The project, “Leveraging the power of data and digital tools to Stop Human Rights Abuse – An iWatch, CHRAJ and Police Collaboration”, will train and empower journalists and student journalists with these data and digital tools to find and report on cases involving human rights abuses and corruption.

The goal is to support CHRAJ and the Police to use these effective communication tools to educate the public and report more about these topical issues, for them to take real action to resolve the reported cases.

When iWatch Africa paid a courtesy call on the Commission last Tuesday, the CHRAJ Commissioner, Joseph Whittal praised iWatch’s initiative and creativity to bring human rights issues to life and expressed support for the project: “We are happy to partner this initiative as it sinks well with our mandate and efforts to bring human rights abuse issues to fore. This connects perfectly with our efforts which is captured in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.

The Project Lead for iWatch Africa, Nana Boakye-Yiadom was optimistic about the future and the impact of the project which is being funded by the American Embassy Ghana: “The Police administration has also agreed to partner us on this all-important project. This underscores the commitment of these two very important institutions to deal with these critical fundamental issues of human existence”.

The project will officially be launched on 22^nd October 2019 at the University of Ghana campus.

Released by Communications Director , Philip Kwasi Banini

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The project which was officially launched in August, 2017 is aimed at tracking governments’ commitments in four thematic areas; education, government expenditure, job creation and health.

Project Lead, Nana Boakye-Yiadom underscored the importance of the passage of the Right to Information Bill in Ghana and also revealed iWatch Africa’s ambition of launching similar modules in other West African countries.

Guest Speaker, Sara Stealy from the US Embassy Ghana also congratulated the iWatch Africa team, and encouraged participants to hold public officials accountable for their actions.

“Governments have a responsibility to provide services to their citizens but citizens have a responsibility to holding governments accountable,” Sara Stealy stated.

Stealy also highlighted some areas the US Embassy is focused on in Ghana.

“Your four areas you are working on here I love as well because it ties into things that the US Embassy really cares about here. Our number one goal is working with Ghana on good governance, anti-corruption issues; our number two goal is investing in people, which is focusing on health and education,” she maintained.

Gideon Sarpong, Policy and Content Analyst for iWatch Africa presented a general overview of the project progress, highlighting some of the major accountability reports produced by the over 60 participants across the ten regions of Ghana.

Team members, Moro Seidu and Justice Kumordzi delivered presentations on some achievements by the iWatch Africa team since the project commenced.

iWatch Africa participants in Accra who were also part of the dialogue shared some experiences and challenges they face in the course of their work, highlighting the challenges associated with accessing information from public officials in Ghana.

The utmost goal of the iWatch Transparency and Accountability Project is to encourage citizen participation in governance, as well as deepen the democratic process in Ghana.

Below are some pictures:

Report was filed by Pearl Afua Acheampong, Gideon Sarpong edited and contributed to it.

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