Girls Advocacy Alliance Ghana SUMMARY 
Ghana has made significant progress in reducing poverty and violence against girls and women. But despite the gains in laws and public policies, they are still confronted with various forms of violence and economic exclusion. Good laws and policies are not sufficient; they must be implemented and enforced adequately. 

The Girls Advocacy Alliance, consisting of Plan, Defence for Children International (DCI) Ghana and the Ghana NGO Coalition on the Rights of Children (GNCRC), together with CSO partners, urges government traditional leaders and private sector agents to improve the implementation of existing policies, in particular in relation to child marriage, sexual violence, commercial sexual exploitation and the access to education. 

The alliance started in 2016, concentrating its actions in 3 regions (Northern, Upper West,  Eastern) and at national level. It supports local groups of girls and young women to influence local leaders to change negative norms and practices. Although public policies addressing gender based violence and economic exclusion have been developed by the government, they are insufficiently being implemented. This 'implementation gap' is reflected in the low budget amounts being allocated to the agencies responsible for protection and economic empowerment, inadequate coordination mechanisms, limited capacity of service providers and lack of monitoring data. The weak position of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection also inhibits effective implementation of gender equality policies. 

The implementation gap is caused by several factors. First, the issues of gender based violence and economic exclusion are not prioritised by the political elites and decision-makers. Second, the persistence of gender-discriminatory social norms in Ghana perpetuates the current climate in which violence against girls and women is permitted and access to justice is denied to victims. Third, there are inconsistencies between formal and customary laws which frustrate law enforcement. Fourth, civil society in Ghana is not sufficiently well organized and experiences capacity constraints in advocacy. This makes it harder to effectively hold decision-makers accountable for the lack of actions. The long-term goal of the alliance is to eliminate GBV and to increase girls’ and young women’s access to economic opportunities. In order to achieve this goal, the alliance aims to obtain the following results: 
1)	Key leaders promoting values against GBV and in support of economic empowerment 
2)	Government institutions effectively implementing the Domestic Violence Act and the national action plan against child marriage 
3)	Government institutions, together with private sector actors, effectively implement the national employment policy (particularly in relation to TVET provision)
4)	Representative CSO networks monitor and hold government and corporate actors accountable 

A key intervention of the alliance entails the mobilisation of change agents in society. A strong coalition of traditional leaders, youth advocates and local organisations, is needed to exert pressure on decision-makers. The alliance members will support these coalitions in using adequate monitoring data and evidence. In addition, the members provide organisational capacity support to their civil society partners and will encourage their linkages with non-traditional actors such as private companies, religious leaders and organisations of boys and men. The Girls Advocacy Alliance programme builds upon the experiences and networks generated by the Girl Power programme which was implemented by Plan, DCI and GNCRC during the period 2010-2015. The former programme heavily invested in the development of community child protection networks which the alliance members consider as an important mechanism for continuous monitoring of girls and women’s rights at district and community level. The data obtained by these networks will be used to strengthen the advocacy messages towards district and national government agencies. 

The alliance members will also take advantage of their constructive relationship with the Ministry of Gender. Despite the weaknesses of this Ministry, it remains a crucial actor responsible for the promotion of girls and women’s rights in the government policies and operations. Furthermore, the alliance members and local partners will collaborate with other civil society organisations and external donors who are active in the domain of GBV and young women’s economic empowerment such as the Dutch Embassy in Ghana and the Girls Not Brides network. The direct beneficiaries are girls (10 – 18 years) and young women (18 – 24 years) living in the target areas of the programme (10 districts in 3 regions of Ghana). The population of final beneficiaries consists of all girls and young women in Ghana who benefit from better policy implementation and enforcement by relevant public and private agencies. During the last quarter of 2016, alliance members and local partners started to organise and mobilize local leaders, community organisations and groups of girls and young women in order to create a coalition of strong advocates. The following actions have been initiated: 
1.	Meetings with relevant stakeholders at district (10) and regional level (3 regions) to sensitize them on the GAA programme and advocacy issues
2.	Coordination meetings with NGOs and other development actors engaged in the fight against child marriage and sexual violence to align ongoing initiatives
3.	Identify and support existing girls and young women groups and the community child protection teams to gather data and monitor prevalence of gender based violence
4.	Organize forums in each district to sensitize key traditional leaders (including female traditional leaders as the ‘queen mothers’), local council of churches, Muslims leaders on the issues of GBV and economic exclusion
5.	Support the formation of boys and men’s groups to address girls’ rights and report cases of rights violations in their districts

During 2017, the alliance members and local partners will support the above mentioned agents of change in order to strengthen their collaboration, improve the quality of their advocacy actions and facilitate their engagements with local, regional and national decision-making agencies. This entails the following activities: 
1.	Select the change agents from among key leaders, queen mothers, religions leaders, boys and men groups in each district and form a coalition at the regional level
2.	Organize trainings for change agents on current law and public policies on child marriage and sexual violence
3.	Conduct a quick analysis of available knowledge to understand the current norms, customs, values and traditions related to child marriage and sexual violence  
4.	Analyse data collected by community child protection teams and by groups of girls and women to identify gaps and weaknesses in the provision of protection services 
5.	Develop clear advocacy asks in collaboration with the coalition of key leaders, girls and young women groups and boys and men groups
6.	Develop media programmes in partnership with local/national media which highlight the occurrence of gender based violence
7.	Develop policy recommendations enabling ministries and municipal and district assemblies to monitor the prevalence of gender based violence taking into account existing child protection mechanisms and the new SDG agenda
8.	Facilitate engagements between the coalition of change agents and relevant decision-makers at the regional and national house of chiefs 
9.	Facilitate engagements between the coalition of change agents and relevant decision-makers at the regional governments, national ministries and municipal and district assemblies 
10.	Organize seminars with relevant policy makers, donors and other stakeholders presenting and discussing the proposal on how to improve the monitoring of gender based violence 

Throughout the entire programme period, the alliance members will provide capacity development support to their local partners. Their capacity for advocacy will be strengthened through trainings, exchanges of good practices, joint learning actions and individual staff skill development actions. Based on the initial diagnosis of existing capacity and on the demand of the local partners, the capacity support will focus on: 
-	the development of sound advocacy asks and messages 
-	the strengthening of effective PME systems to monitor the effects of advocacy 
-	the inclusion of girls and young women into the organisation The Girls Advocacy alliance in Ghana strives towards improved implementation of public policies which counteract gender based violence and promote the economic inclusion of girls and young women. The GAA members use the following strategies to ensure that improvements in policy implementation will be sustained in the long-term: 

1.	The organisational capacity support provided to civil society partners aims to strengthen their advocacy efforts in the long run;
2.	The mobilization of a coalition of multiple organisations and actors (change agents) willing and able to hold government agencies accountable, will not only increase the advocacy strength of civil society but also increase the likelihood of effective collective action in the future;
3.	The mobilization of groups of girls and young women and their engagement with formal as well as informal decision-makers will promote a generation of female activists and advocates;
4.	Given the informal (soft) power of traditional chiefs and religious leaders in Ghana, their growing awareness and agency on issues of girls and women’s rights, will have lasting effects on the transformation of gender discriminatory norms and practices