Blog

Live Blog – ESID's visit to Ghana

Anna Webster
5 April 2016

It’s day 2 of our Ghana events and we’re releasing our research findings at The Centre for Democratic Development – CDD. It’s hot and steamy outside, but those in suit jackets are basking in the cool of the AC in CDD’s conference room. There’s a bustle in the air and obvious excitement about bringing together such key people in Ghana’s academic and policy communities to identify the key challenges and prospects for Ghana’s development.
The audience are currently vying to contribute their impassioned questions and comments following a presentation by Abdul Gafaru Abdulai on mining and development. Yesterday featured a fascinating session on public sector reform led by our research leader Pablo Yanguas and held at the huge campus that is GIMPA – Ghana’s Institute of Management and Public Administration
This is our first experience of synthesising our research on one country and there is a brilliant sense of teamwork with our partners.  Members of the team have pulled out all the stops to make for a well attended, well organised and well publicised event. As researcher for ESID, PhD candidate at GDI and Senior Research Officer for CDD, Kojo Assante has done a great job leading on planning and managing the events for the week.
Mina Okuru, CDD’s Communications Officer, has worked with us to lay on a packed schedule of media appearances. Three radio stations, Citi, Joy and Starr FM, are media partners for the week and TV stations have been broadcasting our debates, including an hour-long discussion on the politics of Ghana’s development with Prof David Hulme and Kojo Assante on ‘The Ghana Report’. The degree of depth and engagement with academia from the media is inspiring.
Look out for more on our key findings on Ghana.