Programme Director of Making All Voices Count (MAVC) has commended various governments on the continent, where they work for their collaboration and support in citizens engagement.

Dr Fletcher Tembo said the relationship with governments have improved over the years with the implementation of the projects under the MAVC initiative to harness the power of innovation and new technology to support effective and accountable governance.

The leader of the International Initiative Programme was speaking at the end of the programme sharing event in Accra, where all the projects sponsored under the initiative were brought together to exchange ideas on the way forward.

He said the aim of the MAVC was not only to bring about change during the lifetime of the programme but also to leave a legacy of learning, knowledge and evidence that helps to ensure future governance programmes that seek to capitalise on the potential of innovation and technology were more informed, inclusive and impacted.

Dr Tembo said Ghana has a lot of potential at the sub-governance level for government to engage effectively with citizens to develop the country.

He called the grantees to develop effective relationships with their various governments at all levels of governance.

The programme focused on 12 countries across Africa and Asia: Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, Liberia, Mozambique, Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

Dr Tembo said those effective relationships create the room for innovation and urged the grantees to create a room for young people to innovate because there was a lot of energy in them that could be harnessed

He said their “focus is now to bring together lessons about what works and what does not in this field and making sure they help to improve both policy and practice in the future.”

Dr Tembo said the programme also explored the role innovation could play in securing responsive, accountable government and they were helping to build an evidence base on what works and what does not.

He said an observation at the end of all the projects, indicates that a lot of the governments were responding better to citizen engagement, where they show interest.

Mr Lord Asante Fordjour, the Executive Director, Advocacy and Media Support Foundation, one of the grantees said it had been a great opportunity to work with MAVC on their flagship project, Action Voices, which seeks to promote citizen-government engagement.

He said through funding from MAVC they successfully piloted their project in the La Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly in Accra in 2016, which yielded positive results.