If you want to raise all the money before we campaign, We will wait forever. Let’s start! Behold the proverbial Ghanaian magician – whose lifestyle is not always explained by their meagre resources. The stuff of magic? We shall soon discover!
In the run-up to the 2024 Presidential and Presidential elections, the NDC’s Gender Committee campaigned in eight regions, 55 constituencies and 165 Communities. This was a heavy lift, for which reason it did not fail to catch the attention of many.
“So how does it work, Sodzi? After the party sets up the Committee, do they resource you to campaign?” a few friends asked. “No, the Party does not allocate us a budget to tour 8 regions.” I would respond.
“So where are you getting the money from?” Today, I will explain in vivid detail how it all went down.
For starters, I went into this with ‘corporate-y’ lenses so you can imagine the various shocks I experienced along the way on realising how unstructured fundraising turned out to be. With guidance from Nana Oye Bampoe Addo aka Hon. NOBA, our Chair, I worked with our capable accountant to develop a very comprehensive budget. If we realized the full amount, we would tour a total of 48 constituencies in all 16 regions. Let’s just say that the total budgeted sum was a lot of money.
Four weeks later, nothing had happened. No money. No campaign. No souvenirs. We were just sitting tight and pretty. And Committee members, too active to tolerate dormancy, started getting antsy. One day, I got a call from the politically savvy Aku Sika Kpene, who with the young, experienced Nana Ameyaw and I, constituted the core Operations Team for the Committee.
“SP, the budget is good, oh, but this politics thing, if you want to raise all the money before we campaign, we will wait forever. Let’s start!”
At this time, I am thinking “Ei these Comrades. We don’t have a pesewa, but you say we should start. How are we going to start? Or you want us to walk by faith eh?”
So, I go to Hon. NOBA to discuss Aku’s brainwave and my dilemma. To my surprise, Hon. NOBA also thinks that with careful planning, some sacrifices and good fortune, we can make it work, region by region, constituency by constituency, one at a time. She then ups the temperature by adding, “Sodzi, no one is coming to give us any budget allocation. We should not also be waiting for permission to do our work. Our mandate is clear. Let’s get to work.”
At this point, I am at my wits end, thinking, “O my Comrades are going to kill me.” In my quiet moments, however, I can see where Hon. NOBA and Aku are heading. This same Chair could practically spend half a day chasing party T-shirt donations from donors tossing her up and down. She will go, wait, be disappointed and be asked to return after two hours. She will stick with a process I found somewhat frustrating. Later, she will call with excitement, “Doc! I have 500 T-shirts now. We can go!”
In the Northern and Greater Accra regions, we run into some difficulties with various unplanned costs as part of community entry. With this emergency, I activated three Committee members, pressing for on-the-spot donations. Thankfully, they all rose to the occasion.
Overall, how was the Gender Children and Social Protection Committee able to fund its significant campaign activities in Accra, Central, Western, Eastern, Volta, Ashanti, Ahafo, and Northern regions without a dedicated funding source? Three main ways come to mind – personal cash donations of committee members including absorbing certain expenses, donations from networks of committee members, and in-kind donations. The details are spelt out below:
1. Committee members covered all their transportation and feeding costs.
2. Funds for fuel for the bus carrying secretariat staff and party souvenirs were mobilized through donations by Committee members – either directly or through their personal networks.
3. The following in-kind donations proved extremely significant.
a. Hon. NOBA secured a bus from a relative at no cost. The Committee bore fuel costs and per diem for the driver.
b. Thousands of party souvenirs were mobilized through the following channels: Committee members, party leaders, and a sympathetic group.
c. Feeding costs were minimized through subsided feeding from the following Members of Parliament, and/or their Associates in the following places: Ashanti and Northern regions, North Dayi, Kpando, Keta, and South Dayi constituencies. Additionally, Hon. NOBA mobilized breakfast items in addition to packing kenkey and fish for the team in the field.
d. Host MPs often bore certain logistical costs associated with mobilizing the community. These costs included contracting a cultural troupe, mobilizing additional chairs, and PA systems etc.
e. Wicked unashamed negotiations for brutal cost reductions on every single item at every turn of the road. The ‘culprits’ on the Committee know themselves.
The Committee felt very proud of its contributions to massive wins in highly competitive constituencies like Essikado, Shama, and Hohoe. Ultimately, although we could only visit 50% of all the target regions, we exceeded our target constituencies by 15%.
Certainly, we can do a whole lot without money. Well, not exactly without money, but I am sure you catch my drift.
A primary focus on money, or the absence thereof, could itself constitute a mighty paralyzing obstacle. Alternately, viewing the entirety of your team, your personal resources, your social networks, your sheer goodwill, your compelling mission, as assets, could well open a lot of doors. While the latter is far less predictable, even chaotic, it is wholly fulfilling as it often potentiates the adrenaline associated with chasing a big dream, calling for a deep appeal to everyone’s core motivations for why they may be involved in the first place.
The Ghanaian magician has a formula after all. It is called social capital. Great stuff!
*****
The writer, Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, can be contacted via email at [email protected]
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