Dale Rachmeler – BUSAC Fund Manager
The Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund, which seeks to promote the private sector in Ghana, has disbursed a total of GH¢5.8m as grants to 101 beneficiaries across the country.
This suggests that each beneficiary received about GH¢58,000.
The BUSAC Fund, which started in 2004, is a grant mechanism that allows the Ghanaian private sector to advocate to local, regional and national authorities for changes to the legal and regulatory frameworks that hinder private sector activities to improve revenue generation and economic growth.
The project is funded by DANIDA, USAID and the European Union (EU) as part of their support to Ghana
It is a component of the Support for Private Sector Development II (SPSDII) for strengthening the culture of Business through Advocacy.
Last month it was announced that the European Union (EU) was expected to contribute three million Euros to the second phase of the BUSAC Fund.
The EU’s financial assistance brings the total commitments by development partners to BUSAC Fund to $16 million.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in April this year committed $4 million while the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) on the other hand committed $8 million in support of the second phase of the BUSAC Fund, which started in 2010 and ends in 2014.
The BUSAC Fund Manager, Dale Rachmeler disclosed this during an orientation workshop on Business Advocacy for 25 selected journalists in Accra.
The goal of the orientation programme was to provide participants with the necessary knowledge to understand business advocacy and its impact on the current growth of the economy.
This will redirect the interests of journalists from stories on politics and scandals because it sells more than business advocacy issues.
The project was designed to gain the attention of journalists through dialogue and interactive training.
Mr. Rachmeler, in his presentation, noted that it is expected that media personnel will be aware of advocacy activities especially in the business sector, adding that “we also expect media personnel to determine if business advocacy issues when covered by media are news worthy.”
He also appealed to the media to cover BUSAC Fund-financed events and provide information to the general public in a professional and articulate manner.
Kofi Asante Frimpong, BUSAC Fund Training Manager who spoke on the topic ‘Challenges of the private sector and business advocacy,’ said business advocacy is very important because “there is limited or no effective dialogue between the public sector and the business sector.”
He noted that “business advocacy is to call the attention of government to the effects of a regulation or bye-law and propose what has to be done to the regulation to get the private sector to perform better.”
A Business Editor at Daily Graphic, Lloyd Evans was also present at the function to share his experience with participants.
By Esther Awuah