BUDGIT GHANA PARTICIPATES IN THE 2022 OPEN GOVERNMENT PARTNERSHIP (OGP) REGIONAL MEETING IN MOROCCO
Jennifer Addochoe Moffatt, the Communications and CTAP Project Lead for BudgIT Ghana, shares her experience at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Africa and Middle East Regional Meeting hosted by the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco from November 1–3, 2022, in Marrakech, Morocco.
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) Africa and Middle East Regional Meeting brought together open government champions and stakeholders from the region and key international partners to increase collective ambition, energize the community, and generate new political support for making governments more transparent, accountable, and responsive to citizens.
BudgIT Ghana is committed to enhancing transparency and accountability in public finance to foster societal development and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Africa and Middle East Regional Meeting brought together like-minded organizations and open government champions and stakeholders from the region and key international partners to increase collective ambition, energize the community, and generate new political support for making governments more transparent, accountable, and responsive to citizens.
In the spirit of accelerating sustainable development and economic recovery in Africa, this year’s conference focused on leveraging open government approaches to improve public service delivery in the region. Participants shared their experiences, best practices, and lessons regarding improving critical public service policy areas, such as anti-corruption, digital innovation, access to justice, and civic participation.
Civic leaders, state actors, and the OGP Secretariat shared their experiences and lessons learned while championing the OGP National Action Plans in their respective regions. In addition, it offered a platform for learning and co-creation between civic societies and state actors.
The BudgIT Ghana team, represented by Ms. Jennifer Addochoe Moffatt, a speaker at the event, participated in a roundtable discussion on “Strengthening Health Sector Accountability in Africa: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” She described the team’s journey, which included numerous town hall meetings, radio broadcasts, and in-depth research and analysis of Ghana’s healthcare industry.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana, the evidence of COVID-19 procurement fraud, unaccounted COVID-19 Alleviation Programme (CAP) funds, and disparities in vaccine distribution across regions were cause for concern. These concerns necessitate the inclusion of a comprehensive health sector accountability policy in the OGP National Action Plan to facilitate a reporting procedure to monitor, track, and analyze disbursements and procurements in the health sector. In their interactions with the OGP Secretariat of Ghana, the team is championing and spearheading the inclusion of health sector accountability in Ghana’s next National Action Plan. Yaw Osafo-Maafo (Senior Minister and Head of OGP Secretariat, Ghana).
BudgIT Ghana remains committed to simplifying information to keep citizens informed and fostering democracy, transparency, and good governance in the country through citizen engagement and partnerships with other institutions.