Civil Society Organizations working in Ghana’s energy sector have commended the government for progress made under Mission 300, but are calling for more capacity building to monitor implementation effectively.
Speaking at an engagement in Accra, Executive Coordinator of the Strategic Network for Development, Chibeze Ezekiel, said the meeting was to bring CSOs up to speed on Mission 300, a programme the Government of Ghana is part of.
“We thought it was necessary to convene a meeting of this sort where we can bring CSOs up to speed, to hear from government in terms of deliverables – what we are going to achieve or what is yet to be achieved,” he said.
According to Mr. Ezekiel, out of 53 actions in the Energy Compact, the government selected 16 priority areas for year one.
“Out of the sixteen, we’ve achieved thirteen, which means that we have three to go. So if you look at it in that context, it means that we have done very well as a country,” he noted.
He said the foundation work, including putting in place regulations and standards, will make it easier to scale up implementation, such as building more solar mini-grids in island communities.
The meeting also sought to establish the Ghana CSOs Alliance on Mission 300 – a common platform for all CSOs working in the energy space to engage key partners like the World Bank, AFDB, and the Ministry of Energy.
Mr. Ezekiel explained that originally Mission 300 had five pillars, but Ghana has added a sixth pillar on gender “to ensure that we have more women participating in the energy space.”
Going forward, CSOs plan to document their contributions, no matter how small. “We are distributing stoves; some are doing solar home systems and all that. So how do we capture all these as our contribution as CSOs in this?” he said.
On the government’s role, he commended the Ministry for being transparent and responsive. “They always share progress reports or updates… it means that the ministry is open and they’re being transparent.”
However, he appealed to partners, including the World Bank, AFDB, and Sustainable Energy for All, to support CSOs with capacity building.
“One of the key areas we need is capacity building on how we can effectively track and monitor the implementation of some of these deliverables,” he said.
By Prosper Kwaku Selassy Agbitor
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