On December 3rd Diakonia's partner organisation SEND-Ghana was honoured with the 2010 ONE Africa Award. The award ackowledges SEND's remarkable work in advancing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through efforts in promoting good governance and gender equality.

Building capacity of civil society

SEND-Ghana is a policy research and advocacy-based organization working to promote good governance and the equality of women and men in Ghana. SEND's vision is a country where people’s rights and wellbeing are guaranteed.

Through its activities, SEND-Ghana helps to build the capacity of civil society to self-organize, influence policy, improve transparency, and address access to social services.

Millennium Development Goals campaign

They coordinate Ghana’s MDG campaign, monitor improvements on the Goals, and issue a report that is used to highlight the importance of good governance. SEND is also part of Ghana's aid-effectiveness forum.

Monitoring creates impact

In 2002, SEND-Ghana began convening civil society organizations to monitor government policy by using citizen groups – the beneficiaries of government programs. SEND’s initial mobilization effort focused on monitoring the use of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative funds. Almost a decade later, SEND continues to conduct monitoring exercises of government programs and generates policy briefs that are disseminated among Ghanaian influentials, including parliamentarians.

The impact of SEND-Ghana’s work has rendered them a reliable resource, not only to civil society organizations, but also the government, in being able to effectively carry out their own development monitoring efforts. SEND-Ghana’s activities have helped to create better accountability practices, empower civil society in Ghana, and promote improved access to social services

200 applications for the award

In 2010, the ONE Africa Award received over 200 applications from eligible Africa-based NGOs and individuals - all of them engaged in inspiring work to advance one or more of the MDGs in their communities. 

In the end, SEND’s policy research and advocacy efforts very strongly aligned with the five criteria set forth for consideration for the ONE Africa Award:

• innovation
• results-oriented
• scalability/replicability
• accountability
• partnerships

As the 2010 ONE Africa Award winner, SEND-Ghana will receive a $100,000 prize award.