The Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has launched the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF) project with the intent of consolidating Civil Society Organisation's (CSOs) participation in the planning, implementation and monitoring of education plans and policies towards the attainment of the Education for All (EFA) objective in the country.

Additionally, the CSEF seeks to establish broad-based and democratically run national education coalitions as well as strengthen their capacity to engage with and track the progress of government and local donor groups, and advocate for policy change and institutional reforms in the country.

CSEF was set up by the Global Campaign for Education in 2009 to support the core work of National Education Coalitions so that civil society can fully engage with and track the progress of national governments and donor groups in working towards the EFA goals.

Speaking at the launch in Accra recently, the National Coordinator of GNECC, Mr. Leslie Tettey, said there was the need for all to be interested in policies that were being planned for the county's education sector.

“We should be interested in what policies are being planned, as well as be interested in how they are being implemented, particularly looking at issues of transparency and accountability,” Mr Tettey said in an interview with Public Agenda.

He explained that the project was taking place in all five continents of the world through various civil society networks in education.

GNECC, he said, had planned to implement the project in five selected districts of the seven regions where the Coalition operated in Ghana. The districts included Amenfi West, Ejura Sekyere dumase, Afram Plains, Krachi East and Sene.

He indicated: “As civil society in Ghana, we are receiving 200,000 dollars for up to December 2014 for this project. We will be working in five districts to start with. And so we are hoping and working towards strengthening participation in the policy sector processes.”

Mr Tettey continued: “We are using this network to build the capacity of our members to participate in the decision making processes in ensuring that the funds that are being allocated to the schools and the districts are used effectively and ensuring that teachers are in the classroom teaching.”

The National Chairman of GNECC, Mr. Bright Appiah in his welcome address, emphasised the need for CSOs to effectively monitor what government does in the area of education in the country.

The CSEF, he said, had come at an opportune time to support the core work of the National Education Coalition.