make the agenda 2030 a reality. This edition of the Quarterly Digest picks views from partners, staff,
and other collaborators to get their side of the bigger picture. So, the big question is which 3 of the 17 goals come across
as your top most priorities? Read on to know what others are saying about the SDGs in Ghana.
This edition also shares insights of the Climate Resilient and Agricultural Food System project as we devise innovative ways
of making everyone a part of the climate discussion. You will also read interesting articles from our Active Citizenship and
Extractive programmes as well as telling the story of our GROW Campaign in fifteen minutes. Tips on our BST Corner and
other special features well interspersed to make your reading pleasurable. We present to you the third edition of Oxfam in
Ghana Quarterly Digest.

IN THIS EDITION
Oxfam Diversity Day
Oxfam/Partners MEAL framework training
Launch of GROW video documentary
Connecting with Partners to connect to the world
Changing the phase of climate reporting
Extractive Industries exchange learning experience
Here we come again! Rural Womens Day at Bipoah
Want to fight extreme poverty? Provide more, timely data
BST CORNER
OXFUN

OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

OXNEWS
Oxfam Diversity Day
Diversity is not about how we differ.
Diversity is about embracing one
anothers uniqueness -Ola Joseph

There is beauty in diversity. And as we often say, variety

is the spice of life. Our diverse ways of doing things make

Francis, Karim and Moro dancing the takai

Photo Credit/ Naana Nkansah Agyekum/Oxfam

us unique as individuals. Marking this day brought out

the beauty in our different cultures as staff donned their
traditional clothes.

The Country Director of Oxfam in Ghana, Sebastian

Tiah crowned it with these words
The day for me reinforce the need for us to
appreciate everyone differently and therefore will
enhance my ability to work better with others. It was
a great day for me and something that we need to
continue to emphasise.

Staff doing the agbadza dance

Photo Credit/ Naana Nkansah Agyekum/Oxfam

Francis Ayamga Abgere EI Programmes Assistant

It was great and I think we should continue with
it. A single day to de-stress and connect with our
age-old heritage.
Sandra Akuamoah Finance Officer:
Our culture is indeed our identity; and our identity

Taking it cool with the Agbadza dance

Photo Credit/ Abdulkarim Mohammed/Oxfam

is our root.
Need I say more; but to borrow Malcolm Forbes words
as he puts it beautifully; diversity is the art of thinking
independently together.

OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

Oxfam partners MEAL framework workshop

MEAL! If you hear it for the first time what comes to mind? May sound like a buffet party but in Oxfam, MEAL; Monitoring
Evaluation Accountability & Learning may be that buffet to ensure objectives of our programmes are yielding the needed
results in our quest to fight poverty and injustice.

The workshop was very

insightful as it provided
easy and practical
tools to conduct
participatory monitoring
and evaluation. I look
forward to implementing
these tools to maximise
our project results.
Solomon Kusi Ampofo, the
Communications and Campaigns
Coordinator for Friends of the
Nation.

Participants actively listening during a presentation

Photo Credit/ Naana Nkansah Agyekum/Oxfam

The 43 participants (40% female) of partners from the Climate

Resilient and Agricultural Food System (CRAFS) project,
SEND-Ghana, Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana, Africa
Centre for Energy Policy, Alliance for Reproductive Health
Right, IBIS among others had the opportunity to input into
the Country MEAL Strategy.

We shared and discussed

minimum standards of CAMSA (Common Approach to

Monitoring & Social Accountability) to enable partners
effectively monitor and track contributions towards our
collective ambition.
The three day training also presented a session for
discussion on improving Oxfam/partner relationship.
A platform was also created for partners to share best
practices to improve MEAL in programming. Innovative MEAL
systems, particularly on monitoring and data collection
were explored and exposed to participants.

OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

Time to explore with digital evaluation tools

Photo Credit/ Naana Nkansah Agyekum/Oxfam

Launch of GROW video documentary

Its been four years of GROW campaign in West Africa.
Ghana being part of the focal countries of this campaign
has over the past years worked with campaign members
to continually stress the need for responsible investment
in small scale agriculture. The year also presented an
opportune time to pause, reflect and project on the next
phase of the campaign. This was done nicely in a 15 minute
documentary that was put together to tell the Ghana story.
The Ghana story of #oil4ag campaign, the Ghana story of
budget tracking, the Ghana story of advocacy on national
platforms for women peasant farmers and their access to
land and services and the Ghana story of farmers manifesto
for political parties. Just spare 15 minutes to watch the full
story. https://goo.gl/BvKL8A

Connecting with
Partners to Connect to the World
Oxfam believes in empowerment; empowerment to engage effectively to tell the Oxfam story. Understanding the trend of
social media platforms and the role it plays in our campaigns and project has therefore become a necessity. For these and
many more reasons, we organised a training session for partners to develop creative ways in campaigning that will amplify
the voices of poor people.
The training was facilitated by the West Africa
Civil Society Institute who educated partners
on new developments in digital technology and
the potential of this technology to transform
the ways we communicate. Partners and staff of
Oxfam were taken through series of activities to
communicate more effectively in order to appeal
to the wider public.
The training afforded partners like the Civil
Society Coalition on Land (CICOL) and Peasant
Farmers Association of Ghana (@PFAGghana)
to open Face book and Twitter accounts
Practical sessions during the digital training

respectively while WiFDAF Ghana reactivated its

Photo Credit/ WACSI

twitter account (@WiLDAFGhana).

Here are quotes from participants

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Abigail Edem Hunu, Media Officer, WiLDAF

The digital training organised by Oxfam in Ghana for its
partners was the most helpful and productive training I
have attended in recent time. The resource persons were
awesome! Their presentation skills were on point. With the
help of this training, my organisation is now on twitter, I had
downplayed the importance of our social media presence till I
attended this workshop. We are taking social Media by Storm
with informative and educative messages on how we can all
help to reduce poverty and injustice in Ghana and globally!
Kwabena Adjei, Peasant farmers Association of Ghana:
It was very educative, exciting and an eye-opener as it
Participants expressing one thing or another at the training
Photo Credit/ Naana Nkansah Agyekum/Oxfam

has really broadened our scope in actively and effectively

managing our website.

Participnats in a special fruit salad dance

Photo Credit/ Naana Nkansah Agyekum/Oxfam

PARTNER INTERACTION

Lets get local with climate change terminologies

If you were the field officer for a climate adaptation project,

In fact, you are not alone, as Oxfam implementing partners

how would you interpret words like risk, vulnerability,

and allies for the Climate Resilient Agricultural Food System

hazards, disasters, capacity, adaptation, etc in your local

(CRAFS) had a real tough time to get accurate words,

language? Are you struggling to couch the right words to

phrases, clauses in their local dialects to represent these

communicate these terminologies for your local people?

terminologies.

OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

Some of our partners shared

their experience after the
tough exercise.
Josephine Terpeng, Field
Officer, ProNet North; Its
not so simple to get the
exact words to mean the
same thing. It was however
nice to hear some of the
explanations

to

them.

It gives you a clue. But I

believe some experienced
people in the community
can help.

The translation wasnt easy because you cant

use a word to get out the meaning in most cases
unless its explained. The process however helped
to get a deeper understanding of climate change.

Obed Asunka, Project Officer Presbyterain Agric Station

Garu; The translation wasnt easy because you cant use
a word to get out the meaning in most cases unless its
explained. The process however helped to get a deeper
understanding of climate change.

Obed Asunka, Project Officer Presbyterain Agric Station Garu

Nabilla Abu, Field Officer at Partners in Rural Empowerment

After going back and forth with these terminologies, they

and Development for the CRAFS project also had this to

finally settled on some clauses and words in the Mampruli,

say; It was extremely difficult for groups to give straight

Daagare and Kusau languages to make communicating

forward definitions for the terms and I also realised some

the issue of climate change and adaptability easy for their

similarities in the Kusau and Mampruli languages.

respective communities.
At least for now, I know vulnerability is Tarinsi in Mampruli
and Tadong in Kusau.
Well, the next time you want to start a discussion on climate
change in your community, try interpreting these words in
your local dialect but just in case you know the Akan word/
clause for vulnerability, I would be grateful if you share with
me.

