Ghana’s parliamentary monitoring site, Odekro, has been awarded a US$15,000 grant by the Indigo Trust, a UK-based foundation, just two weeks after its launch.
Developed by Hutspace (www.hutspace.net ), a Ghanaian web development company, in collaboration with mySociety, Odekro was developed as a social platform for monitoring the activities of Members of Parliament (MPs) in order to promote transparency and public participation.
The funding is expected to help develop the platform further, with MPs elected at the December 7 election likely to be under the keen watch of the public. The citizens of the country will have access to bills, motions, and parliamentary debates.
Users will be able to hold discussions as they go on in Parliament, as well as report pertinent issues affecting their constituencies.
Odekro believes that MPs are elected to serve the people and seeks to ensure citizens are taken care of by ensuring the MPs put the interests of the citizens into consideration.
“We hope that MPs will become more open, and engage with citizens, answering their questions and providing information on on-going projects and interacting generally with the citizens they represent, even though they do so through their designated aides,” said Odekro’s project lead, Emmanuel Okyere.
“Citizens need to be empowered to demand and ensure proper representation, accountability and good service delivery.”
The Indigo Trust is a grantmaking foundation that provides financial assistance to technology-driven projects that are aimed at bringing social change. The foundation focuses mainly on innovation, transparency and citizen empowerment, the same goals that drive Odekro.
