Ghana Government Assurances

This mobile app helps citizens provide effective feedback for parliamentary work

Introduction:

The overall goal of this mobile app is to help provide effective feedback for parliamentary work through the Committee on Government Assurances so they can play an effective oversight role over assurances and promises made by government through maximized interaction with citizens that will lead to an improvement in public service delivery. At its sitting on 8th February 2014, the CGA commissioned Penplusbytes with support from OSIWA to develop this innovative project which creates a convergence point between Parliament and Citizens to allow for prompt and more effective feedback on key assurances by Government using technology platforms.

The Committee:

The Committee on Government Assurances (CGA) is a Standing Committee of Parliament, created by the standing Orders in 1998 to exercise oversight responsibility over the Executive. Order 174 (2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament indicates that it shall be the duty of the Committee on Government Assurances to pursue all assurances, promises and undertaking given by Ministers from time to time. It shall also be the function of the Committee to report to the House on the extent to which such assurances have been fulfilled. Therefore, the Committee on Government Assurances seeks accountability to the Ghanaian people through their elected representatives.

The Platform:

Using an agile development approach, Penplusbytes developed the providing effective feedback for parliamentary work through new digital technologies with a clear focus on the needs of citizens and was driven by the vision of ensuring that citizens are able to engage with parliament to monitor the implementation of government assurances and actively participate in the process of assessing government while holding it more accountable. The platform is integrated with a Mobile App, SMS and mashed-up with social media to provide an avenue for citizens to voice out their feedback on promises made by government.

Our Objectives:

* Providing easy and accessible information on government assurances

* Creating citizen awareness on government assurances

* Providing a vibrant online and offline platform for citizens and CSOs to engage with parliament

* Providing a platform for citizen-based advocacy on service delivery