Ghana Programme 2017 1. Political update 2017
Ghana has been considered the beacon of democracy in West Africa in recent years as it has experienced a number of years of political stability and economic growth. Yet over time cleavages in the socio political environment have arisen especially relating to political inclusiveness and responsiveness. Especially the youth feel disenfranchised in politics, while women are severely unrepresented.
In 2016 political developments have centred on the parliamentary and presidential elections planned for December 2016. There are over 20 presidential candidates supported by a range of new parties. The incumbent and his party (NDC) is deeply unpopular. In late 2015 a number of corruption scandals, including one leading to the suspension of seven high court judges, and lavish government spending led to a number of large public protests in the capital early in the year. The perception among the population that the government mismanaged the recent sharp economic downturn and power crisis which led to steep increases in the price of energy and water, fuelled by the reality of a large budge assistance programme introduced by the IMF last April, has only made the ruling party even more unpopular. 
The main opposition candidate however comes from the second largest party (NPP) that has faced a number of internal party struggles recently regarding its presidential candidate. The party is also struggling with financing its activities. Despite these problems the NPP is expected to win the presidential election overwhelmingly. 
There also continues to be a lot of distrust in the Electoral commission and their ability to manage the elections is being questioned. To support the management of the elections an elections taskforce has been established, that includes the national police force, who are specifically working on preventing electoral violence, all the political parties also signed a communique urging people to not resort to violence. 
However trust in politics is at an all-time low and political actors will need to work hard to create a more inclusive environment that addresses the corruption and transparency issues they face. The new government will inherit a massive debt problem and an as yet unresolved power crisis. Meanwhile education and unemployment remain high on the political agenda. Political stakeholders will also need to review the way in which elections are managed to ensure more trust in the Electoral commission in the future. 

2. Programme & Theory of Change Update
The theory of change for the Ghana programme focuses on improving the political system, actors and culture through the inclusion of youth and women’s voices in policy making. This is still a very persistent issue in Ghanaian politics as the run up to the presidential elections show primarily an old guard political elite contesting for power. 
The programme this year has focussed on preparing youth leaders to engage in the elections in a productive manner and from next year once the elections have taken place the programme aims to develop a shadow dialogue platform that enables youth leaders to interact with each other and the political leadership to ensure inclusive policy making on topics that affect them. For this reason the changing political context supports the theory of change and the programme objectives even more deeply.
Besides implementing programme activities in 2017 NIMD, together with our local partner, will also develop a plan to ensure the programme’s sustainability beyond 2018 (at which point MFA funding will cease). By early 2017 NIMD will have developed its vision for the future of the programme on the basis of possible scenarios and opportunities currently available. In the first quarter of 2017 NIMD together with its local partner will decide how this goal can best be achieved, including what resources and funding will be necessary. For the remainder of the year the plan will be implemented so that by 2018 a sustainable programme is in place. Political actors are defined as the combined main target group of the Strategic Partnership: - (representatives of) political parties - politicians - (Members of) Parliament and its Committees - Other elected representatives at local levels. NIMD will primarily focus on political parties.