Discussions on DRR
Photo Credit/ Naana Nkansah Agyekum/Oxfam

OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

Changing the phase of Climate reporting

Reporting on the complex phenomenon of climate change

was to ensure they take the fight against climate change

has never been easy. The huge responsibility lies on

upon themselves as their regions are highly vulnerable to

journalists to play a critical role in explaining the cause and

hazards.

effects of climate change, in describing what countries and

communities can do to adapt to the impacts ahead, and in

The facilitator, for the training Benjamin Fiabgor of Farm

reporting on what governments must do to minimise impact.

Radio further explained the difficulty the media have

had over the years with climate change reporting as most

But the question is; do journalists themselves understand

of them have been ignorant about the issues of climate

the reality of climate change in order to report adequately?

change and therefore find it uncomfortable to report on

The idea behind Oxfams training for 30 media practitioners

climate change and its related issues.

in Northern Ghana was to expose them to the practical

aspect of climate change reportage and programming.
Most of the journalists we interacted didnt mince words in
affirming the challenge in climate reporting.

Oxfam partners and journalists in a group picture

Oxfam in Ghana realised that, the need for a more informed

public, especially on issues related to climate change,
is greater than ever because communities that face the
greatest climate-related risks are those who receive the
least information through mass media. Following this need,
30 journalists from seventeen media houses plus partners
making up 34 (seven females) participants benefitted from
Journalists discusing how to make climate change reportage practical

the climate change training.

Photo Credit/ Naana Nkansah Agyekum/Oxfam

For Issac Nogya of Metro TV, one key thing which became
The challenge has always been the issues, most of us
do not know the issues and once you do not understand
the issues yourself it gets difficult to probe to understand
what the issues are. The focus over the years has been on
political reporting and paying much attention to that at the
expense of other important issues, Matina Bugri, of Joy FM

clear during the 3 day training was the practical exercise

on climate terminologies and information sharing
with colleagues on making climate change reportage
interesting and practical.
Out of this training, a 20 week radio programme has been

stated.

designed with all four of the CRAFS partners to discuss

Selecting media persons from the Northern part of Ghana

operations. Key topics will include weather information,

OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

issues of climate change within communities of their

building adaptive capacity of communities and climate

smart activities to preserve the vegetation. Some of the

Links to media reportage on the training:

media partners will also be part of Oxfams communication

tours and monitoring visit to project areas.

http://goo.gl/yNdAfG

Benjamin encouraged journalists to be action oriented in

https://goo.gl/7vZKn4

their climate change reportage to cause the necessary

action to improve livelihoods.

Here we come again!

Rural Womens Day at Bipoah
The spontaneous dance that accompanied her winning of
an award during the international day of the rural woman
showed how appreciative she was to Oxfam and other
organisations that made this possible for them. Maame
Akua Serwaa, a 64 year old yam farmer from Tuobodom in
the Brong Ahafo region was among the numerous women
who received awards for their hard work.
Over 1200 women came from all the ten regions of Ghana
to exhibit their produce and other food items at Bipoa in

Exhibition at the celebration

the Ashanti Region. Some of them shared their joy for the

Photo Credit/ Pascal Kudiabor/ SEND Ghana

celebration of the rural woman.

We take the opportunity to discuss rural womens
challenges because during the celebration, we get a
lot of stakeholders from the agricultural value chains
participation and this serves as a platform for the rural
women. I must add that some of our women were able to
access fertilizer after the issue was raised during last years
celebration. They also use it to network and learn from other
women groups, Gladys Serwaah Adusah, Womens Leader,
of Middle Zone Farmers Organisation stressed.
In a similar vein, the Day was massively patronised at
Garu Tempane in the Upper East Region. After Oxfam
supported a partner, the Presbyterian Agric Station-Garu
to commemorate the Day for the first time in 2014, the
District Chief Executive fulfilled its promise of advancing
women leadership by appointing six women as government
Maame Akua Serwaa showing some dancing steps after receiving
her award
Photo Credit/ Naana Nkansah Agyekum/Oxfam

representatives at the Assembly out of the 13 slots given in

his district. The District has now embraced the concept and
committed to mark the Day in subsequent years.

OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

In Tamale in the Northern Region, stakeholders once again

stressed the need for womens access to agricultural
services. Prior to the celebration, GROW members embarked
on a massive social media campaign with the hash tag
#FromRhetorics2Action and #GROWinGhana. The social
media activities and other media engagements threw more
light on the day for partners to raise the voices of rural
women on different media platforms
District chief executive celebrates with women
Photo Credit: Lillian Kuutiero/Oxfam

Some women with their placards during the celebration at Garu

Photo Credit: Lillian Kuutiero/Oxfam

Lois Aduamoah-Addo, Programmes Officer of WiLDAF-Ghana on TV3 News discussing significance of the Day
Photo Credit: Abigail Edem Hunu/WiLDAF-Ghana

OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

Extractive Industries
exchange learning experience
OXFAM in Ghana hosted colleagues from Tanzania, Zimbabwe

Our site visit to FoN in Takoradi gave our team great

and Mozambique to share insights from our partners Friends

insights into the local, community-level work that the

of the Nation (FoN) and Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP)

organization is doing with frontline communities affected

on budget tracking of extractive revenues. The visit was also

by petroleum activities. In particular, their support to the

to showcase the linkages between the different strands of

Community Environmental Monitoring and Advocacy Groups

Oxfam in Ghanas work.

provides a useful example of how partner organizations can

promote grassroots advocacy on human rights abuses and

Our program teams in Mozambique and Tanzania,

which are just beginning to develop their EI
programmes under the NORAD grant, took back
many new ideas and lessons to apply to their own
work back home.
Julie Kim, Programme Officer managing NORAD grants.

environmental impacts. Our program teams in Mozambique

and Tanzania, which are just beginning to develop their EI
programmes under the NORAD grant, took back many new
ideas and lessons to apply to their own work back home.
Richard Hato-Kuevor, the EI Programmes Officer for Oxfam
in Ghana added that the visit was an opportunity to share
with colleagues.
My experience in Ghana during the exchange programme

The team had interactive sessions with the Shama District

was enlightening especially because it happened soon after

Assembly and Community Environmental Management

the summer school on governance of natural resources. The

Advocacy (CEMAG) members in the District.

field visit gave me an opportunity to see the excellent work

being done by partners FoN and ACEP and learn from them.

Colleagues shared some lessons and best practices of

The knowledge I gained as well as the contacts I made will

partners research and advocacy work in the Extractive

continue to inform and strengthen the work we are doing in

Industries (EI) and Active Citizenship they have picked from

Tanzania as far as contributing to improvement of national

the visit.

resources governance is concerned.

Dastan Kweka,

the Extractive Industries Programme Officer for Oxfam in

Tanzania added.

Oxfam teams visit to Shama

Photo Credit/ Richard Cobbinah/FoN

Interaction with Oxfam and Friends of the Nation

Photo Credit/ Richard Cobbinah/FoN

Julie Kim is the Programme Officer managing NORAD grants

and she says

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OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

Want to fight extreme poverty?

Provide more, timely data
Aid policies and programs should empower citizens and civil society to have access
to information as well as the space to operate, track and verify development
spending from all sources.
To some people in the developed world, it may be difficult

the food that we ate and survived.

to imagine that there are millions still deprived of such basic

amenities, but I am a living example.

You want to read more on this article, dont you? Just follow
the link below to read the full version of this one put together

I know what poverty is and I know what it means to be

by Albert Kan-Dapaah, Former Member of Parliament and

extremely poor. Born into a broken home, my father

Minister of Ghana also doubles as the Executive Director of

abandoned my mother, my siblings, and me just weeks after

FAT-Africa, an Oxfam in Ghana Partner.

I was born. From that time, until I was sixteen, I grew up in

a poverty-stricken environment. I shared one tiny bedroom

http://politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org/2015/10/want-

with my mother, two sisters and brother. I put on shoes

to-fight-extreme-poverty-provide-more-timely-data/

for the first time when I was twelve years old. When I think
about it, I cant believe we drank the water we drank and ate

ZERO TOLERANCE APPROACH TO BRIBERY

Though the bribe be small, yet
the fault is great.Edward Coke
The business dictionary defines bribery as the act of
taking or receiving something with the intention of
influencing the recipient in some way favourable to
the party providing the bribe. Bribe is also defined by
the Cambridge English dictionary as trying to make
someone do something for you by giving them money,
presents or something else that they want.

