First Meeting of the Advisory Group

On April 8, 2016 the Advisory Group Ghana gathered for the first time in Accra. The members of the Advisory Group were welcomed by Mr. Siegfried Leffler, Country Director of GIZ in Ghana, followed by a presentation by Mr. Raymond Ahiadorme, Network Manager of Alliance for Integrity.

In order to set this years’ strategy for the initiative in Ghana and also decide on the governance structure, representatives of the private and public sector, as well as civil society and academia were selected to be part of the Advisory Group based on their expertise and track record in the area of anti-corruption. Mrs. Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Ghana Integrity Initiative, and Mr. Kofi Anyemedu, Global Compact Network Ghana, were elected as Chair and Vice-Chair for 2016. The multi-stakeholder Advisory Group comprises representatives of the following organisations:

• Private sector: Allianz Ghana, Merck Ghana, Surfline Communications Limited, Association of Ghana Industries, Ghanaian-German Economic Association, Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry
• Public sector: Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, Public Procurement Authority
• Civil society: Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Global Compact Network Ghana, Centre for Democratic Development, Ghana Integrity Initiative
• International Organisations: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
• Academia: Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration

Regarding the strategy for Ghana, the Advisory Group recommended that the initiative should focus on undertaking capacity building programmes and engaging in awareness creation including public-private dialogue. The Advisory Group established two working groups concentrating on the topic of capacity building and awareness raising which will bring together practitioners and enhance the dialogue between different stakeholders also on the working level.

Besides the official launch on April 27, 2016 the initiative will set up capacity building measures, including a train-the-trainers and corruption prevention trainings for SMEs in various regions throughout the country. Furthermore, the Alliance for Integrity will develop a practitioners’ compliance guidebook which will be published and presented later this year.