Sebastien Gasquet's Blog - Post #5

Civil Society-con 2013

Today marks the beginning of a long weekend, as this Monday, July 1st, is Ghana's Republic Day. I also learned a cool Friday tradition in the Ghanaian workplace, as the government has been encouraging office workers to wear traditional garb. As it happened, I decided to wear a traditional shirt today, but it paled in comparison to some of the very elaborate robes and headdresses worn by many colleagues here.

This Monday during WANEP's weekly meeting I was proposed to represent the company at an annual reception of grant partners in a program called STAR-Ghana (Strengthening Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness in Ghana), funded by USAID, UKAID, DANIDA (the Danish development agency) and the EU. The two-day conference was held at an upscale hotel in downtown Accra, and I got to experience how some important actors in the civil society "industry" in Ghana conducted their business. Among the guest speakers were members of Ghana's parliament testifying about the efforts of CSOs in their constituencies. The 4 major themes discussed revolved around health, education, oil&gas and governance. I was surprised that conflict prevention and resolution was not represented, given the fact that its become such an important component found in CSOs across the West African region. It was an interesting experience however since I got to see how these different policy fields that are so often mentioned in GSPIA unfolded in Ghana. And, of course, it was hard to complain much after a quality 4-star hotel luncheon!
  
To wrap up the week, I finished updating the Early Warning Network regarding incidents in the Francophone countries and reviewed a policy brief on the upcoming elections in Togo. I can't believe it's already been a month since I stepped off the plane, it still feels really fresh! I think I've gotten the basic geographic notions  and survival skills down, notably how to negotiate a non-outrageous rate with taxi drivers (one of whom had to hotwire his car to get it started instead of using the ignition, much to my concern), although the daily near crashes get my heart rate going...The rolling blackouts can be quite peeving, as I experienced a few times this week again, especially after a long day when all you want is the AC on full blast, but all in all so far so good!