Policy think tank, Africa Policy Lens, has launched two national assessment tools — the Ghana Wellbeing Tracker and the Governance Trust Barometer — aimed at providing a citizen-centred evaluation of governance and economic conditions in the country.

The two barometers were unveiled at a ceremony in Accra, where the organisation also released its maiden reports on both indices.

According to the think tank, the initiatives are designed to provide a more systematic understanding of how Ghanaians experience governance, economic pressures and institutional performance in their daily lives.

Explaining the Governance Trust Barometer (GTB), the Executive Director of APL said the framework focuses on the lived experiences of citizens and how they perceive the quality, responsiveness and credibility of state institutions.

“The APL’s Governance and Trust Barometer offers a systematic, citizen-centred evaluation of governance quality and institutional trust in Ghana,” he stated. He added that the index moves beyond formal structures to assess how governance is experienced in practice by ordinary people.

The organisation noted that the GTB combines eight key areas — including institutional trust, corruption perception, accountability, rule of law, government communication, citizen participation, electoral confidence and political security — into a single composite index measured on a scale of 0 to 100.

According to APL, the framework reflects the complex nature of democratic governance and the everyday relationship between citizens and the state.

On the Ghana Wellbeing Tracker, the think tank explained that the initiative focuses on household economic realities and the challenges citizens face in navigating daily living conditions.

The tracker examines factors such as cost of living pressures, employment conditions, income levels, business activity and household financial resilience.

APL said these indicators are consolidated into the Ghana Wellbeing Index (GWI), which is also measured on a scale of 0 to 100 to provide an overall assessment of economic wellbeing across the country.

The organisation indicated that the index is intended to provide policymakers, researchers and the public with a clearer understanding of how economic conditions are affecting households nationwide.

The think tank also released the first findings from both the Governance Trust Barometer and the Ghana Wellbeing Index, describing them as important tools for strengthening evidence-based policymaking and public accountability in Ghana.