Commitments by partners to work toward GPRS II goals and harmonization principles The Ghana Joint Assistance Strategy (G-JAS) aims to improve the alignment of development assistance with the core business of Government and the Government’s political and partnership cycle. It builds on commitments by development partners (DPs) to work toward the achievement of goals and priorities of the second Ghana Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) and to accelerate progress against mutually defined harmonization principles.  An important backdrop for the G-JAS is the Ghana Partnership Strategy (GPS) endorsed at the November 2005 Consultative Group/Annual Partnership Meeting (CG/APM) and updated for the CG/APM in June 2006. The GPS comprises a results matrix which maps DP-funded activities to GPRS II policy priorities; an annual harmonisation action plan; and an overview of external assistance, detailed by GPRS II pillar and sectors. As such, the GPS provides a framework for monitoring the effectiveness of development assistance in supporting GPRS II.  The G-JAS involves the majority of Ghana’s GPS development partners (represent-ing about 95% of official development assistance flows), who wish to take the DP response in support of the GPRS II one step further. It consists of five interlinking elements that contribute to a comprehensive approach on the part of DPs to the aid relationship in Ghana:  (i) a joint assessment of the current country situation (political, economic, social); (ii) a joint description of the major challenges facing Ghana in its quest to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and middle-income status; (iii) a statement of principles and commitments on how G-JAS partners will work with each other, with Government, and with civil society and private stakeholders; (iv) priorities for the joint DP response at the GPRS II pillar and sector level; and (v) arrangements for results monitoring and risk mitigation.  Â
The G-JAS should be seen as a milestone in an on-going process, which provides a framework for continued action over the next four years. Concrete actions for moving forward are therefore presented as part of the G-JAS conclusions.   The timeframe for the G-JAS is the four year period starting in 2007 and ending in 2010. This timeframe has been adopted to take into account national cycles in Ghana: new governments are elected in December every four years (2004, 2008, 2012) and the next GPRS time-slice is prepared during the government’s first year in office (2005, 2009, 2013) for implementation during the next four year cycle (2006-2009, 2010-2013, etc.). The first year of GPRS implementation (2006, 2010, 2014) is therefore the time when G-JAS partners can consult with government and stakeholders to review new GPRS priorities and make any needed alignment and programming adjustments, which would then be reflected in the subsequent G-JAS framework (2007-2010, 2011-2014, etc.).  |
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