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OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

Oxfam has a zero tolerance approach to bribery and we

consider this contrary to our fundamental values of
integrity, transparency and accountability. Our service
providers and partners are expected to adopt a similar
position.

In Oxfam, the following behaviours amount to bribery

Where an individual improperly offers, gives or promises any form of material benefit or
other advantage, whether in cash or in kind, to another in order to influence their conduct
in any way. The payment need not be made directly to the individual but could be to a
third party at the instruction of the person to whom the bribe is offered.

Where an individual improperly requests, agrees to receive or accepts any form of material
benefit or other advantage, whether in cash or in kind, which influences or is designed to
influence their conduct in any way. Facilitation payments are also considered as bribe.
Facilitation payments are amounts paid to expedite routine business activities e.g. paying
an immigration official to speed up the processing of a visa.

Personal gifts offered or accepted as part of a specific business transaction could be

considered a bribe if the effect or intent is to influence a decision made in favour of the
individual offering the gift or there is a condition attached to accepting the gift. Oxfams
own policy is that any gifts received should be donated to Oxfam.

Provision of hospitality (entertainment, travel and accommodation) in furtherance of

enhancing a business relationship or fulfilling obligations to enable officials to visit
programmes or projects would not be considered a bribe unless the intent was to encourage
the recipient to behave improperly or the value of the hospitality was disproportionate.

Where an individual requests favours for their family or friends as part of a contractual
negotiation e.g. a job, this is also considered bribery.

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OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

OXFUN

Alright so the Millennium Development

Goals are gradually fading out and in its
wake come Sustainable Development
Goals. The new hash tag trending in town
now is #SDGs. Lets hear the top three
priorities from some individuals.

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OXFAM IN GHANA QUARTERLY DIGEST

OXFUN
Here we go...
Abdulkarim Mohammed
Pascal Kudiabor,
Communications Ofiicer, SEND- Ghana
Goals 2 End hunger, achieve food security,
improved, nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculture 3; ensure healthy lives and
promote well being for all and 5 Achieve
gender equality and empower all.

Active Citizenship Campaign Advisor,

Oxfam in Ghana
Goal 7; ensuring access to affordable, reliable,
sustainable and modern energy for all:
followed by goal 1 which seeks to end poverty
in all forms everywhere and goal 13; taking
urgent action to combat climate change and
its impacts

Jimm Fomunjong,
Naana Nkansah Agyekum,
Media & Communications Lead, Oxfam in
Ghana; ; I will go for goals 1; End poverty in
all its forms, 5; Achieve gender equality and
empower all women and girls and 13 which
calls for urgent action to combat climate
change and its impacts.

Victoria Adongo,
National Coordinator Peasant farmers
Association of Ghana; Mine are goals
1,ending poverty in all its forms; 2
ending hunger, achieving food security,
improved nutrition and promoting
sustainable agriculture and 3 ensuring
healthy lives and well being for all at all
ages respectively.

Communications and Information

Officer, West Africa Civil Society
Institute; Goal 4 which is to ensure inclusive and
equitable quality education and promote lifelong
learning opportunities for all is paramount for
Jimm; followed by goal 5 aimed at achieving
gender equality and empower all but beyond just
women and girls. The 3rd priority is Goal 3; ensuring
healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all
ages.

Eunice Agbenyadzi,
National Policy Advisor, IBIS.
My topmost priority is goal 4 which calls for
inclusive and equitable quality education followed
by goal 3 which is to ensure healthy lives for
all and the final one is goal 17 strengthen the
means of implementation and revitalise the global
partnership for sustainable development.

We will appreciate your comments, suggestions and any feedback so reach the media and communications officer on nagyekum@

oxfam.org.uk or https://twitter.com/oxfaminghana or on our face book page https://www.facebook.com/OxfamInGhana

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