Praxis Note 34. Enhancing Civil Society through Empowerment and Capacity Building of Civil Society Oganisations

This Praxis Note provides an overview of a capacity building process to strengthen community-based organisations (CBOs) in Ghana by improving the effectiveness of their work with the poor and marginalised. It describes the approach of the intervention, the main challenges encountered and the successful outcomes.

The Ark Foundation in Ghana is an advocacy-based human rights nongovernmental organisation with the primary purpose of seeking the protection and promotion of the human rights of women and children. This advocacy and human rights organisation contracted the Social Support Foundation (SSF), a Ghanaian non-profit, non-political support organisation, for this organisation capacity building assignment. The Social Support Foundation works in support of the needy and vulnerable in communities and provides organisational development (OD) and organisational capacity building (OCB) for local non-governmental organisations (LNGOs), civil society
organisations (CSOs) and CBOs.

This paper reflects the practice and not the official report of the assignment led by the author, Louis Acheampong, an OD practitioner.