GIC 2016 Day Out: Learning Visit to Penplusbytes Open Government Project in Ada District

ACCRA - On Tuesday 23^rd February 2016 team Penplusbytes will be hosting the finalists of the Global Innovation Competition (GIC) by Making All Voices Count (MAVC) on a project learning trip to Ada to understand the contextual realities of tech-enabled citizen-government engagement at the local level in Ghana.

The visit forms part of activities leading up to the announcement of winners of the 3^rd GIC which was launched last September to find the best tech4gov ideas emerging across Africa and Asia. In all 15 groups made up of techies, civil society groups, businesses and ordinary people made it to the final stage.

Penplusbytes with support from Making All Voices Count (MAVC) is currently implementing the Grassroots Open Government Using New Digital Tools project in Ada and Tamale using a collaborative and integrated approach to promote and enhance communication and information sharing between citizens and the local government

According to Jerry Sam, Tech and Governance Director at Penplusbytes, “this project seeks to deliver an improved and well informed government actors on the nature, depth and quality of information demanded by citizens, using appropriate technology to achieve better communication and monitoring between them. It will also improve the engagement frameworks between citizens and governments for purposes of effective monitoring of programmes, development and budget appropriation and decision making.”

The visit by the finalists will enable them interact with the project beneficiaries at the local communities using the mobile platform to monitor public service delivery in education, health and sanitation. They will also interact with project representatives to understand how the project is implemented and managed.

After the visit, the finalists will be debriefed at a meeting during which they will exchange observations, insights and lessons learned from the experience. This is expected to the finalists an understanding of the citizen side and government side of tech for governance in Ghana. They will also gain an understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities offered by the local context, and how the Penplusbytes’ project has addressed them. This understanding should give the finalists insight into key considerations for the implementation of their own projects.

ABOUT

Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and driving oversight for effective utilisation of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources.

Making All Voices Count is an international initiative that contributes towards effective governance and accountability by enabling citizen engagement and open, responsive government in 12 countries in Africa and Asia.