Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly became a CoST member in 2019, in response to the growing demand for better infrastructure governance to mitigate against vulnerabilities such as real and perceived cases of corruption, capture, and mismanagement throughout the infrastructure cycle.
How it all started
Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) used the Open Government Plan (OGP) process to commit to improving infrastructure transparency as part of their 2018-2020 action plan. They cited their interest in CoST as stemming directly from their involvement in OGP. They knew their membership in CoST would help them with their open government commitments by fostering partnerships with relevant local and international organisations, by adopting the CoST Infrastructure Data Standard and the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard, and by developing mechanisms to engage citizens in the infrastructure delivery cycle. This is an excellent example of the synergy of how CoST helps governments implement their OGP commitments, encourage and support openness in service delivery.
To provide a baseline measure of transparency, CoST STMA published a Scoping Study Report, which solidifies the status of transparency in the country, providing evidence for engagement and measuring the impact of the CoST tools and standards.
Multi-Stakeholder Working
CoST brings together stakeholder groups with different perspectives and backgrounds from across government, the private sector, and civil society. Through each member’s Multi-Stakeholder Group, these entities can guide the delivery of CoST and pursue infrastructure transparency and accountability within a neutral forum.
CoST Sekondi-Takoradi is governed by a 12-member Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG), with its day-to-day operations carried out by the local secretariat. The MSG meets monthly, and its responsibilities include setting strategy, approving budgets, monitoring finances and operations, and playing advocacy roles. It is made up of a neutral forum drawn from government, the private sector & civil society – with the willingness and capacity to contribute to promoting the use of CoST tools and standards.
Through its work, the MSG has enhanced both sector and project-level reforms through multi-stakeholder engagements and access to data on high-value infrastructure projects involving millions of Ghana Cedis. The CoST approach, tools, and standards are now recognized within the Western region geographical scope of operations (Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipal Assembly, Nzema East Municipal Assembly, Ahanta West Municipal Assembly, Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly, Mpohor District Assembly, Wassa East District Assembly, Shama District Assembly)as best practice and received endorsement from the Western Regional Coordinating Council, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Open Contracting Partnership, and the Open Government Partnership initiative. Local civil society partners include Friends of the Nation, African Women International, Ghana News Agency, and STMA Citywide Settlement Upgrading Fund.
Data publication
The data publication process ensures that data about the purpose, scope, costs and execution of infrastructure projects is open and accessible to the public, and that it is data is published in a timely manner.
STMA achieved its OGP commitment by developing an open data portal available on the CoST STMA website, where data is published on infrastructure projects in a consistent format, using the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard (OC4IDS). One of the achievements of CoST STMA has been convincing eight neighbouring local governments and other government entities within the Western Region of Ghana to publish data on their infrastructure investments on the portal. The portal hosts data on almost 100 projects from 15 sectors, including education, health, transport, water, and waste.
CoST STMA has used its results to initiate conversations around establishing a national CoST Ghana programme. Using STMA’s example, stakeholders, including the OGP National Office, private sector, CSOs, and government, embarked on a journey to develop a national infrastructure transparency commitment that would facilitate the adoption of CoST tools and standards at the national level.
The Infrastructure Transparency Index is a foundational measure of transparency in publicly funded infrastructure projects at both national and sub-national levels. CoST Sekondi Takoradi published its 1st Subnational Infrastructure Transparency Index (ITI) in 2021. This pioneering initiative has quantified the levels of infrastructure transparency and elevated the quality of associated processes, fostering heightened participation and accountability among procuring entities at the sub-national level.
Independent review
We promote accountability through the CoST independent review (assurance) process – an independent review of the published data by assurance teams based within CoST memberships.
The CoST Sekondi-Takoradi MSG has used this reputation and lessons from the OGP multi-stakeholder group to draw in eight other assemblies (local government authorities) in the Western Region of Ghana to improve transparency by publishing infrastructure data on a shared information platform. The local secretariat has then used this data to publish independent review (assurance) reports in December 2019 and February 2021, and subsequently engaged with disability rights campaigners and the media, to help improve social and economic inclusion in the Western Region of Ghana by improving the quality and accessibility of infrastructure.
The two comprehensive independent review Reports published cover 13 significant infrastructure projects. Through this rigorous process, stakeholders gained invaluable insights into the disclosed data concerning specific projects, facilitated by an independent team. By highlighting both project-specific and overarching findings, as well as ensuring the accuracy of infrastructure data in the public domain, this initiative catalysed infrastructure reforms. As a result, enhanced stakeholder engagement was observed across 8 district assemblies in the Western Region of Ghana, fostering a culture of transparency and accountability.
Civic engagement
CoST brings together stakeholder groups with different perspectives and backgrounds from across government, the private sector, and civil society. Through each member’s Multi-Stakeholder Group, these entities can guide the delivery of CoST and pursue infrastructure transparency and accountability within a neutral forum.
Since its inception, CoST STMA has trained more than 1,000 stakeholders, including local government officials, private sector representatives, civil society organizations, media professionals, construction experts, and community leaders, through 15 impactful capacity-building and awareness-raising events. Additionally, these events facilitated independent social audits and engaged 300 residents, including community leaders, in various aspects of CoST’s transformative work. To address thematic sector challenges, CoST STMA designed an innovative approach to enable CSOs to monitor the performance of infrastructure projects. CoST STMA formed capacity-building of eight CoST District Citizens’ Monitoring Teams and equipped them to follow up on the implementation of recommendations from the independent review reports, monitor construction projects, and report findings. This grassroots initiative empowers local communities to actively participate in monitoring and ensuring the accountability and effectiveness of infrastructure initiatives. The work of community monitors has been further enhanced with a new web-based tool, the Electronic Infrastructure Monitoring Tool (E-IMT), and the Infrastructure Analytical Dashboard, which signifies a breakthrough in accessibility to live project data. This empowers stakeholders to effectively scrutinize ongoing infrastructure projects, holding duty-bearers accountable and ensuring optimal value from public investments in infrastructure.
